William Willis – Basil Clare House
The house is on the east end of the 1683 William Bezer land grant of 300 acres. William Willis purchased 15 acres from Isaac Kimber in 1798. The original 2 1/2 story 18’x24’ house was built by William Willis in 1802. Willis was a tailor by trade. In 1836, he sold the property to George Walter. In 1838, Walter sold it to Isaac Williams, a shoemaker. During Isaac Williams’ ownership it is alleged that runaway enslaved people were hidden in the cellar of the home and then taken to Philadelphia. Historians have also been told of graves on the property that belong to enslaved people who became ill and died during their journey to freedom. The graves are allegedly located to the left of the barn area close to Bethel Road. The Baldwin Family owned the property from the 1890s through the 1930s. The Basil Clare Family purchased the property in 1950, and sold it to the County in 1975. The Berkeyheiser Family, which includes the Concord Township Historical Society’s own Vice President, became the owners in 1995. A small stone addition was added, and then two wings were added by Basil Clare in the 20th century. A notable amount of beams, flooring, and woodwork came from other historic homes. The house received the Preservation and Rehabilitation Award in 1998 from the Heritage Commission of Delaware County. This house is a private residence and not open to the public. Concord Township Historic Resource #71
Thomas Marshall – Ellis Marshall House
By 1718, Thomas Marshall Sr. (1694-1741) owned 250 acres and built a house over a spring on the western end of the land. In 1727, Marshall and his wife Hannah Mendenhall made the center section of the house. The original mansion house was described as a 36 x 22 feet, three-story brick home with an attached 15 sq. Ft. Brick kitchen. In 1802, the property consisted of a frame barn, granary, stone bark mill, and a tanyard. A bark mill is used to grind roots, branches, and barks of various trees to form a powder that assists in the production of leather goods in a tannery by yielding the necessary amount of tannin used for the tanning process. Thomas Marshall III (1756-1844), who inherited this property from his father, died in 1844 and willed his estate to his two grandsons, Ellis Pusey Marshall and Thomas Marshall IV (1818-1880). Thomas Marshall IV sold his 75 acres to Ellis in 1847, and by 1850, Ellis P. Marshall and his wife Anna Bartram were living on 120 acres and the mansion house. Their farm was incredibly successful, and Ellis cultivated all 120 acres of land. In 1850, his farm produced 60 tons of hay, 700 bushels of corn, 200 bushels of oats, 200 bushels of wheat, 7 bushels of grass seed, 60 bushels of potatoes, and an orchard producing $10 worth of fruit. The farm was valued at $12,300. Ellis P. Marshall’s daughter, Anna Marshall, married Ralph Marsh Harvey in 1868, and their son Bartram R. Harvey eventually purchased the Marshall property in the early 20th century. The Marshall-Harvey Family descendants continued to farm and live there into the mid1900s. The Thomas Marshall – Ellis Marshall House springhouse was removed in 1977 and restored and rebuilt on the Newlin Grist Mill property, where it can be seen today. This property is now part of the Fellowship Church in the Industrial Park along Fellowship Drive. Concord Township Historic Resource #134
Samuel Hannum House, aka Dell Eyre Farm Five Cedars Farm
The Samuel Hannum House was built in the mid-1700s to mid-1800s. The exact building date of the original home is unknown. The property is part of an initial land grant comprising 500 acres acquired by George Stroud in July 1682. John Hannum purchased 100 acres from this tract in 1705. John Hannum’s great-grandson, Samuel Hannum, built the present house. The property is listed in 1848 as having a two-story stone house with four rooms on each floor, a 55 x 40-foot two-story frame barn, a carriage house and corn crib, and a stone springhouse. Samuel Hannum cultivated 60 acres of his land, and the farm was valued at $7,200 in 1850. The property remained in the Hannum Family until the 1930s, except for 1870-1892, when the Webster Family owned the house. It is estimated that the house underwent three significant renovations as well as a Victorian “update” that removed partitions from rooms, enlarged doorways, and removed hearths. Marks of a previous beehive oven can be seen along the north side of the home. Under the ownership of Joshua Eyre Hannum and Mary Dell Hill in the early 1900s, the property became known as “Dell Eyre Farm” and operated on 68 acres. The McQuillan Family owned the property from the 1940s until they sold the house and land, then reduced to 5 acres, to the Anderson Family in the mid-1980s. The barn and springhouse still exist on the property. This property is a private residence and not open to the public. Concord Township Historic Resource #99
Levi Mattson House
The Levi Mattson House, also known as Federal Farms, is a large two 1/2-story rough fieldstone house built in 2 sections. The southwest section is the original house, which was built in the 18th century, and the northeast addition was built by Levi Mattson in 1803. The land consisted of an original 200-acre parcel that passed through multiple owners, including John Moore, Mathias Kerlin, Henry Oborne, William Oborne, John Hannum, and Alexander Lockhart. Documentation suggests that a British foraging party raided this farmstead, which was then owned by Alexander Lockhart, following the Battle of the Brandywine in 1777. Lockhart listed in a 1782 claim document that he lost a horse, 100 bushels of oats, two acres of turnips, two acres of potatoes, two acres of buckwheat, a gun, horse equipment, two sheep, 70 pounds worth of clothing, and provisions during this raid. Levi Mattson purchased the property in 1787, and there is documentation showing a 60 x 20-foot log house built by Henry Oborne on the property. By 1803, Levi Mattson added a new stone to the log house. There is a date stone on the west end of the house. The Mattson Family continued to own this farm for over 100 years. This property is a private residence and not open to the public. Concord Township Historic Resource #83