USA > Delaware > History of the state of Delaware, Volume II > Part 8
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February 17, 1699, William Penn directed Henry Hollings- worth to lay out some land as a provision for his two younger children, William and Letitia. The following year he sur- veyed 30,000 acres in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and New Castle county, Delaware, called "Staning Manor." To his son, William Penn, Jr., he granted 14,500 acres mostly in Chester County, but partly in Mill Creek Hundred, and 14,500 acres " on the south side of the Brandywine creek in the Prov- ince of Pennsylvania," he conveyed October 23, 1701, to Letitia, who afterwards married William Aubrey of London. These last lands were called the "Letitia Manor." The first sale from the tract was in 1702 to John Gregg, and from then until 1734, 3784 acres were sold to sixteen different purchasers. The largest tract, 9612 acres, was sold June 2, 1726, to William McMechen, for many years a practicing physician living at Christiana Bridge, who also became the owner of large tracts of land in different parts of the county.
A family, long resident in the Hundred, is the Englands'. John England was one of the owners of the Principio Furnace in Cecil County, Maryland. Coming to America from Staf- fordshire, England, in 1723, as manager of the Furnace, he bought, in 1726, lands on White Clay creek in this Hundred, at the mouth of Muddy run. The lands were bought for their iron ore. He built a dwelling and a grist mill, since called John England's Mill, on land bought of Toby Leech on the east side of Muddy run. He died there in 1734 and his
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brother Joseph came from Pennsylvania and took charge of his lands. In 1741 the estate of 400 acres was conveyed to him by John England's two sons, living in England. He was an active member of the West Nottingham Friend's Meeting. He built the present brick manor-house in 1747, and rebuilt the mill. His son Joseph received the mill, and lived there till his death in 1791, and left the mill lands to his son Joseph, third. A daughter Elizabeth married William Wollaston, another daughter married the famous Captain Robert H. Kirkwood, the hevolutionary hero of thirty-two battles, who settled after the war in Cantwell's Bridge. Joseph England, third, was prominently identified with the history of his county, having served in the Legislature between 1800 and 1828, and dying while a member of the Senate, in 1828. His son, Joseph Townsend England, removed to Baltimore, and became the agent of the B. and O. R. R. and one of the founders of the Mercantile Library of that city.
St. James' P. E. Church, near Stanton, was organized in 1720, and its third building of stone, 45x40 feet, with a gallery around three sides, contains a marble slab with the inscription "St. James' Church, founded 1720, rebuilt 1822." It has (1905) fifty-five communicants. Rev. Robert Clay was its rector from 1797 to 1851. Its present rector is Rev. Alex- ander M. Rich. The organization of the White Clay Creek Presbyterian Church was in 1721, but Rev. Thomas Craighead, who remained ten years, was in 1824 the first settled pastor. Their third church, after standing 110 years, was replaced in 1853 by the present brick structure. The present (1906) membership is 117 and the church is without a pastor. The Red Clay Presbyterian Church was organized in 1722, and their first stated minister was Rev. William McKennan in 1755, who preached for that church and the White Clay Pres -. byterian Church fifty-four years. They have (1906) 124
members and Rev. John D. Blake is their minister.
There are two Methodist churches in the Hundred. That at Stanton began in a missionary meeting in a school-house by
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ST. JAMES' P. E. CHURCH, STANTON. A, D. 1822.
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Rev. Henry S. Thompson and some Newport members. A church costing $2500 was dedicated in 1877. They have (1906) twenty members. The Hockessin M. E. Church origi- nated in a meeting held in a blacksmith's shop at Brackins- ville in 1881 by Alban Dalton and others. A Sunday-school was formed called " Friendship," and a church dedicated February 18, 1883. Their present number (1906) is thirty- nine, and Rev. George W. Burke is pastor. The Hockessin Friends' Meeting House was built in 1738, and enlarged in 1845. Very few families of Friends remain. There are also Friends meetings at Mill Creek and at White Clay Creek (Stanton), where in 1873 the old church was replaced with a new one costing $2500. The Friends here, as elsewhere, are decreasing in numbers. Delaware's earliest Catholic citizen, a wealthy Irish gentleman named Cornelius Hollehan, lived in this Hundred. "St. Mary's log cabin church at Coffee Run " is described in the chapter on Religious Denominations. St. Patrick's, at Ashland, begun in 1881, and the church at Hockessin are the only other Catholic churches in the Hundred.
