from CHESTER AND ITS VICINITY DELAWARE COUNTY IN PA, by Martin 1877

"John Sharples came from Ratherton or Hadderton, in the county of Chester, England.  He married Jane Moore of the same place, in 1662.  They had 7 children, Phebe, John, Thomas, James, Caleb, Jane and Joseph.  The whole family, with the exception of Thomas, who died at sea, 5mo, landed at Upland on 6mo 4, 1862, more than 2 months before the arrival of the "Welcome."  IN one place (Chester MM records, "Thomas Sharpless, son of John and Jane Sharpless, dyed the 17th 1st mo, 1682, at sea."

At Sharpless; Mills on Ridley Creek, there is quite a curiosity.  Engraven on a rock on the banks of the creek, are the initials I.S. 1682, which marks the spot where John Sharpless, the original settler, erected his cabin, on his purchase that year. 

In the records of the Sharpless family, it is set forth that they took up part of the land purchased of Wm Penn on Ridley Creek, about 2 miles NW from Chester, where they fell a large tree and took shelter among the boughs thereof, about 6 weeks, in which time they built a cabin against a rock, which answered for their chimney back,  and now contains the date of the year when the cabin was built - viz, 1682, in which they dwelt 20 years, and there they all died, except the mother and 3 sons, in which time Joseph learned the trade of house carpenter, and when of age built the first dwelling house, which is now standing *(1877) and occupied by one of their descendants.  Part of the original floors are still in use, being fastened down with wooden pins of about an inch n diameter, instead of nails.  It is a sizeable 2 story dwelling; the walls of stone."