USA > Delaware > History of the state of Delaware, Volume II > Part 19
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Duck creek has held an important place in the commerce of the Hundred. The stream is navigable as far as Smyrna Landing and upon it for years the products of Kent County were transported to market. Little Duck, or Leipsic, creek is navigable as far as Leipsic. Both of these streams have of late years been included in those marked for improvement by government appropriation. The Duck creek marshes fur- nished for many years one of the great industries of the Hun- dred-the capture of muskrat pelts. Fully one hundred thousand muskrat hides each year were shipped from Leipsic.
Several settlements were made in Duck Creek Hundred in 1675. In some cases the actual settlement on the land was made before the survey was made. One of the earliest tracts
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located was the Bombay Hook tract. It was granted by pat- ent from Governor Edward Cantwell, and contained six hun- dred acres. The Indian rights to this tract were given to Peter Bayard by Chief Sachem Meckacksit " for and in con- sideration of one gun, four handfuls of powder, three motts coats, one anchor of liquor and one kettle before signing."
Peter Bayard was the son of Nicholas Bayard, who married Anneke, sister of Peter Stuyvesant. Bayard built " Bohemia Manor" at Bombay Hook, where he lived for four years. Because of its location and pleasant surroundings, Bombay Hook became early a pleasure resort. During the war of 1812 British soldiers made constant depredations on this tract. At Bombay Hook landing a lighthouse was built in 1829. The tract was also known as Bombey's Hook, Bompeis Hook, and by the Indians was called Novsink.
Among the early settlers in Duck Creek Hundred was Francis Whitwell, to whom one thousand acres was warranted in 1675, located in Whitehall Neck, and the name Whitehall is supposed to have been given by Whitwell to the home which he established there. Five years later Whitwell and John Richardson were granted two thousand acres in the western part of the Hundred. Another early settler was Nicholas Bartlett, and Jacob Allee, prior to 1760, was granted three tracts in this Hundred aggregating nearly eight hundred acres. William Frampton, John Hillyard and Simon Irons were also early settlers and large land owners. William Shurmer had warranted to him one thousand acres called Gravesend. This land afterward came into the possession of William Green and Francis Barney, and later part of it was owned by Benjamin Shurmer, and on the latter tract was laid out the first town in the Hundred, the town being known at that time as Duck Creek. This town has now sunken into insignificance, and has for many years been known as Salis- bury. It is on the Kent side of Duck creek. In early days it was a flourishing hamlet, with several stores, a blacksmith shop, a Friends' meeting and an Episcopal church. The
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town was laid out by Benjamin Shurmer prior to 1718. The name Duck Creek, as applied to the town, seems to have con- tinued but a short while, as the village was called Salisbury as early as 1718.
Less than a mile below this original town the main State Road crosses another main road running east and west, and this point for many years was called Duck Creek Cross Roads, and the laying out of a town at this latter point seems to have sounded a death knell for the original town, for Duck Creek Cross Roads grew rapidly, and in course of time assumed the more dignified name of Smyrna. The old brick store-house still standing at the southwest corner of the roads in Salisbury was for a generation and more occupied by Silas Spearman. His descendants have lived in and about Smyrna until within a few years. The grist-mill which for many years has been known as the Denney Mill, just across the creek in Blackbird Hundred, was operated for many years by Robert Holding.
The handsomest country seat in this Hundred, and possibly not exceeded for beauty and attractiveness by any other coun- try residence in the State, is Belmont Hall, situated on the State Road about a half mile below Smyrna. It has for many years been the home of Mrs. Carrie E. P. Speakman. The mansion house was the residence of Governor Thomas Collins, who purchased it in 1781 from John Moore. At the death of Governor Collins the property descended to his son, Dr. Wil- liam Collins, and from him it went to John Cloak, and from the latter it descended to Mrs. Speakman, who has been the owner since 1867. The original house was built in 1753, but it was much enlarged and improved during the ownership of Governor Collins. The stately trees and beautiful park that surround it make it a most charming residence, and it is the pride of the neighborhood. Mrs. Speakman dispenses a rare hospitality and fittingly presides over the stately mansion.
A Friends' meeting was established at the town of Duck Creek as early as 1705. It is uncertain whether it continued without interruption from that date. In 1769 a lot was con-
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BELMONT HALL, NEAR SMYRNA.
