~RANDYWINE V I LLAGE I 1 i Carol E. Hoffecker Brandywine Village THE STORY OF A MILLING COMMUNITY Old Brandywine Village Inc· Wilmington, Delaware· r 97 4 Cover illustration: View of Brandywine Mills, oil painting by Bass Otis c. r 820. (Courtesy of Lewis Rumford, II, Baltimore, Md.) Illustrations are from the Eleurherian Mills Historical Library except as noted. The Preston Lea, Hoffecker-Zebley, and Dallin collections are ro be found in thar Library. To HARRIET CURTIS REESE ,, Copyright © 1974 by Old Brandywine Village, Incorporated. Designed by Klaus Gemming, New Haven, Cr. Composition by Finn Ty pographic Service, Incorporated, Stamford, Cr. Printed by The Murray Printing Company, Forge Village, Mass. Contents J. 9 FOREWORD BY WALTER HEACOCK II ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Beginnings I5 INTRODUCTION : The Mills 2I r : 2 The Miller's World 35 : 3 : The Village 55 4 The Heritage : 77 99 NOTES I03 BIBLIOGRAPHY Io6 INDEX IIO GENEALOGICAL TABLE l Foreword THIS IS TH E STORY of one of early America's most important industrial communities. It is a story of enterprise, innovation, and success-and of decline and disappointment. It is also the story of the efforts of a small group of citizens to preserve a part of this community and its· hisrory. Brandywine Village is today almost in the center of greater Wilmington, but it was outside the corporate bounds of the city until r869. Nevertheless, it was principally this industrial village that brought a degree of fame and fortune to northern Delaware in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. And it was the mills of Brandywine Village that attracted notable visitors such as William Winterbotham and the Due de la Rochefoucault­ Liancourt who described this largest of new world flour milling communities in their travel accounts. Dr. Carol Hoffecker, an hisrorian with deep roots in the First , · Scare, has made a thorough study of the diverse source materials documenting the history of this flourishing mill village which drew its power from the lower Brandywine. Using diaries and deeds, tax records and personal reminiscences, she has recreated "the miller's world;' depicting not only their industrial achieve­ ments and tribulations, but also their involvement with policies, banks, railroads, and religion. She has given to Delawareans a fresh and vivid account of their early history. In 1962 Wilmingtonians read in their morning paper that the row of scone houses on North Market Street might be razed for commercial development and a parking lot. These surviving residences of the Brandywine millers represented an imposing remnant of che early community. Numerous individuals and organizations expressed concern over this threat, but no existing group was prepared co mount a campaign to save and preserve these structures. The annals of historic preservation are filled with similar situa­ tions, and it is not uncommon for one person to serve as catalyst or take the first essential step to convert concern into action. At this point Harriet Curtis Reese invited four Wilmingcon friends for 9 lunch-Annette Bush, Colonial Dame; Albert Kruse and Robert Raley, both architects and restoration specialists; and Wa lter Acknowledgments Heacock, museum director and an officer of the Historical Society of Delaware. This luncheon led to a public meeting and the incorporation of Old Brandywine Village as a nonprofit organi­ zation. Dr. Hoffecker recounts the later activities of this group, THE CREATION OF ANY BOOK depends upon the aid of many their success in saving first the Lea-Derickson House at I80I persons besides the author. This is particularly so in the case of a Market Street, then another and another. highly illustrated community history. During the months in which Although the story told here is a success story, the task is far I have been preparing.this manuscript, I have on many occasions from complete. The main historic structures are today either sought the assistance of others who could supply me with infor­ owned by Old Brandywine Village, Inc., or are in sympathetic mation and photographs that reveal the life and development hands. But major restoration is required on several houses; the of Old Brandywine Village. extension of the park