A few private schools afforded the early educational facili- ties before the public schools were established. Joseph Ball and others erected a building near St. James' Church in 1808 for school purposes, which was later used as a public school. The first public school was opened at Stanton. Marshallton has a good school divided into two departments, and has an excellent building. Everywhere the ill-built and poorly ventilated school buildings of the past are being supplanted by others, larger and finer every way. Roads and bridges began to be built and cared for with something like system about the middle of the eighteenth century. February 26, 1752, the viewers reported on a road from John England's to the county line. In 1768 the Levy Court was petitioned to open a road from Newark to Cuckholdstown (Stanton), and in / 1771 John Reese and John Foulk built a bridge over White Clay creek. The Levy Court in 1813 contracted for the build- ing of a bridge over Red Clay creek at Foulk's Mill, and an-
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other over White Clay ercek at Tyson's Ford costing $1771.00. Thus gradually roads were laid out and bridges built through- out the Hundred till the present excellent system of roads and bridges was attained.
Swendenborg in 1734 wrote that Governor William Keith had a furnace on Christiane creek in 1722, and the records show that he bought 1,161 acres in Pencader, Mill Creek and Christiana Hundreds. James M. Swank in his " Manufacture of Iron in all Ages," supports this statement. Swank also says John Ball in 1725 operated a bloomery on White Clay creek near St. James' Church.
From the early days the water-power offered by the many streams in this hilly country has been utilized in many kinds of manufacturing enterprises. Thus the assessment list of 1804 shows there were in the Hundred eleven grist and saw mills ; four saw mills ; five grist mills ; one fulling mill ; one paper mill and saw mill, and one powder mill. Some of these twenty- three mills were built quite early in the preceding century ; but now most of them are either quite gone or ceased to be operated ; indeed in many cases the power is no longer used. The earliest mill in the Hundred was built about 1679 at Stanton by nine persons on the land of Charles Rumsey and John Watkins, and was seemingly in use so late as 1772 as a grist mill, though first used as a saw mill.
On the east side of Red Clay Kill on 600 acres patented in 1677 to John Stalcop, a log mill called the "Swedes Mill " was built very early but torn down in 1812. Another three storied mill 40x60 near it, built in 1790, was used for a woollen mill, and after several remodelings by different owners, was bought by Isaac D. Philips, in 1876, and used till 1888 to grind grain with burr machinery. It is now (1906) run by John Lynn, the owner. A burr mill on Mill creek owned and operated in 188S by Samuel Chandler, took the place of an old mill built in 1747. An old mill built on Pike creek in 1804, preceded the grist and lumber mill operated there in 1888 by William C. Logan with a daily
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JOHN PILLING. 1830-1900.
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capacity of twenty-five barrels and 1,500 feet of lumber; it is now (1906) owned by John Thompson and operated by Mrs. John Tyler. The John England mill on White Clay creek finally came into the bands of Thomas W. Jones ; and in 1887 he refitted it with rollers. Now forty barrels of flour are made daily. The James Mendenhall grist and saw mills on Mill creek, built in 1804, have been run by that family ever since, and John Mendenhall. a great-grandson, operates it for custom work. The old Evans stone grist mill came, in 1828, into the possession of Jonathan Fell, who then began the manufacture of spices which have since become celebrated for their superior character. The firm of C. J. Fell & Bro. succeeded to the business with headquarters in Philadelphia.
On Red Clay creek, in the eighteenth century, grist and saw mills were operated, and after passing through many hands as cotton mills they came at last to be owned by Wil- liam Dean, John Pilling and others, who in 1864 conveyed them to the Kiamensi Woolen Company, operating on both cotton and woolen goods at first, and finally on woolen only. Many enlargements and improvements have been made, until now they turn out $1,200 worth of goods daily and employ 150 men. They use modern methods and machinery, with every convenience known to the trade, to facilitate their mills' operation.