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veyed to trustees on which to build a meeting-house. The meeting undoubtedly continued from the latter date until after 1800, but the meeting-house gradually went to decay, and in 1830 only the ruins of it remained. All vestige of it is now gone. The graveyard surrounding the building is intact, and a depression in the ground indicates where the former meeting-house stood, but only one or two tombstones remain to indicate that it was once a graveyard. It is claimed that the Friends, in addition to their meeting-house, had a school-house on lands adjoining, but that, too, has long since disappeared.
Between Bombay Hook Lighthouse and Smyrna was a strip of land known as " Bear Garden." It was owned by William Frampton and surveyed by him to his daughter Elizabeth, who owned " Whitwell's Chance," April 24, 1687. "Robert's Chance" which afterwards became noted as the residence of John Jay was located on the south side of Duck creek and took its name from Robert Palmatry to whom it was surveyed November 6, 1679. Palmatry afterwards sold this tract to David Fury who sold it in November, 1773, to John Jay.
The principal town of the Hundred is Smyrna, known until 1806 as Duck Creek Cross Roads. The greater part of Smyrna lies in what is known as the " Gravesend " tract which was taken up in 1680 by William Green. James Green, a son of William owned the land through which the King's road passed, and at the point where the King's road was inter- sected by another road from the landing on Duck creek to Maryland. Green began the sale of lands in 1768 to the settlers of Duck Creek Cross Roads. On January 16, 1806, by Act of Assembly, the name was changed to Smyrna and on January 29, 1817, the town was incorporated. Its location can be placed as eight and one-half miles from Delaware Bay, on Green's branch of Duck creek and about half way between Wilmington and Milford. Rothwell's Landing is now the landing-place for Smyrna. Between Smyrna and the landing is an old settlement called Wapping, named after a suburb of
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London. It was at one time a flourishing little settlement but has since gone into decay.
Closely following the Friends came the Episcopalians. The Rev. Thomas Crawford was the first missionary to Kent County and was sent by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, from London, in 1704. He was suc- ceeded in 1711 by the Rev. Mr. Henderson, who in 1733 was succeeded by the Rev. George Frazer. All of these visited and held services in the homes of the members of their faith in Duck Creek Hundred. The establishment of the first Episco- pal Church in the Hundred dates to May 17, 1740, when Thomas Green deeded one square acre of land of the " Grave- send tract " for the purpose of building a chapel and burying ground for Saint Peter's Church at Duck creek."
The first chapel was built under the Rev. Arthur Usher in 1744. In 1762 the Rev. Charles Inglis began the movement for the erection of a new brick church. The brick church that followed was dedicated Trinity Sunday, 1764, under the rectorship of the Rev. Samuel Magaw. During the war of the Revolution the church languished and services were entirely abandoned for some years. In 1786 the vestry of Christ Church, Dover, conferred with the vestry of St. Peter's Church at Duck creek regarding the call of the Rev. Samuel Roe as rector of both parishes. This was done and he served the churches jointly until his death February 8, 1791. From that date until 1827 St. Peter's showed but little life, and in 1827 the brick church was torn down, and a new church erected in Smyrna called St. Peter's Church of Smyrna.
The church has been served by some notable preachers, among whom were Dr. Charles Inglis, who afterwards served as rector of Trinity Church in New York City, and later was Bishop of Nova Scotia, and the Rev. Robert S. Piggott, a descendant of Piggott, Baron of Boorne of Normandy, and a man of scholarly attainments, a prominent Mason and an engraver of no mean ability. In a beautiful cemetery on the site of the original church edifice are the remains of many who
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were linked with the history of the State, among whom are the Commins family, the wife of Governor John Clark, Gover- nor William Temple, Majo" James Chambers, Surgeon George S. Culbreth, U. S. N., and many others.
The honors for second place in the establishment of religious services are about equally divided between the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians. Data, however, is not available as to the exact date of the establishment of the old Duck Creek Presbyterian Church. It was built on a part of the land heretofore referred to as "Pearman's Choice," and was prob- ably organized in 1733. A church was erected that year on Holy Hill, south of Smyrna, and was served for ten years by the Rev. Robert Jamison. From 1791 to 1818 the interest waned and few services were held. In 1846 property on Mt. Vernon street, Smyrna, was purchased, and the church was reorganized. In 1883 a new edifice was erected on Main street, and opened for worship April 6, 1884. The graveyard now used by the Smyrna Presbyterians is the original site of the old church, and is one of the prettiest spots in Kent County. Beneath the green sod on Holy Hill sleep many distinguished colonists and citizens of Delaware. Governor John Clark and United States Senator Presley Spruance lie in this God's-acre.
