Thomas Lloyd ^{2 3 4}

  General Notes:

Thomas immigrated to Pennsylvania some time between 1710 and 1719. He established his home on his own farm in the Manor of Moreland (now Upper Moreland Township), Philadelphia County (now Montgomery County), about 17 miles north of present downtown Philadelphia, and lived there until his death at age 83. He may have come to America with his older sister Martha and lived in her hom e when he was in his teens. In 1713 at age 25 she married Thomas Wood, ten years older, born in England, an uneducated but successful landowner and farmer in the Manor of Moreland. It was from them that Thomas Lloyd purchased 112 acres of land in 1720 and another 50 acres in 1737. A third tract comprised 40 acres and was acquired in 1739 from the heirs of Dr. Nicholas More, to whom William Penn had granted the 'Manor' of 10,000 acres at a token price, and which Dr. More named the Manor of Moreland after himself. Thomas married Mary Harker in 1724 when he was age 26. She was 24. They had nine children, t he oldest of whom was a son John (II), whose descendants include Josephine Lloyd (Steere). Two sons were named Adam, doubtless because the first died ver y young. In Thomas' Last Will and Testament, dated January 1780, only four children are named - sons John, Thomas, Samuel and James, and two of these - Samuel and James - are described as then deceased; the other four sons and the daughter were also presumably deceased by that date. Beginning in 1758 Thom as deeded portions of his 200 acre farm to his sons, but evidently continued to live on the estate. 92.5 acres were sold to the eldest son, John, in that year. 27 acres were sold to the third son, Samuel, in 1762. Samuel sold a half interest in this land to the fourth son, James and together they constructed a mill along the Pennypack Creek. [Of some interest to Hal Richerson is that Byberry Road borders the Thomas Lloyd farm on the northeast. During th e summer of 1949, Hal worked with a Presbyterian Church Youth Service Unit at Philadelphia State Hospital, known locally as Byberry.] The location and environs of the Philadelphia city lot is described under notes for John Jr., Th omas' brother. Thomas and his family were Quakers, active members of the Horsham Friends Preparative Meeting, three miles from their home. Thomas Lloyd was one of the unsung real founders of Pennsylvania, a substantial property owner and resident near the capital through the sixty years leading up to the American Revolution.

  Research Notes:

The Lloyd’s were among the earliest pioneers in the area. They occupied their Family Homestead on Davisville Road near Byberry, in the northern portion of Upper Moreland Township for almost 200 years, from 1720 to 1913. One of the houses built in 1758 still stands today at 3840 Davisville Road, and was better known in recent years as the Betz Nursery.
Thomas Lloyd was born in 1698 in Radnorshire, England. He was the son of John Lloyd, a working class artisan, a glover by trade. In England, John Lloyd purchased 100 acres in Radnor Township from William Penn, but it was his son Thomas and his sister Martha that got to come to America around 1720. Thomas quickly sold the 100 acres in Radnor and purchased 112 acres in Moreland Township from his brother-in-law (Martha’s husband) Thomas Wood.
Later, in 1739, Lloyd expanded his property by purchasing an additional 40 acres of adjacent land from Hannah Harrison (granddaughter of Dr. Nicholas More). In present day landmarks, the Lloyd Homestead was a somewhat rectangular parcel which ran from Mason’s Mill Road, westerly along Byberry Road to just west of Meyer Lane, south to a point where Davisville Road crosses the Trenton Cut-Off, and easterly back to Mason’s Mill Road.
It is believed that he built the first permanent structure on the land sometime between 1720 and 1724, when he married Mary Harker, from Middletown Township, Bucks County. Thomas Lloyd lived in that homestead until his death in 1781, at the age of 83. The structure stood for nearly 100 more years until it was torn down for the right-of-way of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Trenton cut-off, constructed in 1890.
Thomas’ eldest son John Lloyd II (1725-1797) married Susannah Field in 1750, and about that time purchased 92 acres from his father. He used this property to construct a house for his family around 1758. This house, located near the intersection of Davisville and Byberry road is still standing today and was known for many years as the Betz Nursery.
John II followed in his father’s footsteps and built up a fairly large farm through a series of additional purchases. He soon owned all the land from the Pennypack Creek at Davisville Road to Byberry Road to Mason’s Mill Road, which today would include the Willow Grove Day Camp and former Lichtenstein Farm, and the Carson Simpson farm.
In 1758, Thomas Lloyd also sold 27 acres along Mason’s Mill Road to another son Samuel. On this land in 1762, Samuel & his brother James constructed a mill along the Pennypack. The mill property was sold from the Lloyd family in 1768 to Joseph Hart, who later sold it to Dr. William Hallowell who we know operated a mill there from around 1851 to 1893. The Mason Family purchased the mill in the 1800’s, where it received its present day’s name of Mason’s Mill. The mill and miller’s house were torn down in the 1970’s with the construction of Mason’s Mill Park.
After Thomas Lloyd’s death in 1781, John disposed of most of the farmland except for the 92 acres that included his house. That property remained in the Lloyd family until 1913, when Charles W. Lloyd was the last Lloyd to own the property. In 1924 Harry Betz purchased the property for nursery, and extensively renovated the house John Lloyd built in 1758. The surrounding acres were eventually sold for development, and the one-acre containing the house was sold by the Betz family in 1981 to Captain Thomas J. Gallagher.
During the extensive renovations in 1925, Harry Betz found a piece of baseboard in a wall that was inscribed by John Lloyd, Jr., great-grandson of John Lloyd II:
Hatboro, Oct.3, 1878: To whom it may concern, I John Lloyd Jr., the son of John Lloyd Sr. wrote on this old wash board block of this room that has been down on this floor for 52 years, and now I am closing up this washboard. I thought I would tell the man that takes this out, think of the one that put it in here and those before him. Yours, John Lloyd. I John Lloyd’s wife will add, we in full union have made about the last tear out about this house and wonder who will be the next one that undertakes it. Mrs. Lloyd.
The Lloyd house is two full stories, constructed of fieldstone, covered with a 19th century stucco. There is also evidence of an old well in he basement of the home.
The Lloyds were Quakers, and members of the Horsham Friends meeting House. Thomas Lloyd, his wife Mary, John II, and other Lloyds are buried in the Horsham Friends Burial Grounds.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Religion: Quaker. ¹

Thomas married Mary Harker, daughter of Adam Harker and Grace Hall, on 14 Mar 1724 in Middletown Township, Bucks, Pennsylvania.^{1 2} (Mary Harker was born on 6 Aug 1700 in Middletown Township, Bucks, Pennsylvania ^{1 2} and died on 29 Jul 1765 in Moreland Township, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ^{1 2}.)