USA > Delaware > History of the state of Delaware, Volume II > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
About the year 1827, Jacquet, Carr & Company, opened large quarries of Brandywine bluestone near Quarryville, shipping great quantities of stone through their own canal to the river, and thence by sloops to the Delaware Breakwater for use there. The Bellevue Granite Quarry Company ope- rated at the same point, and shipped their product by rail, employing at one time two hundred men. Afterwards the same quarry was operated by Hughes, Bangs and Company. In 1885 Philip P. Tyre opened a fine granite quarry on the Shellpot, where the Philadelphia turnpike crosses the creek, from which blocks of stone four feet in thickness have been taken.
Rockland is a thrifty village picturesquely located on either bank of the Brandywine, a few miles from Wilmington. The large paper mills of Jessup and Moore, five in number, three in Delaware and two in Maryland, furnish employment for eight hundred and fifty men, over half being the residents of the village. This industry has been highly prosperous for many years.
Grubb's Landing on the Delaware was one of the first shipping points in the Hundred, and its traffic through sailing vessels was laige in colonial times. British sloops occasionally landed here during the War of the Revolution and the " Practical Farmer Inn," a famous tavern one hundred and twenty-five years ago, situated on the hill overlooking the
()
1
458
· HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES AND HUNDREDS.
Landing, was pierced by a cannon ball fired from the deck of a British sloop of war. This old inn, built before the Revo- lution, was a noted resort in its day, being the chief stopping point for stages and teams between Chester and Wilmington ; and later a famous center for the local social gatherings held there, horse-racing and " water-melon fairs," which drew from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, immense crowds bent on feasting and pleasure. The race-track, one and one- quarter miles long and shaded by cedar trees, was equally famous, and patronized three-quarters of a century ago. Clay- mont, a hamlet on the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washing- ton railroad, is near the Pennsylvania boundary in a region whose unusual scenic beauty has attracted many residents from Philadelphia and other cities, who have erected a num- ber of handsome suburban homes.
Several old buildings, antedating the Revolutionary period, are seen near Naaman's creek. One of these, now a part of the Ford home, was for a long while the residence of General Thomas Robinson. General Washington was frequently his guest, and on a certain occasion, so the story goes, Washington was so much pleased with a new seedling pear that it was named after him, thus originating the celebrated " Washing- ton " pear. Mad Anthony Wayne was also a guest of the Robinsons.
The old mill on Naaman's creek at this place, built about 1701, was an important manufacturing plant before the failure of the water-power, grinding large quantities of grain for ship- ment by sloops to the Philadelphia market, and from 1835 Robert and George W. Churchman carried on an extensive business there for many years. The old Robinson quarries higher up the creek were long since abandoned. For a third of a century George W. Churchman was the foremost lumber merchant in Delaware at Claymont.
Several noted duels were fought at Claymont between 1830 and 1845, the most celebrated one being that fought on Sun- day morning, March 21, 1830, between William Miller of Phila-
459
HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES AND HUNDREDS.
delphia and Midshipman Charles G. Hunter of the United States navy. General James Watson Webb, of New York City, and the Hon. Thomas F. Marshall, of Kentucky, also fought a duel, June 4, 1842, near the junction of the pike and the State line. A bitter political quarrel in Congress was the origin of this fight, in which each party was animated with a savage wish to kill the other. General Webb was so severely wounded at the first fire that a second shot was impossible. Washington Keith and Morris Meredith, of Philadelphia, fought a duel near the big beech tree on the line, June 9, 1845, in which both were wounded by the first discharge.
The Edgemoor Buoy Department of the fourth district is on the Delaware below the Du Pont wharf. The improvements are a wharf four hundred feet long, with a fog bell and light- house of the fifth order ; a depot building fifty by one hun- dred and fifty feet ; a keeper's residence, and three acres of ground. Du Pont's wharf, with a large floating wharf ad- junct, is just above the Buoy depot, in times past a very im- portant one because of the enormous quantities of powder shipped from the works five miles away.
The Society of Friends held services in private houses at a very early day, and in 1687, pursuant to a gift by Valentine Hollingsworth of the ground, a log meeting-house was built, in which the Newark Monthly Meeting was regularly held until 1707 when it was raised, though resumed in 1721 as the Kennett Monthly Meeting. Citizens of various shades of re- ligious belief having united in an effort to restore and preserve the Old Newark burial ground, wherein are entombed the forefathers of many of the leading citizens of the Hundred, the log church having been moved to Centreville, have enclosed the ground with a stone wall, and built a little union church on the adjoining lot, in which services by all denominations are occasionally held.
The Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church was next estab- lished after the Friends' Newark Meeting, a Methodist Society being formed in 1775 by David Ford and others, and in 1780
$
460
HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES AND HUNDREDS.
a small chapel built on William Cloud's place, known as the Cloud's Chapel, which became later the Bethel Church. An elegant structure of green serpentine, costing fifteen thousand dollars, replaced in 1873 the original building; and in 1886 a parsonage was erected at a cost of one thousand three hun- dred and fifty dollars. There are also Methodist churches at Claymont, the Mt. Pleasant Church, the Edgemoor Church, and the Mt. Lebanon Church, all in a prosperous condition.
The Protestant Episcopal denomination is represented in the Hundred by three churches, the oldest, Grace Church, being organized in 1835. In 1875 a handsome church in the Gothic style was built at a cost of eight thousand dollars in the midst of ten acres of ground on the Concord pike, north of Talleyville, to which was added in 1885 a spacious rectory as the gift of Mrs. Mary Cresson.
The Church of the Ascension, at Claymont, dates from 1843, and in 1854 Bishop Alfred Lee consecrated a fine Gothic frame church there. The Calvary Church is a Gothic stone chapel a half a mile north of the Newark Union Church, and was dedicated January 29, 1863.
CHRISTIANA HUNDRED.
Christiana Hundred is bounded on the north by Pennsyl- vania, and on the east and southwest by the Brandywine, Christiana and Red Clay creeks, save where the City of Wil- mington abuts on the east. Except the lowlands along the Christiana, the country is high and hilly, with a rich soil. Many fine farms dot the Hundred with pleasing evidences of rural thrift and prosperity in the guise of handsome houses and commodious barns. Not a few of these homes are costly structures surrounded by extensive grounds and other im- provements which add to the great natural beauty of this section of the state.
A big tract of about twelve hundred acres lying between the Mill and Christiana creeks and extending from the mouth of Mill creek to the present site of Newport, was granted Sep-
1
461
HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES AND HUNDREDS.
tember 1, 1669, by Governor Francis Lovelace to Andries Andersen, Seneca Broor and Gysbert Walraven. By 1683, De Lagrange, Walraven and Broor Sinnexsen, who had mar- ried Andersen's widow, owned the land. They at once divided the property, except an eighteen acre tract, kept in common, for a mill, on which, by 1687, they had built a mill on the south side of Little Falls creek, a branch of the Christiana. By the year 1726 John Richardson had acquired the several interests in the mill land, and in 1723 erected a brick house thereon, which is still standing. In 1765 his son Richard built a spacious mansion-house nearer the mill, on the present Newport turnpike, about a half mile from the city limits of Wilmington. For his stone and timber he laid under tribute the rocky hills and dense forests around. The next year he married Sarah Tatnall, the daughter of Edward Tatnall, a prosperous miller on the Brandywine. This resi- dence was at that time the finest for miles around, and became quite a mecca for the sight-seers who came on foot from New- port, then one of the most important towns in Delaware; for, with its wide hallways, big rooms with lofty ceilings, its wide stairway, and big fire-places in every room, the "Big House on the Hill," as it was styled, was indeed an architectural wonder. This old mansion after passing through four gen- erations of Richardsons from Richard, who died in 1797, came in 1887 into the possession of Henry C. Conrad, Esq., of Wil- mington, who lived there from 1888 to 1894. It is now owned by John W. Townsend. Its exterior remains as it was nearly a century and a half ago, save the addition of a porch in front, made by Mr. Conrad, who bestowed its first name " Glynrich," which title he has also given to nine acres of land adjoining, plotted into a town site on Maryland avenue. Joseph S. Richardson and the widows of John and Joseph P. Richardson still own and occupy part of the family estate.
Newport is built upon a part of the De Lagrange share of this tract. The Broor Sinnexsen estate finally came to his three sons, Broor, John and James (though now chiefly owned
1
:1
1
462
HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES AND HUNDREDS.
by the Lynams), the last of the old family, then known as Sinex, died some twenty-five years ago. In 1683, Conrad Constantine owned a tract of 630 acres lying on the Christiana west of these 1200 acres, which was retained in that family till 1740. Arnoldus De Lagrange in 1684 received 250 acres on the north side of the Christiana. July 29, 1685, there was " layed out for Niel Laerson's friend " 800 acres on Red Clay creek called " Oak Hill " and Niel Laerson himself, March 12, 1684, secured 936 acres. Jacob and Hendrick Henderson in 1702 received on a warrant 300 acres, called "Jacob's Posses- sion " on the Brandywine, and north of Adam Stidham's land, jocosely dubbed " Adam's Garden ;" in 1744, Andrew Hen- drickson, Sr., and his son Andrew had re-surveyed to them 268 acres on the Brandywine between Rattlesnake and Stony Runs.