Methodist adherents point to two congregations of members of their faith in the early days of Duck Creek Hundred. Severson's Methodist Episcopal Church was one of the first frame churches erected in Kent County. It was situated about a mile and a-half from Rothwell's Landing, and was erected in 1784. In the early days it was known as Carroll- ton, but in 1874 the frame structure gave way to a brick edi- fice, which was renamed Severson's after the donor of the land on which the first structure had stood.
The other Methodist Church was Raymond's, built in 1825 on ground donated by James Snow. The building was a pro- duct of the zeal and industry of the members of the congrega- tion. Most of the building materials were manufactured on
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the ground; bricks were burnt and timbers hewn by the indi- vidual members of the congregation.
The Methodists began holding religious services at Duck Creek Cross Roads prior to 1780. The first meetings were held in the house of James L. Stevenson, a small log-house located near the present church site. The denomination soon gained a foothold and Francis Asbury, in his journal, narrates that he spoke there in 1780 to over three hundred people. The first church, a frame structure, was built in 1786 and stood in the present Methodist Cemetery. In 1819 the church was enlarged and served the congregation until 1843 when a lot was bought on Mt. Vernon street, and a new brick church erected on the present church site. In 1871 the old church was torn down and the present building erected although it has been materially improved and enlarged since that time. It has been a separate station since 1845. It is one of the strongest churches in the Wilmington Conference, and has been served by the ablest ministers in that conference.
Roman Catholics did not hold worship in Duck Creek Hun- dred until 1863, when services were held in Smyrna. Twenty years later they purchased the Mt. Vernon street property of the Presbyterians and organized what is known as St. Poly- carp's Roman Catholic Church of Smyrna. The first Sunday- school in the county was organized in 1820 by eight young women of Smyrna. After seven years of activity as a non- sectarian organization, the school disbanded, the members be- coming affiliated with the various denominations of the town.
Duck Creek Hundred has never been noted as a manufac- turing or industrial region. Its rich meadow lands and many streams tend more to agricultural and pastoral pursuits. However, the water-power of the many branches and tribu- taries of Duck creek was utilized and on Green's branch at Salisbury were situated, perhaps the oldest mills in the county. They are located on the "Gravesend tract " and as early as 1717 Richard Empson conducted there, "grist mills, bolting mill, saw mills and other improvements " as disclosed by the old records.
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In old Duck Creek, Peter and Daniel Lowber operated a tan-yard. Israel Peterson also ran a successful tannery at Smyrna. Shipyards were conducted at Smyrna and Roth- well's Landings.
Smyrna has had many small industries. Green's pottery, on Main street, existed for several years, and at one time pianos were made in the town by John H. Pennington. The earliest firm of carriage builders was Benson & Catts, later known as Benson & Co., and still later as Cahoon & Carrow. The business failed soon after the commencement of the Civil War. J. M. Denning was also an early carriage builder in Smyrna, and afterwards the Smyrna Buggy Co. conducted business in the town. Lassell & Curry began wagon building in Smyrna in 1871, and ten years later J. C. Lassell & Co. succeeded to the business. George W. Tilghman was a suc- cessful wagon builder for twenty-five years, beginning in 1865. Joseph L. Beckett was also a wagon builder in Smyrna. His enterprise started in 1882. Several small foundry enterprises were started, but none of them secured much of a foothold.
Richard Mitchell began, prior to 1870, the making of fruit- baskets in the town. In 1887 the firm of Worden & Evans began the manufacture of fruit-baskets in combination with a steam saw-mill and machine-shop that had been started by William Worden ten years before. The Worden Manufac- turing Co. succeeded to the business in 1875, but three years later the firm of Tschudy & Catts bought the plant, and the latter firm conducted the business successfully for several years.
In 1847 James Taylor started a general wheelwrighting and wagon-building business on South Commerce street, and from this grew the larger business of manufacturing, not only wagons, but many lines of agricultural implements, by the firm of G. W. & S. Taylor. In November, 1887, the G. W. & S. Taylor Co. succeeded to the business. The old tannery was one of the institutions of Smyrna for many years. It was founded by John and Alexander Peterson in 1826. In 1837
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John Peterson sold his interest to John Mustard, and the firm name became Peterson & Mustard, and so continued until 1868, when John Peterson died. Horace R. Mustard then became a partner with his father, and they together conducted the business until 1875, when it was discontinued. After- wards the old tannery was used as a basket manufactory by Horace R. Mustard and A. Lee Cummins.
