James Willcox property in Upper Providence, PA

JAMES WILLCOX PROPERTY IN UPPER PROVIDENCE, PA

http://www.delawarecountyhistory.com/upperprovidencetownship/index.html

The tax records here give a great account of how long Prudence Wilcox kept the mill and homestead after James died.

Information about the four categories of taxables can be found here:

http://dsf.chesco.org/archives/cwp/view.asp?a=3&Q=610739

There are four categories of taxables:

1. landholder – held land by lease or deed (PA taxed the occupant)
2. inmate – married or widowed, landless (contract labor)
3. freeman – single, free man at least 21 years of age (as of 1718). Had to be out of servitude or apprenticeship at least 6 months at time of tax. Taxation of freemen was inconsistent. It appears that before 1755 single men living with their parents were not taxed.
4. nonresident landowner – owner of unseated (unoccupied) land

Year	Name	Tax	Acres	Animals	Servant	Misc.
1762	James Wilcox	2-9
1763	James Wilcox	0, 8, 6
1764	James Willcox		Dwelling & 50 Acres	2 Mares & 2 Cattle
1765	James Wilcox		50	2 Horses, 2 Cattle
1766	James Wilcox		50	2 Horses, 4 Cattle	1 Servant	Saw Mill, Paper Mill
1767	James Wilcox		52	3 Horses, 3 Cattle	1 Servant	Paper & Saw Mill
1768	James Wilcox		53	1 Horse, 4 Cattle		Saw & Paper Mill
1769	James Wilcox		53			Paper Mill
1770	Prudence Wilcox		46 Acres Land	2 Horses, 3 Sheep, 2 Cattle		Paper Mill
1771	Prudence Wilcox		51	1 Horse		Paper Mill & Saw Mill
1772	Prudence Wilcox		58 Acres & Buildings	1 Horse, 8 Cattle, 5 Sheep
1773	Prudy Wilcox		50 Acres Land & Buildings	1 Horse, 2 Cattle, 4 Sheep
1774	Prudence Wilcox		40	1 Horse, 1 Cow		*Thomas Bishop listed as owning all “Grist Mill & Saw Mills”
1775	Prudence Wilcox		60 Acres Land & Buildings	2 Horses, 2 Cattle		No Mills Listed At All
1776	Prudence Wilcox	1-9
1777	NOTHING LISTED FOR ANYONE
1778	Prudence Wilcox		50 Acres Land & Buildings	1 Horse, 1 Cow		Thomas Bishop Saw Mill
1779	Prudence Wilcox		40	2 Cattle		TB Mill
1780	Prudence Wilcox		40	2 Cattle
1781	Thomas Wilcox		50	Horse, 8 Cattle		Juror (12 total, 22 non jurors)
1782	Thomas Wilcox		52 Acres & Improvements	1 Horse & 1 Cow		TB saw and grist mills
1783	NO RECORDS
1784	NO RECORDS
1785	J. Wilcox		5 Acres of Land	1 Horse		James Bishop took over grist and saw mills
1786	Thomas Wilcox		5 Acres Land & Buildings	1 Horse, 1 Cow		John Lungrin, paper mill
1787	NO RECORDS
1788	GONE					John Luingrin, paper mill, grist & saw mill Samuel Vernon
1790	GONE					John Lingrin

SOLD THE MILL IN 1785 – IT APPARENTLY WAS OWNED BY MARK WILCOX AT THIS TIME.

ABOUT MR. LUNGREN:

A history of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and its people, Volume 2

 By John Woolf Jordan, Lewis Historical Publishing Co

p. 699 – Mr. Lungren became a papermaker and by an act of the Continental Congress, July 19, 1776, he, with all other papermakers of Pennsylvania, was excused from military services. In 1779 he was registered as a taxable inmate of Concord Township, Chester county (now Delaware county), being employed in the Wilcox Paper Mill on the west branch of Chester Creek. This was the second paper mill built in Pennsylvania, it having been erected in 1727, and called Ivy Mill, and in it was made for one hundred years all the paper used for continental and national government paper money.”

p. 699, “He [John Lungren] purchased a paper mill site and fifty-three acres of land from Mark Wilcox, April 20, 1785, retaining this property until December 30, 1795, when he disposed of it to William Levis. This mill site was on Ridley Creek in Upper Providence, and was for many years known as “Bancroft’s Upper Bank.”