“Stonehaven,” also known as the John and Sarah Lungren House, was built in 1799. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

John Lundgren grew up and was educated in Sweden and at the age of twenty years he took passage on a boat for the English colonies in America. The boat was shipwrecked off the British coast. After several days, he and numerous other passengers were rescued from the wreckage by a passing vessel. They were carried to Liverpool, England, where John was cared for by the authorities until he fully recovered from sickness due to cold and shock. He again embarked for America, arriving in Philadelphia in 1772. He located at the Falls of the Schuylkill River, in a Swedish colony. After arriving in America, he dropped the “d” in his name and his descendants have since carried the surname of “Lungren.” 

On 30 April 1777, John Lungren married Sarah Garrett. She was a daughter of Morton and Ann Garrett and granddaughter of Garrett and Regina (Huling) Garrettson. The latter dropped the “son” from their surname after their arrival in America from Sweden in the early part of 1700. 

John Lungren became a papermaker. In 1779, he was registered as a taxable inmate of Concord township in Chester County (now Delaware County), being employed in the Wilcox Paper Mill on the west branch of Chester Creek. It was erected in 1727 and was originally called the Ivy Mill. It was the second paper mill built in Pennsylvania and was for one hundred years the mill that made all the paper used for continental and national government paper money. In 1781, Lungren located on Darby creek in Upper Darby township. Here he worked in the paper mill of William Levis, on the site now known as Addingham. In 1782, he was assessed under the Effective Supply Tax, in Northern Liberties in Philadelphia, one pound, six shillings and five pence on a paper mill at the Falls of the Schuylkill which he and Daniel Sowers had leased and in which he retained an interest until 20 April 1784. On this dare, he purchased a paper mill site and fifty-three acres of land from Mark Wilcox. He retained this property until 30 December 1795, when he disposed of it to William Levis. This mill site was on Ridley creek in Upper Providence, and was for many years known as “Bancroft’s Upper Bank.” 

On 2 January 1797, Thomas Griffith of Aston township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, conveyed to John Lungren, a papermaker of Upper Providence, a tract of eighty acres of land for the sum of three hundred and sixty-five pounds. This transaction included certain rights for a mill to be erected by Lungren for the manufacture of paper. On the same day Jonathan Pennell, of the borough of Chester, conveyed to John Lungren, for forty silver dollars, all rights adjoining or abutting on Middletown township for the purpose of effectually completing and making firm and stable the mill dam to be used in connection with the paper mill. The mill site was on Chester Creek in Aston township. A stone paper mill and dam was erected on the site in 1798. Subsequent additions included a stone dwelling house called “The Mansion” in 1799, another stone dwelling house in 1815, a second stone paper mill in 1815, and tenements for seventeen families by 1822. These additions were the beginning of the present town of Lenni. Lungren and his sons manufactured paper at these mills until 1823. In that year, the entire place was sold to William Martin, who named the mill site “Lenni Mills.”

This article was excerpted from A History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and Its People, Volume I, edited by John W. Jordan (New York, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1914), Pages 699-705.

Recommended Reading

Conservation Assessment

Here Lieth
the body of
John Lungren
a native of the province
of Smoland, in Sweden
who departed this life
the 3d day of March 1816
aged 64 years 10 months
and 5 days.
Happy soul they days are ended
With the mourning days below
Go, by Angel guards attended
To the sight of Jesus, go
Waiting to receive they spirit
Lo the Saviour stands above
Shows the purchase of his merit
Preaches out the crown of love

Type of Marker: Headstone
Material: Marble
Issues: Biogrowth, blistering, delamination, sugaring
Recommended Treatment: Cleaning w/biocide, consolidation, fill cracks/blisters, patching, resetting

Evaluation
Historic Integrity: Intact
Structural Integrity: Good
Material Integrity: Fair
Legible Inscription: Good
Axis Tilt Lean Direction: Side
Axis Tilt Lean Degree: 5-15 deg.

Marker Details
Inventory Number: 29
Historic Number: 476
Ledger Book Number: 67
Cemetery Section: 3
Orientation: West
Marker Height/Length (in): 29
Marker Width (in): 14
Marker Thickness/Depth (in): 1