The first canning establishment was opened in Smyrna in 1867 by Joseph V. Hoffecker. A year later, John H. Hoff- ecker, a brother, was admitted as a partner, and in 1877 the latter became sole owner. In 1882 an evaporator was added to the equipment. This enterprise has been for years the most important industry of the town, giving employment to nearly two hundred persons, and proving a large wage-distrib- utor. The business continued under the personal ownership and direction of John H. Hoffecker until his death, in 1900. Since that event, the business has been continued by the J. H. Hoffecker Canning Company, with Walter O. Hoffecker as president and J. Edwin Hoffecker, secretary and treasurer.
Smyrna has two banks; the National Bank of Smyrna, or- ganized in 1821, absorbed an earlier bank, called " The Com- mercial Bank of Delaware," which had been chartered in 1812, and which had its main bank at Smyrna, with a branch at Milford. The Bank of Smyrna came under the national bank- ing system in 1878. Isaac Davis was the first president, serv- ing from 1822 to 1844, he was succeeded by Jacob Stout who served from 1844 to 1847. Jacob Raymond then served from 1847 to 1852, Presley Spruance from 1852 to 1856, Ayres Stockley from 1856 to 1875, George H. Raymond from 1875 to 1876 and David J. Cummins from 1876 until his death, when William H. Janney became president and still continues. The following have served as cashiers : Samuel H. Hodson, Ayres Stockley, William M. Bell, William H. Janney and Eugene Davis, who is the present cashier.
In 1876, a new bank was started in Smyrna and called, " The Fruit Grower's National Bank." George H. Raymond
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was elected first president, and Nathaniel F. Wilds, cashier. John H. Hoffecker succeeded George HI. Raymond as presi- dent and served until his death in 1900, when his son, Walter O. Hoffecker, the present efficient president, was elected to succeed him. The present cashier is S. Gilbert Wilds.
A town hall was erected in 1870, and contains an audi- torium of sufficient size to accommodate public gatherings. A public library was founded in 1857, with Presley Spruance as president. It has been in successful operation since that time. Smyrna supports three hotels. The oldest of these is the Smyrna House. It was built in 1787, and at one time was known as the " Indian King Hotel." In earlier days it was kept by Thomas Hale, Mrs. Comfort Lockwood, Thomas L. Temple, Charles Foxwell, and Jefferson & Clayton. In later years J. Charles Armstrong and Cyrus P. Gears have been the proprietors. The Delaware House was opened as a hotel in 1837, and at first was called. the Steamboat Hotel, but the name was changed in 1856, to the Delaware House. Thomas Jackson was the first proprietor. It was conducted for several years by William Fell. John C. Blizzard is the present proprietor. There is a smaller hotel on Mt. Vernon street, called the Chester House, of which Maria. F. Smith has been the proprietress for several years.
The names of Cummins, Blackiston, Catts, Raymond, Spru- ance and Hoffecker, have long been familiar in Duck Creek Hundred. Daniel Cummins the progenitor of the family of that name settled in the Hundred early in 1700. His son John Cummins showed unusual ability as a merchant, and built up a business that extended many miles around Smyrna and that made him a handsome fortune. John Cummins at his death left a large family ; his sons, George W., David J., and Alexander G., being large land owners, and men of the highest standing in the community. David J. Cummins for many years prior to his death was the honored president of the Bank of Smyrna. Bishop Daniel B. Cummins, of the Re- formed Episcopal Church, was a descendant of John Cummins.
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Duck Creek Hundred has contributed her fair share of men to public affairs. Thomas Collins, who gave honored service to the Revolutionary cause, and who was chosen Governor in 1786, had his residence near Smyrna, and was always a lead- ing citizen of the Hundred. John Cook, who served as Gov- ernor for a few weeks in 1783 as the immediate successor of John Dickinson, was a near neighbor of Thomas Collins, living within sight of the town of Smyrna. John Clark, Governor of the State from 1817 to 1820, was a resident of Appoquinimink Hundred, but his business was transacted at Smyrna, as he lived but a few miles away, and his remains lie at rest in the Presbyterian graveyard just south of the town. William Temple, who served repeatedly in both branches of the General Assembly, and who as Speaker of the House of Representatives became Governor in 1846, was a life-long resident of Duck Creek Hundred, and for many years a lead- ing merchant in Smyrna.
