John Chads, Ferryman
In the 1700's, travelers along "Ye Great Road to Nottingham" (today's U.S. Route 1) were obliged to cross the Brandywine River in Chadds Ford to reach their destinations.
On a calm day in summer, the Brandywine could be forded. A ford is a shallow place in a body of water that can be crossed without a boat. Chadds Ford became known as such because "Ye Great Road to Nottingham" crossed the Brandywine at the property of John Chads. Travelers simply walked across the river on foot or on horseback or drove their wagons through.
However, when the Brandywine's water level rose, or when ice impeded fording, travelers crossed by means of a flatboat ferry. The ferry was operated from 1737 to 1760 by John Chads, a local man of importance, and thereafter by someone else. It was located about a hundred yards upstream from the current Route One bridge.
The ferry was a flat raft-type of boat which was large enough to carry a wagon and four horses. The raft was pulled upstream across the river by ropes attached to pulleys and floated with the current downstream. The ferryman helped propel the ferry by pushing long poles into the bottom of the river.
John Chads petitioned the court of Chester County for permission to operate a ferry "for the Carriage of all persons, Cattle, Horses and Goods."
This granted, he borrowed 29 pounds 11 shillings and 10 pence from the county for the start-up costs, including a trip to Philadelphia to purchase materials. Plank and timber cost 3 pounds 11 shillings and 6 pence, a "Baril of Tar" 10 shillings, and a padlock 2 shillings.
He then applied to the court to fix the rates. "For as much as your petitioner has since he erected the said Boat carried Sundry Travellers & others over the said Creek for want of a settled Table of fees has been obliged to take such sums for his fare as they were pleased to bestow upon him which many times fell short of a reasonably ferriage."
For -
Every horse and Rider - four pence.
Every single person on foot, three pence, if more, two pence each.
Every ox, cow, or heifer, four pence each.
Every sheep, one penny.
Every Hog, three half pence.
Every Coach, waggon or Cart, one shilling and six pence.
Every empty waggon or Cart nine pence.
Every steed four pence.
In 1743 John Chads petitioned to be released "from the care and management of said boat and appurtenances, and some other person appointed to act therein in his stead." The court denied this request.
John Chads operated the ferry until his death in 1760.
The ferry was mentioned in the minutes of the county commissioners in 1772: "the consideration of rebuilding the flat for carrying persons over the Brandywine coming before the board, they agree that it should be done with all convenient speed, and appoint John Webster and Thomas Taylor to procure the same as soon as they can, at the most reasonable terms."1
In 1803 a jury recommended "that a bridge should be erected over Brandywine Creek at Chadds Ford, and that the place most convenient and least expensive was about thirteen perches2 below the ford." The bridge was built in 1828.
1
History of Chester County, by Futhey and Cope, 1881.
2 A perch is a unit of linear measure equivalent to 5.5 yards, 16.5 feet,
or 5.03 meters.
