So if this is all boring to you Mass-Dutton/Dunton folks..... just hit the ole' delete key. We'll understand!! <grin> OK...we're on Concord Road and heading back towards Aston Twp. As soon as you hit the township line and the Dutton property..... well, you might as well hear about the SUN OIL COMPANY now as later! It seems that back in the 1930's Sun Oil bought a whole lot of land beginning at that place....and on further south into Chichester Twp.and other areas of the county. On that land, they tore down everything and put in place .....oh there must be 15 or 20 huge gas/oil storage tanks in this area alone!! Unbelievable. Yes, some of them on Dutton land! When you get the big 1998 County map.....you'll see them as black dots scattered all over the area! They have chain link fences around them....and the only nifty thing I discovered about them, is that there is a herd of deer living within those fences.....and I hope you can see the stag I caught looking at me as I was trying to get a picture before the sun went down! These particular tanks are on the old Robert Dutton part of the land. #11 Sun Oil Tanks Continuing on down Concord Road you come to a sharp turn in the road on which corner sits the Mt. Hope Methodist Church. This is where Doug Hall's father is buried.....and yes, there's no doubt that it is also on part of the old Dutton land. It was raining hard when I stopped by....so I didn't get to look for his Dad's grave.....but the cemetery is very large....so I probably wouldn't have found him anyhow! The cornerstone says that the church was founded in 1807. It has had many additions and educational wings added including a very impressive sanctuary. #12 Mt. Hope Continuing on down Concord Road you'll pass Neuman College (Catholic). It covers many acres of rolling hills and retains a natural look (more on this location later). The next intersection is called Five Points....and is in an area now called Village Green. I kept reading about that and thought it must be the park near city hall! But in fact, it's a "neighborhood" and all directions are given from Five Points and Village Green. The main road thru this intersection of course, is Route #452. It's the "strip" for gas stations and McDonalds and grocery stores etc. Nothing colonial or historical about it at all! This is pure suburbia. <grin> Now let's talk about John Duttons original land. You've seen it laid out on the old map.....from the Aston Twp. line on the left side -- across to the Chester River on the right side. When it was finally surveyed carefully, it was determined to contain 590 acres. Now then.....Cope says it was a mile and 3/4's long and half a mile wide. So now I'm confused......when I look at that section on TODAYs township map......it's sure longer than 1-3/4 miles. It's more like 3 miles from side to side!! Is it possible that Cope was only talking about one section of it? Can anyone tell me how many acres OUGHTA fit into a piece of land that size?? Of course later maps show additional Dutton acreage, purchased in later years...on the north side of the west branch of the Chester also. It's all very confusing. By the way -- in a little booklet called Aston Township Tricentennial 300 - it mentions that this area was originally called Northley. In 1686, Edward Carter, the constable, changed the name from Northley to Aston after his hometown in Bampton Parish, Oxfordshire, England. So it appears that John Dutton wasn't responsible for naming the area after all - as we at first assumed. Now let's talk about Mary (Darlington) Dutton. Since she's our maternal g-g-?-g-grandmother, her ancestry also becomes important. It appears that our good friend Gilbert Cope was a prodigious historian and writer. I was amazed at all the books I encountered that were written by him! (...and one book of abstracted wills for Chester Co., done in 1896...was gathered by a James Mortimer Dutton FOR Gilbert Cope....so one of our earlier cousins was interested in family history too!) Anyhow...Cope wrote a DARLINGTON Family History....much like the Dutton book. (Actually it's bigger!) I found it about 10 minutes before the library closed (@#$%) and could only study it in fast forward! I believe, however, that it has been copied and is available on microfilm from Salt Lake. I will check on that. Unfortunately, the book I saw had a big note on it.....TOO fragile for copying......so I couldn't have copied anything from it anyhow. My quick look: The text began in the year 1282 with a John Darlington, the Arch Bishop of Dublin, Ireland....but mentioned, tongue in cheek, that, considering the rules of celibacy,,,the family probably descends from a collateral relative! It then picks the name up in London in the year 1484...there's a whole chapter on "Our English Kith and Kin," and it has a coat of arms that says "some Darlingtons in England make use of the arms as shown." It then jumps right to the Darlingtons of ASTON!! I caught a glimpse of Job and Mary Darlington being married at GREAT BUDWORTH (!) It was Job who Cope says was a brother to Mary (Darlington) Dutton. It goes on to mention briefly Thomas Rowland of Acton, Cheshire (another family connection?) and there is a nice section on the Duttons. Here it states that John Dutton's death was recorded in the Philadelphia Friends minutes...and suggests that he died there. (I knew I saw that somewhere!) On page 53 it talks about John Nield....who Mary Dutton married after John Dutton's death. And it mentions that after the brothers Abraham and John Darlington migrated to Chester Co. PA (they were Job's sons) ....succeeding generations then moved westward into West Chester...where even today I drove down Darlington Street! There is also a little village over that way called Darlington....the name being as familiar in the area as the Dutton name. The History of Chester Co., PA Gen& Biographical record also has information on the family and succeeding generations...including some b/w pictures of a couple of the later Darlington men - grumpy looking fellows. Then there was George E. Darlington, the famous Delaware County lawyer who I believe served in the State Government. I found mention of him everywhere. During a visit to the Chester Co.Hist. Soc. I was able to look at a small portion of the Gilbert Cope PHOTOGRAPHIC collection.....of some 2500 pictures he took during his life time.....an unbelievable array of buildings and wagons and mills and best of all...people. From the good index I could find only one that caught my interest....titled Mary Darlington and her daughters. It's very dark but you can see the old white haired lady sitting on the porch with 3 younger girls. She must be a 3rd or 4th generation cousin. #13 Mary Darlington I also found several long news clips about the Darlington family....one headlined as follows: "Jesse Darlington, 75, tills the soil deeded by William Penn - a 293-year Heritage of Farming." It makes for very interesting reading....and if you would like to see it, you'll have to ask and I'll mail you a xerox. (He's described as something of an eccentric - won't buy a mechanized tractor....still plows the fields with a team of old horses!!) I also found the original invitation to the wedding reception of Mary Dutton and Jared Darlington....the gathering to be held at Thomas Dutton's house on "4th month 7th, 1831." (whatever that means) Hand written - very quaint.....(copy on request.) And lastly, I found a really neat little booklet (probably of limited production) called "The Sesqui-Centennial Gathering of THE CLAN DARLINGTON." I was able to copy the first 20 or so pages of text but not the following pages of "who begot whos." It tells about the 1853 gathering of the family in Chester Co. PA...gives several of the speeches and gives an interesting overview of the family. Here again, if you have an interest in the Darlington family.....ask and I'll send you a copy. This a very rare booklet and there are very few copies to be found. (Hmmm.....I wonder if the Mormons might have copied it too??? I'll check!) Think this is enough for today. I'll be away on business over the weekend but I'll try to get maybe three more stories to you next week---about (1) Thomas Dutton who lived to be over a hundred years old....and his house, (2) the search for the Kingsman Dutton house, and (3) the thrilling story of the Chester Creek FLOOD and how the Dutton mills washed away with Jonathan hanging on for his life! Hope to have the picture problems cleared up by then so you can see it all in living color! ;-) (Let me hear how these 3 come through, Carole!) We'll talk again......Phyllis