John Pilling was born in Lancashire, England, March 6, 1830. His father, a poor silk-weaver, took the lad from school before his eighth year and apprenticed him to a nail-maker, for whom he daily made four thousand shoe-nails at six cents the thousand, his boss getting one-half of that for shop hire. In 1841 his father emigrated to Philadelphia, and in 1842 came to Delaware, where, after working for seven years in various places, the son in 1848 entered the employ of Joseph Dean & Son at Newark. The eighteen-year-old youth, when making ten dollars a week, resigned to take a position at five dollars a week in order to study the whole process of woolen manufacture. In 1857 he became superintendent of Robert
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Kershaw's mills in Philadelphia, and in 1860 returned to the Dean mills, where, upon the retirement of the senior Dean, his son formed a partnership with young Pilling. These mills were among the first to make goods for the army, and during the Civil War this company had many government contracts and gave thousands of dollars towards the support of the cause of the Union. Save for repairs, the mills never stopped in the panic of 1873. The Dean Woolen Company was formed in 1882, and Mr. Pilling was made president and manager, but in two years he resigned, to give his whole care to the Kia- mensi Woolen Company at Stanton, whose treasurer and manager he was, though also keeping a large interest in the Dean company. In 1867 he visited the Paris Exposition, and inspected the mills of England, France, Belgium and Holland. Though a Democrat before the war, he then prominently identified himself with the Republican party, which three times elected him to the Legislature, wherein he became a recognized leader. He secured in 1867 a charter for the Pennsylvania and Delaware R. R. Co., and the passage of a bill aiding Delaware College. In 1881 he was among the potent factors that got the B. and O. R. R. bill through the Legislature. He held nearly every office in his own town, Newark, and was connected with every important enterprise therein. His death occurred November 8, 1900, while a mem- ber of the Legislature.
The old Meeters mill, near Newark, was operated from 1848 to 1887 by Curtis & Brother as the "Milford Paper Mills," making envelopes, card and fine colored paper, and in 1887 a new and much enlarged mill was built, with later machinery fitted to manufacture 8,000 pounds of paper daily. The roll- ing-mills at Marshallton, built in 1836 by John Marshall and run by him for a number of years, came finally in 1877 into the possession of John R. Bringhurst, and he greatly increased their capacity. The Gilpin rolling-mill, on Red Clay creek, after passing through a number of hands, was for many years operated by the "Alan Wood Company," of which Howard
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Wood was president and James Boughman manager. Its capacity was 400 tons yearly. The digging of kaolin, or pottery clay, near Hockessin began in 1872, and about 1902 had reached large proportions, but has since materially declined.
There are postoffices at Marshallton, Stanton, Hockessin and Wooddale, those at Mermaid and Pleasant Valley being discontinued since the advent of rural delivery. Stanton, once called Cuckholdstown, is the oldest village in the Hun- dred. It is in the southeast, near the junction of the White Clay and Red Clay creeks, and about a half mile from the depots of the B. & O. and P. B. & W. railroads, contains three churches, a school house, a postoffice, a hotel, four stores and about 500 inhabitants. About one-and-a-half miles north of Stanton lies Marshallton, so named in honor of John Marshall, organizer of the rolling-mills there. It is within a few min- utes' walk of two depots on the B. & O. R. R., and has three stores and about 400 people. The enlargement of the mills by Bringhurst increased the population, and the Kiamensi woolen mill employs many hands. In the north lies the vil- lage of Hockessin, named from the Indian words meaning " good bark," fine white-oak being abundant in the vicinity. It has three churches, five or six stores, a hotel, a postoffice, a school house, a depot on the B. & O. R. R., and about 500 inhabitants. Greenbank, Mermaid, Pleasant Hill, Loveville, Brackinville and Corner Ketch are minor settlements of a few houses.
John G. Jackson, civil engineer, farmer, etc., born in 1818 was long a citizen of note in this Hundred. He came of old Quaker ancestry traced back to the martyr Ralph Jackson burned at the stake in Bloody Mary's reign in 1556. For some years Mr. Jackson was engaged in farming, burning lime, sawing lumber, etc. He was elected State Senator in 1866 and both as Senator and private citizen promoted rail- road development. He was defeated for Congress on the Greenback ticket in 1878. He died in 1897. John Mitchell, born in 1818, was another well-known Friend, a farmer as his
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family for four generations bave been. His father Joseph Mitchell died in 1876 in his ninety-third year.