1
The northern part of the Hundred was embraced in the Manors of the Penns, who after 1684 granted patents for the lands. The following are among the most important : William Gregg, 400 acres in Rockland Manor, and Thomas Hollings- worth, 1018 in 1701-3, and 300 more released to him by Samuel Hollingsworth. William Gregg had 200 acres patented to him in 1693. In 1733 Jonathan Strange acquired fifty acres, and in 1744 got a warrant for fifty-one acres of ad- joining land, and upon this tract on the Brandywine and a small branch erected a fulling mill, a grist mill, and a saw mill, besides other buildings. A John Smith once owned much land in that part of the Hundred, though the greater . portion of the Penn Manor lands along the Brandywine have come into the possession of the Du Ponts, who have greatly improved them. April 15, 1686, Anthony Burgess received a warrant for 300 acres near Newport, called " Cole Harbor," and in 1678 Tyman Stidham one for 100 acres, increased by later conveyances to 268 acres. So late as 1755 a warrant issued from the Proprietor to Richard Baker for 200 acres on the old Wilmington and Kennett turnpike.
Near the Pennsylvania line was a large tract owned by the
À
E
463
HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES AND HUNDREDS.
Hollingsworth family, and near the ford Joseph Hollings- worth built a small mill to draw wire, and make wooden ware, which before 1800 was abandoned, and a half century later a huge poplar was growing on the mill site. Joseph divided his land among his three sons, Thomas, Amoor and Isaac. In 1769 Isaac built a house of yellow poplar planks four inches thick, which is now owned by the Henry Swayne estate. The Hollingsworths have sold all their possessions, and none of the name remain. The same is true of the Gregg lands, although a massive stone house, antedating the Revo- lution, was kept in that family for many years, it, too, finally became a part of one of the Du Pont farms, and now few, if any, descendants linger near their native spot.
In 1687 George Chandler emigrated to America, and settled upon a tract of land still owned by the family. A large num- ber of honored citizens in the Hundred are derived from that family. The old homestead was Jesse Chandler's in 1887, and is now occupied by his descendants. On the J. Poulson Chandler farm stands a fine brick mansion built in 1805 by Joseph and Benjamin Chandler near where the original 1687 dwelling stood. Above the Chandlers was the home of Alphonse Kirk, grandfather of the manufacturer Kirk. One of his sons became the ancestor of many prominent people in Chester County, Pennsylvania, whither he removed. William Dixon made many improvements about 1690, and his de- scendants put up a mill which is still standing. The Arm- strongs and the Cranstons near the Christiana have for many years been among the most prominent and useful citizens in the Hundred. September 28, 1787, there were returned by Robert Hamilton, tax collector of Christiana Hundred, 871 persons and estates as taxables, although that included both the towns of Newport and Wilmington.
Numerous roads and highways traverse the Hundred, some of them as old as the settlement of the country ; but their courses have been changed somewhat in recent years. An old road is that from Garretts to Hockessin, laid out in 1783,
.... 7
1.
A CURRY.
464
HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES AND HUNDREDS.
and the road from the Brandywine crossing it, made in 1795. Most of the later turnpike roads were laid out before this date ; but the Kennett pike was built in 1812, and the Lancaster pike later, both becoming fine arteries of commerce before the coming of the railroads. With the exception of the Kennett turnpike they are now mainly common highways, the toll- gates having been removed.
The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore railroad was built through the Hundred in 1831; the Wilmington and Northern in 1869; the Wilmington and Western in 1872, and the Baltimore and Ohio in 1886.
Good bridges span the Brandywine and Red Clay creeks, on whose banks are located many industrial establishments. The principal bridges across the Brandywine were built in 1816 at Smith's Ford, at Young and Kirk's Ford in 1818 ; the Manufacturers' bridge in 1832; and on the Red Clay, at Philips' Mill, after 1802, and later others which have in some cases given place to larger and more costly structures.
