Historic Quaker Houses of Delaware County, PA
The Newlin House
Built in 1742
By Nicholas Newlin in Concordville, PA:
Above: The 1742 Newlin House in Concordville. Image source: Lee J. Stoltzfus
The Newlin House was built in 1742 by Nicholas Newlin. The house stands about a mile west of the Newlin Mill Complex and is part of the Concordville Historic District. This is one of the best-preserved eighteenth-century houses in Concord Township. The house is constructed of Flemish bond brickwork on a high stone foundation. The house has an interior with fine Georgian paneling that has remained largely intact.
This land was settled by Nicholas Newlin, an Irish Quaker from Mountmellick, Queens County. He emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1683 with his wife Elizabeth and their three children aboard the Levee from Liverpool. That October, he purchased mill property here in Concord Township from William Penn.
Detail of the Newlin House:
Above: Newlin House details: Flemish bond brickwork, rubble stone foundation, a pent roof, and double doors with four-light transoms. Image source: Lee J. Stoltzfus
Map Showing Newlin Land Ownership
Concord Township in the 1700s:
Above: Image source: DelawareCountyHistory.com, Underscoring added.
This map show tracts of land owned by Irish immigrants Nicholas Newlin and his son Nathaniel Newlin. They were the grandfather and father of Nicholas Newlin who built the Newlin House in 1742.
An 1870 Photo
The Nearby Concord Quaker Meeting House
Design Similarities to the Newlin House:
Above: Design of the Newlin House is reminiscent of the nearby Concord Meeting House. Image source: TriCollege Libraries
This Concord Meeting House dates to 1728 (north end) and 1783 (south end). Concord Monthly Meeting was established in 1684 by Chester (Concord) Quarterly Meeting. The Newlins were charter members of that meeting in the 1680s. Until 1729, business sessions alternated between Concord and Chichester, and the meeting was known as “Chichester.”
Historical Marker about the Parents and Grandparents
of Nicholas Newlin who Built this House:
Above: Newlin historical marker. Image source: FindAGrave
This historical marker for the Newlin family is at Concord Friends Cemetery. Newlin descendants Lewis Palmer and William C. Sproul placed this plaque here in 1916. The text reads:
Near this spot were buried Nicholas Newlin born [ca.]1619, died 1699; He purchased 7000 acres of land in Pennsylvania and emigrated from Mount Melick [Mountmellick], County Tyrone [Queen’s County / County Laois], Ireland, settling in Concord Township: He was one of the founders of this Meeting; served in William Penn's Provincial Council, 1685-89; Sat as a Justice in the Courts at Chester, 1685-91; Elizabeth Newlin, his wife, died 1719, prominent in this Meeting;
Their son Nathaniel Newlin Born in Ireland, 1665, died 1729; A member of this meeting,, Served in the Assembly of the Province during fourteen sessions, 1698-1722; Sat as a Justice in the Courts of Chester at various terms, 1703-26; Founder of Newlin Township on the Brandywine 1724, and his wife, Mary Mendenhall Newlin, who came from Wiltshire, England, with her brothers. Joined this Meeting and was here married in 1685.
Nicholas Newlin of the Newlin House
Was Owner of the Newlin Mill
Built by his Father Nathaniel Newlin:
Above: The Newlin Mill. Image source: NewlinGristMill1704 Instagram, modified.
Nicholas Newlin built the Newlin House for his family’s home in 1742. During this time, he was owner of the nearby Newlin Grist Mill, which his father Nathaniel Newlin built in 1704 to produce flour, etc.
E. Mortimer Newlin and wife Elizabeth Newlin purchased the mill in 1956 and began restoration of the building and the grinding equipment. Today the property is owned and operated by the Nicholas Newlin Foundation and is open to the public.
The First Three Generations of Newlins
Immigrants from Ireland:
Above: Three generations of ownership of Newlin Mill, from grandfather to grandson. The immigrant ancestor’s grandson, Nicholas Newlin, owned the mill while building the Newlin House for his family’s home in 1742. Image source: Newlin Mill Complex, Wikipedia, modified
A 1959 Historical Marker
For the Newlin Mill:
Above: Sign for the Newlin Mill erected in 1959 by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Image source: Historical Marker Database
The 1739 Miller’s House
At the Newlin Mill:
Above: Image source: Newlin Mill Complex, Smallbones, Wikipedia, modified.
In 1739 the Newlin family built this miller’s house at the Newlin Mill, to provide a home for a miller they would employ. This miller’s house has a two-over-two floorplan, with two rooms on both the first and second floors. The house originally had a detached bake oven. A third story was added ca. 1860, but it was later removed during restoration.
The Newlin Mill Complex
National Register of Historic Places:
Above: The Newlin Mill Complex was accepted in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Image source: The Historical Marker Database
Anti-War Quaker Millers
During the Revolutionary War:
Above: The public park at Newlin Grist Mill. Image source: NewlinGristMill.org
During the Revolutionary War the Newlin Mill was owned by Thomas Newlin (1747 - 1811). He inherited the mill from his father Nicholas Newlin, who built the Newlin House for the family in 1742. The Newlins were active member of the local Quaker meeting.
The role of the Newlin grist mill during the Revolutionary War is unclear. Both American and British forces alike sought to deny each other food by controlling or disabling mills. During the British campaign to occupy Philadelphia, General Washington ordered millstones removed from local mills so that no flour could be ground for British troops. It is not known whether this order directly affected the Newlin Mill.
Similarly, as the British advanced toward Philadelphia George Washington directed Pennsylvania militia to drive off livestock and haul away grain, leaving the country as bare as possible. After the Battle of Brandywine, British forces looted local farms and mills.
| The Newlin family’s anti-war Quaker beliefs prohibited participation in war. They may have attempted to refuse supplying grain to either armies. If so, the Newlins would have been under heavy pressure from both forces during the 1777 Battle of Brandywine.
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