Smyrna has had no better citizen than John H. Hoffecker. He was a descendant of Henry Hoffecker, who came from Germany to America in the first half of the seventeenth cen- tury and settled in Kent County. John H. Hoffecker was born in 1827, and his boyhood days were spent on a farm near Smyrna, and he received only the education which the country schools of that time afforded. He continued on the farm, which came to him at his father's death, until 1868, when he joined with his brother, Joseph V. Hoffecker, in the canning business in Smyrna.
He at once gained the high regard of the community. For integrity and square dealing no man stood higher. He showed wise judgment in business, and was always interested in mat- ters that tended towards public improvement. It was natural that he should be called to act as town commissioner and on the school board. He was one of the leaders in procuring water-works for the town and in the erection of the large and creditable school building that for twenty-five years past has accommodated the school population of the town.
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JOHN H. HOFFECKER. 1827-1900.
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His early political affiliations were with the Whig party, but in 1856 he cast his vote for John C. Fremont, the Repub- lican candidate for President, and ever after was identified with the Republican party. His party was in the minority in the State during most of his life, but he was honored by selection to its National Conventions on many occasions, and was always recognized as a Kent County leader.
In 1888 he was elected a member of the State House of Representatives, and being pre-eminently fitted for the place was elected Speaker. He was further honored by being named, in 1889, with Thomas F. Bayard and Beniah L. Lewis as one of the three Delaware Commissioners to resurvey and mark the circular boundary between this State and Penn- sylvania.
In 1896 he was nominated by the Union Republican party for the office of Governor, an office for which he had peculiar fitness and to which he should have been elected, but owing to factional strife among the Republicans of the State another Republican ticket was placed in the field and the Democratic candidate, Ebe. W. Tunnell, was elected. Mr. Hoffecker polled a very large majority of the Republican votes in the State. Two years later both Republican parties in the State nominated him for Representative in Congress, and in a measure he was vindicated by being triumphantly elected to that office. He was a member of Congress at the time of his death.
Mr. Hoffecker was a man of handsome physique, and withal a Christian gentleman. He had been a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church since boyhood, and nowhere was he more greatly missed than in Wesley M. E. Church in Smyrna, where for many years he had served as trustee, steward and superintendent of the Sunday-school. His useful life ended with his sudden death at his home in Smyrna on June 16, 1900, and his remains were laid to rest with his ancestors in the Methodist cemetery in that town.
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KENTON HUNDRED.
Kenton Hundred follows Duck Creek Hundred geographic- ally. This Hundred was created by an act of the General Assembly, February 3, 1869. It was formed from Duck Creek and Little Creek Hundreds, and comprises all the original territory of those Hundreds which lies west of the Delaware Railroad.
The boundaries of Kenton Hundred are: On the north, Blackbird Hundred of New Castle County and Duck Creek ; on the east, the Delaware Railroad; on the southwest, Dover Hundred and Fork Branch of St. Jones creek, and on the west by the State of Maryland. Little Duck creek runs through the center of the Hundred, and its several branches keep the meadow lands well watered.
Early settlements in the new lands of America were usually made along the waterways, where the settlers had a conve- nient and easy means of transportation, and in grants of land in the Hundreds of Duck Creek and Little Creek the settlers followed the course of their neighbors in other Hundreds. Most of the settlers in Kenton Hundred were English, and the greater portion of the land was known as the " Manor of Freith." "Freith " was a tract of ten thousand acres laid off by William Penn under warrant and survey bearing date of May 3, 1683. A portion of this tract was purchased by the Bristol Naval Store Company in 1714, and Benjamin Shurmer took three thousand one hundred and twenty-five acres of the tract on a branch of Duck creek. Walter Dulany in 1706, took up a large tract of this land on Freith as did also Captain Richard Smith in 1710. South of the Dulany tract was what was known as the " Deer Park " tract comprising two thous- and two hundred and fifty-five acres. This tract was granted to Benjamin Blackiston June 14, 1733, by Lord Baltimore. Samuel Chew also took up lands on the west side of the Hun- dred and in the Maryland territory. Other large property owners and early settlers in this hundred were William Ellins- worth who received one thousand and twenty-five acres of the
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