In the year 1804 there were in the Hundred (the towns of Newport, and in part, Wilmington, included) eleven saw and grist mills, seven wharves and stores, twelve grist mills, two taverns, four tanyards, two paper-mills, one powder works, one snuff mill, one brick kiln, one rope walk, one fulling mill, one hatter's shop, one brick still-house, and one barley mill. About twenty years later there had been added to this list of industries one paper manufactory, four cotton factories, one air furnace, and an increase in some and a decrease in others. Thirty years more, 1854, showed fewer enterprises, but a de- cided gain in the amount and value of the manufactured product. The great industries at that time were Alexander H. Adam's grist mill ; Joseph Bancroft's Rockford cotton mill, with twenty-eight tenements ; E. I. Du Pont & Company's upper powder mills, with twenty-five tenements; Hagley powder mills, with twenty-eight tenements; W. E. Garrett's two snuff mills; Samuel Richardson's grist and saw mills ; the Riddle and Lawrence cotton factory, with twenty-five
١٠٠
:
. :
السـ
465
HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES AND HUNDREDS.
tenements ; the Henry Clay factory and the Squirrel run mill. These were principally on the Brandywine.
Prior to 1795 Thomas Hollingsworth had built a fulling mill on Wilson's run, while at Rockland improvements were begun at about that date by Caleb Kirk, who in 1797 built a stone residence near the grist mill. A saw mill was on the site of the Le Carpenter grist mill, and finally passed to the Young family. About 1812, Caleb Kirk erected a cotton factory yet further up Wilson's run, and operated it for a decade. It was next used by a tinsmith, large amounts of that ware being manufactured there. This ancient building, among the first cotton factories in the State, is yet standing on the Le Carpenter estate. William Wilson built a saw mill up the run before 1800. Jesse Chandler's new mill, put up in 1835, was burned. The Alexander H. Adams grist mill built on this site in 1854 yet remains in the property now owned by the Du Ponts. Its water-power is now very weak.
Red Clay creek yields a number of excellent mill seats, which were improved soon after this section was settled. The Garrett family have long owned one of the oldest seats in the Hundred. So early as 1749 John Garrett, Jr., acquired title by devise from his father. His brother Thomas' mill was in Mill Creek Hundred. Since 1782 the John Garrett mill was used to manufacture snuff, and from a small beginning has become a large business, operating extensive works under the firm name of W. E. Garrett & Sons. The property runs one- half a mile down the Creek from Yorklyn station, and the numerous buildings were successively added as the increasing business demanded, steam supplementing the water-power. Their goods are now loaded on cars at their own warehouse connected by a spur with the Western railroad. Israel Dur- ham was manager of the Upper and John L. Press of the Lower Mills for over thirty-five years. The Garrett mills are now controlled by the American Tobacco Company of New York. The most improved modern machinery for making snuff is employed, and their product is in high repute both at
١٠٢
466
HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES AND HUNDREDS.
home and abroad. Several residences and a number of tene- ments form a part of the company's plant.
For over forty years A. and J. D. Sharpless operated a grist mill, built in 1715, at Ashland station below Garretts, and were succeeded by Samuel R. Pusey. A manufacturing site above Garretts called Auburn was once occupied by the Pusey mills for spinning cotton, but after the Civil War it was used in making woolen yarns in conjunction with Henry Clark's mills across the creek in Mill Creek Hundred. It burned in 1869, and was never rebuilt. Below Garretts, at Ashland station, is a grist mill which, with the stone house near it, was built as early as 1715, at least part of the mill was. The brick house on the hill was erected twenty-two years later by William and M. Gregg. The Philips family owned the mill afterwards, but for over forty years the A. and J. D. Sharpless Company owned it, and in 1883 installed modern roller machinery. James Wilson owned and operated for a long time the old grist mill of Joshua Lobb on the lowest site on the Christiana side; this mill was also many years in the Speakman family. One, an old site near Burris run, was a saw mill owned by Richard Hayes; higher up the run Wil- liam Passmore built a grist mill about twenty years ago. Yet another old mill is the Dixon on Dixon's run, the property of the Griffith estate, and on Mill creek in the southeastern corner of the Hundred lingers still the venerable landmark of Richardson's mill, for a century and a quarter operated by that family in a small way.
With the exception of the town of Newport, the business of the Hundred, other than the purely agricultural, is confined to the few villages within its borders. Centreville, pleasantly located on the Kennett pike, is the largest of these. The place has a number of handsome residences, several stores, a good public hall, and a hotel. Near it are the Presbyterian church and the Friends' meeting-house, and a few old mansions on highly improved farms, this being one of the choicest parts of the Hundred. Eighty years ago Centreville was a busy vil-
:
Set of
467
HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES AND HUNDREDS.
lage. James Delaplaine was a prosperous storekeeper there, and good inns were kept by William Todd and Ezekiel Bailey ; there were also good carpenters, a blacksmith, a wheelwright and a mason.
