Ashmead's History of Delaware County finds him passing counterfiet bills then turning up floating in a river: http://www.delcohistory.org/ashmead/ashmead_pg177.htm "On Nov. 23, 1841, Thomas Vanderslice, known to the detectives as "Old Tom Vanderslice," was tried for passing counterfeit money. He refused to employ or have counsel assigned to conduct his defense, but managed his own case, and made a speech to the court (Judge Bell was on the bench) which was remarkable for its boldness and impudence. He was convicted, and sentenced to three years' incarceration in the penitentiary. After his discharge, on March 24, 1848, he fell into the river at Dock Street wharf, Philadelphia, and was drowned." Hmm. Fell in the river. Seems likely he could have been helped. I'm curious who Nataniel Reed was and why he was killed. Ellwood Roberts' Biographical Annals, 1904: Montgomery Co, PA Vol I - Part 9: pp. 174 - 198. Quite a lot on the family here including some notable folks. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/montgomery/roberts/roberts109.html " The Vanderslices are one of the oldest families in Pennsylvania. Reynier van Der Sluys came from Harlingen, North Friesland, Holland, and settled in Germantown, in Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania, about 1700. He and his son Adrien were made citizens September 29, 1709, along with Daniel Pastorius, Dirk Keyser, and several other aliens. Their petition for citizenship was pending for several years. Reynier Van Der Sluys died in Germantown in 1713." ..."Thomas Vanderslice, born in 1736, served as a trooper during the Revolutionary war, and afterwards lived at the old homestead, dying there. It is still standing at the entrance to the Gumbes property. He married Tacy, daughter of Captain Joseph Richardson, a great-grandson of Samuel Richardson, who came from Jamaica, in 1684, and was a judge and also a member of the colonial council. Tacy Richardson's great-grandmother was a daughter of judge John Dean and Catharine Aubrey, born in 1637, Thomas and Tacy Vanderslice had nine children, as follows: Edward, Anne, John, Thomas, Marcus, Augustus, Mary, Jacob, and Joseph. All but two of these, with their parents, are buried in the graveyard of Lower Providence Presbyterian church at Mount Kirk." I can't answer as far as newspaper archives. I was hoping maybe some of the great collection of Maryland newspaper archives might cover it. They have a lot of material before and after this, but not during the specific year of the case. Still, I'd like to remind folks that there are a lot of Maryland papers online in the Maryland Arcives at: <http://www.archivesofmaryland.com/megafile/msa/speccol/sc4800/sc4872/html/n ewspapers.html> These are microfilms offered online. It would be great if more microfilm would be offered in this format. They cover dates from early 1700s to late 1800s but very sporadic date ranges. There are a lot from the first decade of the 1800s. Since some of these are printed on the Eastern Shores they may have been printed just miles from Chester County. Also, on a tangent, there's not much I can find in direct reference to Chester County but I found a great UK history online site that includes a letterbook from a merchant who traded extensively with partners in Maryland in the 1770's. I found these a fascinating read skimming through them. It gives you some idea of the difficulties in trading and it covers the period of the Boston Tea Party, bankruptcies, and some of the more interesting old letters I've read. They cite a lot of US partners and you can see the economic uneasyness as a civil war with the crown is felt brewing. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?pubid=233 Joshua Johnson's Letterbook 1771-1774 Letters from a merchant in London to his partners in Maryland Jacob M. Price (editor) (1979) From MSS in the Hall of Records of the State of Maryland. Reproduced by permission of the London Record Society. I didn't even realize that was from MD archives also. I'm sure there's other great stufdf at that site. This looks interesting even if based in London: Richard Hutton's complaints book The notebook of the Steward of the Quaker workhouse at Clerkenwell, 1711-1737 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?pubid=236 The notebook of the steward of a radical eighteenth-century experiment in co-operativism, from a MS held in the archives of the Friends' School, Saffron Walden. By permission of the London Record Society. The Quaker Workhouse at Clerkenwell was one of the most radical experiments in co-operativism made in the eighteenth century. 'Richard Hutton's Complaints Book' is the personal notebook of this institution's fourth and most successful steward. Hutton was steward of the Quaker workhouse from 1711 to 1737, and used this notebook to record events in both his life and the life of the institution he managed. The complaints book was not a personal diary nor was it a letter book, it was rather Richard Hutton's general notebook, wherein he would complain and speculate, record compliments and note insults. Through it Hutton has given us a view into the internal workings and problems of an eighteenthcentury institution.

Who knows what the whole situation was....a brother of one of my ancestors in Va completed a successful business deal and was. apparently, 'celebrating'. He was angry when he got to the ferry to see he'd 'missed the boat' (literally), and so decided to just ride his horse across the Rappahannock. Things took a turn for the worse and he drowned . The returning ferry scooped him out of the water with oyster tongs! S. "After his discharge, on March 24, 1848, he fell into the river at Dock Street wharf, Philadelphia, and was drowned." Hmm. Fell in the river. Seems likely he could have been helped. " -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.392 / Virus Database: 268.5.5/334 - Release Date: 5/8/2006