Friendship Lodge, No. 22, I. O. O. F., was organized in 1850 with three members which by 1388 had increased to 105. In 1887 the order dedicated their new building at Hockessin, a three-story brick 50x52 feet, used for stores, public hall and lodge rooms. Branch No. 469 of the Order of the Iron Hall was organized at Stanton, April 15, 1887, with twenty-six members. Fairview Lodge, No. S, I. O. G. T., was organized in 1885 at Pleasant Hill with twenty-eight members, which had grown in two years to 116. They meet in the school house. There are two hotels in the Hundred, one at Hockessin and one at Stanton. The hotel at Mount Pleasant was closed in 1885 after a century's existence.
Brandywine Springs in the western part of the Hundred is a noted summer resort and picnic grounds. A five-story hotel, fitted to accommodate 1000 guests, built in 1838, was burnt in 1852 while in use as a military academy by Captain Smith. The present building is three stories high and can entertain 300 guests. The grounds are handsomely arranged in walks, with seats, pavilions and amusements for children. The springs contain both iron and sulphur, and flow several hun- dred gallons daily. Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams are said to have summered there in the long ago. It is to-day a favorite resort for multitudes from the City of Wilmington, with which it is now connected both by rail and trolley.
WHITE CLAY CREEK HUNDRED.
White Clay creek on the north, the Christiana on the south, together with Pencader and the Circle, form the bound- aries of White Clay Creek Hundred. Deposits of white clay gave the stream its name, and that in turn the Hundred. The 18,000 acres thus enclosed make an irregularly shaped tract of very fertile land whose surface, broken by numerous hills, is everywhere threaded by small streams. The P. B. & W., the B. & O., and the Newark and Delaware City railroads
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crossing the country in various directions, afford ample facili- ties for commerce and travel.
Thomas Wollaston and three others received from Governor Nichols about 1672 a patent for 800 acres known as " Muscle Cripple." The tract was on White Clay creek near " Bread and Cheese " island, extending about half a mile up the stream. The land after passing through many hands is now owned by Henry L. Churchman and Thomas Clyde's heirs. In 1676 John Nommers, a Swede, got a patent for 340 acres of land which he had settled upon, and bought from the Indians. John Ogle had the " Northampton " tract of 200 acres and the " Eagle's Point " tract of 74 acres, surveyed to him in 1682-3. He came to America about 1667, and lived awhile at New Castle, and came to own large tracts of land in various parts of the county. His sons Thomas and John inherited his realty. Thomas Ogle received 790 acres on the Christiana and had warranted to him 740 acres west of that tract, reach- ing almost to Newark. He lived at a place which before 1667 bore the name of " Ogletown," as the records of a road from there to Elk river prove. He died in 1773, and his daughter Mary married Dr. William McMechen, the great land-buyer. His property was divided among his four sons. Some of this family for many years lived in Wilmington and Delaware City, but the land has all passed out of their hands.
A warrant was granted, December 24, 1684, to William Rakestraw for 500 acres of land on White Clay and Christiana creeks. This land is near the Platt and Elkinton mills and was bought by Col. French in 1716. A tract containing 1360 acres was bought August 11, 1699, by the Pennsylvania Land Company. John Steel, an Irishman, who had settled in Philadelphia, bought at sheriff's sale, August 19, 1707, two hundred and fifty acres of land belonging to Joseph Moore, together with other real estate in White Clay Creek Hundred, all of which were inherited by his son James, and came at last into the possession of James T. Steel. Rees Jones, either a physician or a tanner, or both, once owned a great deal of
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landed property in this Hundred. In 1737 he owned a tract near the village of Christiana. Two years later he bought three pieces aggregating 388 acres, besides lands in Pencader. A tract of 668 acres on the northeast side of the Christiana was patented October 18, 1739, to Benjamin Gibbs. August 25, 1767, John Stapler, Deputy Surveyor for New Castle County, surveyed 450 acres of land, one half for James Simp- son and the other half for four other persons. The Assessor's list for White Clay Creek Hundred in 1804 shows 309 taxables, seventeen being women, and two, " black men."
