156
RIDDELLS OF PARKMOUNT, IRELAND.
hands. In three years' time he removed to a larger building on Chester
Creek, and commenced operations with three hundred mule spindles, and the
necessary machinery used in preparation; he remained there prosperously
engaged for twelve years. In 1842 he purchased property at Pennsgrove,
in Delaware County, which he named "Glen-Riddle," for Glen-Riddell, the
residence of a branch of the family in Scotland. This locality was well
chosen; a beautiful valley on Chester Creek, about fifteen miles from Phil-
adelphia, was the place suited to Mr. Riddle's mind, and here he has added
acre to acre and mill to mill, until at present the estate consists of a tract
of land of several hundred acres, worth about three hundred dollars per
acre. There are five large mills and more than two hundred dwellings in
the town, occupied principally by the mill-operatives, of whom there are
about five hundred employed. The town, a post-office, and railway-sta-
tion derive their name from their projector, Mr. Riddle.
The mills ope-
rate nearly ten thousand four hundred cotton and woolen spindles, with
all the machinery for the preparatory work, and two hundred and seventy
power looms; these are driven by two water-wheels and a powerful Cor-
liss engine. Here Mr. Riddle has prosecuted his business for more than
thirty years, with constantly increasing prosperity, as the demand for his
manufactures augments every year. Mr. Riddle's personal appearance is
very marked; he is short, quite corpulent, and carries an expression of
great determination in his face. In conversation he is very jocose and
sarcastic; has a great fund of anecdotes, and can relate them in a pecul-
iarly interesting way. He is fully engaged in his business operations,
conducting the various branches with great system and carefulness. He
has admitted other members of the family, and the business is now car-
ried on under the firm-name of Samuel Riddle, Son & Co. In addition
to the business carried on at Glen-Riddle, they have a large business as
commission merchants in Philadelphia.
[The author was the guest of Samuel Riddle for a few days after the
family meeting held in Philadelphia, in 1876, and will ever remember with
the most pleasing emotions the hours passed in this beautiful village; ev-
ery attention was bestowed by this hospitable family which could conduce
to the enjoyment of my visit. On the 4th of July, Mr. Riddle's son, in com-
pany with the mother and little Maude, the youngest daughter, took me on
a pleasant drive with a fine barouche drawn by a pair of noble horses; the
route lay through a very rich farming district, and the prospect from some
of the grand hills over which we made our way was extensive and pic-
turesque; and the cherries that were gathered from the large trees by
the roadside were delicious to the taste. Glen-Riddle was appropriately
named. Beautiful hills surround the village on every side, and nestling
at their base, embowered in groves of luxuriant hard-wood trees that
grow along the margin of the creek, stand the mills, and neat, white
dwellings, where home the families employed by Mr. Riddle. Directly in
front of the mansion-house of Mr. Riddle rises a large hill, the surface in
smooth pastures, except near the summit, where we reach the borders of
a beautiful grove of wide-spreading trees, a cool and delightful resting-
place in a summer day. The family residence is surrounded with parks
and gardens, tastefully laid out and ornamented with a variety of plants
and flowers; there are fountains pouring forth their sparkling waters
upon the grassy banks along the garden avenues, and all overshadowed
with the foliage of the wide-spreading trees that everywhere abound.
The house, constructed of solid stone, is spacious and stately, situated on
