... Mahlon [Hall], settled in Blockley, probably on land which had been devised to him by his father, who had purchased if from Veronica Warner. He may have also purchased additional land, and it is said that much of his property is now within the limits of the park, adjoining Belmont, the former residence of Judge Peters, and also Lansdowne, the residence of the Governor, John Penn, who purchased some of the land from Mahlon [Hall] to make up his place. In addition to farming, he carried on the blacksmithing business, and his account book shows that Governor John Penn, the last of the colonial governors, was one of his best patrons. He married Jane, daughter of James and Elizabeth Higgs, of Bristol. Among the reminiscences of the Revolution related by Mahlon Hall to his descendants, was one which he was accustomed to tell his granddaughter, Matilda Heston, to the effect that an officer in command of a party of British soldiers, outstripping his men, arrived alone at the farmhouse, and in the course of conversation stated to Mr. Hall that he (the officer) came from Birmingham, England, and, upon hearing that the father of Mr. Hall had been a native of the same place, forbade his men from pillaging the house. ...
