Richard Backhouse, one of the proprietors of the Durham Iron Works, records that in May 1779, he stopped at Barclay's, and again stopped there when enroute to Newtown on August 8, 1779, and on his return trip
August 21, he stopped at Brackenridges. These doubtless refer to the same hostelerv, known as Three Tuns Inn, at Gallows Hill in Springfield township, which John Barclay bought June 7, 1787, of Philip Jacoby, and evidently leased to Samuel Brackenridge, who obtained a license to keep a hotel in 1779, saying in his appli- cation that — "He had married the widow of Jacob Kookert, who in his lifetime had kept a noted hotel at that place."
At the June sessions 1781. John Barclay, Esquire. presented his petition for a license, setting forth, that "he
ation belonging to Samuel Brackenridge in Springfield Township, known by the name of Cooker's (Kookert) tavern, and lying on the forks of the great road leading from Easton and Bethlehem to Philadelphia." On March 24, 1790, John Barclay conveyed the Three Tuns Inn property to Samuel Brackenridge.
On June 7, 1787, he bought from Philip Jacoby, 174 Acres 67 Perches of land at Gallows Hill in Springfield township, on which the Three Tuns Inn was located. On March 24, 1790, he conveyed the eastern part, 53 acres 100 perches, the hotel part, to Samuel Brackenridge, and three years later, on March 20, 1793, after he had removed from Springfield, he conveyed the remainder of his Springfield real estate, 130 acres 68 perches to John Smith.
[Full article by By Dr. B. F. FACKENTHAL, Jr., RIEGELSVIL.LE, PA. (Doylestown Meeting, May 7, 1938) ]
