Colonel Richard Thomas III
The Fighting Quaker

Richard Thomas III, the child of Richard Thomas and Phebe Ashbridge, was born at his parents home in 1744.     Despite being raised Quaker he was the first Lieutenant Colonel of Chester County's 1st Regiment in the Revolutionary War.   On April 19, 1776 he was appointed Colonel of the Fifth Battalion of Associators in the County of Chester.  He led the Chester County regiment in a campaign across New Jersey as far as Amboy.   Thus he became known as the "Fighting Quaker".

In September 1777, shortly after the Battle of Brandywine, Colonel Thomas was in the vicinity of Lionville, PA,  the British sent a party to the Colonel's house hoping they could capture him. However, the Colonel had been warned of this and had escaped to Red Lion.   Since the British soldiers were known to plunder, all the family silver had been buried in the yard.   

Soon the British arrived and began questioning Mrs. Thomas as to her husbands' whereabouts.   Refusing to tell them, the soldiers threatened to hang her to the lintel of the door.   Seeing  four pegs on the kitchen wall they proceeded to carry out their threat.  Evidently, Mrs. Thomas was a "full figured" woman and the first peg broke when they tried to hang her.   Not ones to give up, the soldiers tried the next peg; that too broke. Luckily for Mrs. Thomas the soldiers decided to get on with their plundering.  They had not noticed that of the two remaining pegs, one was iron.

The soldiers started to look for the family silver; of course they didn't find any.  They noticed the grandfather clock, so they choose to take the weights which were made of lead and could be used to make bullets. When they opened the clock they found the few pieces of everyday silver that Mrs. Thomas had quickly stashed there.   Being angry from their inability to find the Colonel, and finding only a small amount of silver, the soldiers proceeded to smash the clock.   The clock was later restored and remains in the family to this day.

After seven years of military service, Col. Richard returned to his farm which had been managed by his brother George. At this time he began a very intensive building program which included the Whitford Lodge, and a two story brick manor house in 1782.   He followed this with Whitford Hall in 1796, and Ivy Cottage in 1800.   

During the same time Col. Richard also served in the Pennsylvania Assembly (1786 - 1798), the Pennsylvania Senate (1790), and he was the first Representative to Congress from Chester Counter in 1794.  He went on to serve in the 4th, 5th and 6th Congresses of the United States.   

Because of his activities during the War, he could no longer practice his Quaker religion, but became very active in the Episcopalian faith.