Thomas John Bawden

BAWDEN, TERRILL, BENTON, PENNYPACKER, HIGH

Posted By: Carol Bawden (email)
Date: 4/3/2007 at 14:27:39

THOMAS JOHN BAWDEN, sixth child of Stephen and Mary Terrill Bawden, born 10 February 1855 in Norristown, Montgomery County, PA. He came to Rockingham Township when he was 4 yo. He attended rural schools (not Davenport public schools which was an option).
He married Anna Benton 5 May 1879 in Davenport. She was born 26 March 1858 in Davenport, dtr of Richard and Margaret Pennypacker High Benton. Richard came to Davenport in the 1840s, was proprietor of the Scott Hotel, located at First (River Dr.) and Harrison Streets.
Thomas lived at his father's "Valley Place Farm" for over 54 yrs. He farmed with his father, and as the town grew around the homestead, he platted the Bawden Addition in 1895, naming 3 streets after his daughters: Elsie Avenue, Minnie Avenue and Ada Avenue. Ada Ave. no longer exists. He founded the Valley Place Investment Co., in which Stephen Bawden's children participated in the sale of the original farm land.
He built the home at 3215 Rockingham Rd in 1893 where he died 14 January 1914 of uremia. "Annie" died there 29 November 1933. They are buried in Davenport's Oakdale Memorial Gardens with daughters and son-in-law Carl Finne. (Sec 13 Lot 156)