Private schools preceded the free public schools in this as in other hundreds. Among these early teachers were James P. Smith, William Stapler and William Medill, afterwards gov- ernor of Ohio. Newark Academy, the forerunner of the col- lege, was attended by scholars in and near that place. When the first roads were built no records remain to tell. Before the building, in 1832, of the road from Elk river to Christiana already noted, the " New Munster road," passing near Newark, had been located, and a road thence to Lancaster had been " viewed " by the Commissioners in 1765. The road from Ogletown to Elk river was laid out before 1774, at which date a petition, still extant, asked for its alteration. February 1, 1813, a turnpike company, to build a road from New Castle, through Christiana, to the Maryland line, was incorporated. In 1832 a road from Ogletown to Russels' Meeting House, by way of England's mill, was accepted. A bridge with stone arches costing $1200 was built in 1812 by Thomas Justice for the Levy Court ; and a bridge over White Clay creek at Price's mill was finished at 1834, at a cost of $1642.86. Since then many good roads and bridges have been constructed in every part of the Hundred.
The Head of the Christiana Church, one of the oldest Pres- byterian churches in America, was organized in 1708 by the Alexanders, the Whites, the Wallaces, and others, certain Scotch and Irish settlers previously worshipping at New Castle. For five years meetings in their little log church were
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held twice a month, by Rev. John Wilson, the New Castle pastor. In 1812 Rev. George Gillespie, a graduate of Glasgow University, Scotland, became their regular minister. A second church was built of brick in 1750 upon two acres of ground, the Rev. George Gillespie giving 200 acres of land to " help the poor members," and added the yet greater gift of nearly half a century's faithful service with that church, laboring until his death in 1760. After the rugged Puritan fashion of the day, no fire was allowed in the building; but this stern precaution had no doubt been departed from, on Sunday, March 14, 1858, when the church was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt the same year. This church has had but seven pastors since its organization. The Rev. James L. Val- landigham, was their minister from 1853 until 1899. The writer had the extreme pleasure of hearing this noble veteran in Christ preach in 1903 at Middletown, when he was in his ninety-third year. He died April 15, 1904, in his ninety- fourth year. This venerable church now (1906) numbers only 130 members, and Rev. Joel S. Gilfillan D. D. is their pastor.
The Christiana Presbyterian Church was organized in 1730, and a church built in 1745 under the pastorate of Rev. Charles Tennent who remained until 1756. In that year the congre- gation united with the New Castle Church and this union continued till 1828 when the two churches again became separate organizations. Their present church, an edifice of brick 40x60, was built under the supervision of the learned and devoted Rev. George Foot, and dedicated June 8, 185S. They now (1906) number forty-five members but have no pastor, J. Edgar Franklin serving as stated supply. There are two M. E. Churches in the Hundred. The Christiana M. E. Church, after using a school building for twenty-seven years, which had been moved on their lot, erected in 1857 a brick church at a cost of $4,000. This church and the Salem church now have sixty-three members, and church property valued at $10,000. There is also a small M. E. church at McClellandsville, the Wesley, which is connected with the Newark church.
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For sixty years the Curtis paper mills known locally as the " Milford Mills" and the " Nonantum Mills," have been the most important industry in Newark. The firm of Curtis and Brother was formed in 1848, when S. Minot Curtis and his brother George Curtis bought the Meeter Mills on White Clay creek and started in the manufacture of paper. The Curtis brothers came from Massachusetts, where their father and other members of the family had been occupied as paper makers.
Notwithstanding the fact that the new firm had but a small capital to start with, the two young men exerted themselves to make the business succeed. George Curtis sold his interest to his brother Frederick A. Curtis in 1850, and the latter con- tinued in the business until his death in 1884. A few years later S. Minot Curtis retired from the active business, and the control of the firm then went to Alfred A. Curtis and F. William Curtis, sons of Frederick A., and to Walter C. Curtis, son of S. Minot. In 1887 the old mill was entirely demol- ished, and in its place was erected a mill of modern design and with every facility for the enlargement of the business. The business has continued uninterruptedly since 1848, under the name of Curtis and Brother, the present owners being Alfred A. and F. William Curtis.
The town of Newark has never had a better citizen than S. Minot Curtis. He died in Newark August 17, 1904, in his eighty-sixth year. His life was exemplary. As a business man he was the soul of honor, as a citizen he showed the liveliest interest in all that tended to the welfare of the com- munity, and as a man he was loved and respected by all. He was a devoted member of the Episcopal Church, serving as a delegate to the General Conventions of that Church at every session for over fifty years, and serving as Secretary of the Episcopal conventions of the Diocese of Delaware for more than thirty years. He served as director in the National Bank of Newark from its organization, and in his latter days as president. His was a life well worthy of emulation.
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