These country inns did a rushing business in those early days, as many as fifty teams being accommodated in a single night. Liquor was sold by the wagonload weekly at the store, and as freely used. The old Bailey place is closed, and the Todd inn replaced by an enlarged and modernized hotel, kept now by Henry C. Durham. Many years ago the " Dela- ware and Pennsylvania Inn," near the boundary line, was a famous resort kept by Charles Twaddell. Thomas Dalton kept store for over thirty years at the old Delaplaine stand, but in 1877 removed to the Odd Fellows' Hall. He was long one of the oldest merchants in the county, and for many years the postmaster. The business is now conducted by Bernard and Thomas J. Dalton. Drs. J. P. Chandler and George Hamilton were practitioners years since, and Dr. Joseph H. Chandler has been for years the resident physician. In 1888 W. C. R. Colquohoun kept the village drug store.
The "Blue Ball Inn," on the Kennett pike below Centre- ville, long run by the Hamilton family, and a well-known re- sort for travelers in the early part of the nineteenth century, was removed upon the passing of the turnpike travel era be- fore the railroads. A farmhouse stands upon its site. Along with it has passed into oblivion the " Buck Tavern," farther down the road, whose genial host for many years was Peter Hendrickson. The "Columbus Inn " is now quite within the limits of Wilmington.
At an early day Andrew Fontaine, Jonathan Shipley, James Bratten and Victor Sterling sold goods at the Du Pont works. William S. Fleming kept a store and a hotel in an old building which had been enlarged in 1820. At a place further down the creek, and near Wilmington, Patrick Hig- gins for many years kept an inn called the " Rising Sun." A later residence and larger inn was opened on the same spot,
468
HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES AND HUNDREDS.
called the " Jefferson House," by Thomas Toy. Around the Du Pont mills has grown up quite a village, supported by the large manufacturing interests there ; several stores are sup- ported, and the Henry Clay postoffice at that factory gives mail facilities for both places.
The Highlands is a suburb of Wilmington, plotted by the Brinckle family, and as its name would indicate, commands a fine view of the surrounding country and the city itself. John S. Miller erected the first residence there in 1873 ; since then it has been extensively built upon and a number of handsome edifices of stone and brick erected. Greenville is a station on the Wilmington and Northern Railroad at its junc- tion with the Kennett pike. It was given a postoffice in 1871 and William R. Brinckle, who was in the coal and lumber business there, was appointed postmaster. In 1887 Charles Green became a partner with Mr. Brinckle in his business, and it later became Green and McIntyre.
There are many secret orders in the Hundred, some of them with large memberships and well supported. The Centreville Lodge No. 37, I. O. O. F, was instituted June 13, 1875, with Francis Green, N. G., Joseph Pyle, V. G., George W. Ely, R. S., Dr. Joseph H. Chandler, F. S., and William Carpenter, Treasurer. In five months their members had been increased to sixty-one. The lodge is in a flourishing condition finan- cially and otherwise. They meet in the third story of the Centreville hall, a brick building twenty-eight by forty-five feet, erected by an association in 1876 at a cost of $5000. The second story is used as a public hall, and the ground floor is occupied by stores. Washington Conclave I. O. of H. was instituted February 22, 1886, with twenty-one members, and the year following numbered thirty-five persons.
Center Grange No. 11, Patrons of Husbandry, was formed in 1873, and has, with varying success, maintained its organ- ization to the present time. It meets in the Centreville hall. Eagle Lodge No. 18, I. O. O. F., was organized at Du Pont's Mills, December 15, 1874, with twelve charter members.
i
469
HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES AND HUNDREDS.
It is an outgrowth of Brandywine Lodge No. 18, I. O. O. F., which was organized October, 1847, further down the creek, and has had a wonderful development, its membership in about a dozen years reaching the large total of one hundred and fifty-two. Its meetings are held in a large and hand- somely appointed lodge-room. Du Pont Lodge No. 29, A. F. and A. M., was organized under a warrant given October 4, 1876, and John Taylor was its first Master. The Wawaset Tribe No. 9, I. O. of R. M., was organized June 19, 1871, with eighteen members, which by 1887 had reached sixty members. Brandywine Lodge No. 15, Knights of Pythias, was instituted July 11, 1872, and for a time was prosperous, attaining a membership of thirty. It finally gave up its charter.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.