along the Brandywine is essential to the I am indebted to Mr. Dale Fields, Executive Director, and Mrs. rehabilitation of the community; and the renovation of more Gladys M. Coghlan, Library Director, of the Historical Society of recent houses and stores is needed to revitalize the area. Delaware. They and their staff were exceedingly kind to permit Not only as a co-founder but as an active board member and vice me free rein in the Society's manuscript collection at a most president until her death in September I 97 I, Mrs. Reese was the inconvenient time for them when they were in the throes of inspiration, the spark and spur which kept the directors of Old moving their entire library into new quarters. The staff of the Brandywine Village steadfast in their task of preserving and Eleutherian Mills Historical Library was also very helpful. Mrs. improving this historic community. It is to the memory of Betty-Bright Low and her Research and Reference Department Harriet Curtis Reese that this book is dedicated with admiration, .. helped me to ferret out a great deal of material on the operation affection, and appreciation. of the mills. Mr. Daniel Muir; Mrs. Mary Day, and Miss Marjorie Walter J. Heacock Gregory of the Eleutherian Mills Historical Library's Pictorial Greenville, Delaware Collection Department took an eager interest in my project and ]unei974 helped me to locate the pictorial material reproduced here. Mr. Frank Herzog and Mr. Charles A. Foote, photographers for the Eleutherian Mills-Bagley Foundation, also gave generously of their time and talents toward this "project. Among the officersof Old Brandywine Village, I am particularly indebted to Mr. Robert Raley, A.I.A., who offered me many files of the organization and a large collection of photographs. He also took the time to explain the process of architectural restoration that was employed in the Village. My research task was made immeasurably lighter thanks to the previous efforts of Mrs. Earl Krapf, a zealous and careful researcher, whose enthusiastic efforts on behalf of 0. B.V. deserve a great deal more praise and acknowledgment than I can give here. It was she who tracked down the deeds on each of the restored buildings in the Village. Professor John A. Munroe and Dr. Norman B. Wilkinson read IO II the manuscript and made valuable suggestions for its improve­ Brandywine Village ment. I am also indebted to those who worked on the editing and publication of this volume, particularly Mr. David Gilchrist, Publications Director of the Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Founda­ tion, who interrupted his other duties to see this book through the press. His patience and guidance are much appreciated. Mrs. Kerin Hearn assisted in the editing and Miss Barbara E. Benson was an indispensable help in preparing the index. Last of all I must thank Dr. Walter ]. Heacock, Vice President of Old Brandywine Village, Inc., and General Director of the Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation. Dr. Heacock asked me to undertake this task and provided me with many records of O.B.V. His continued encouragement and interest in the project have been much appreciated. •· I2 BEGINNINGS Ir -·" ,,\.\ " - ' ·", \ . ~YT < · Q:- 71, '-~ \ra""a'\!a -1·~ y,1:';s,~~~~.v -Y.jr.:l,~/ -, "r.~t. j' ,r (/ 8 ,, 1j O ~ O a. ·-~: 1 , 1 , , ., • • n ll • 'j• D " - ~ • •· • ', • " ., . I D ,, • ~ M • ; • • ... •.. • ' ~ .- ·.' .. • • • • .:i:i,,._ ' , • I • IN 1725 a Quaker family led by Ann Ta rnall, widow of Robert Ta tnall, left Leicestershire, England, and set sail from Bristol bound for America. With Ann Ta tnall were her son and daughter, ,. •! ~.ti,:, Edward and Mary Ann; Mary Ann's husband, William Shipley; ,.. ~ and their three children, Thomas, Ann, and Elizabeth. Following a harrowing two-month voyage during which there was an out­ break of smallpox on board, their ship arrived at Philadelphia.1 " . · r· I .- ~ . r.-r-¥.'·� While the ship was kept in quarantine the Shipleys and Ta tnalls �; I • •� I , 1 :r·. i .. r , . .,..,- : 'ti1 / --<.. · .,.. ✓- had their first opportunity to witness the seagoing commerce of ; •( . .... •, / - , . ..\, the bustling little city. In that year alone, 140 ships entered or ... ,.. .. • . f"- l : I • • . .... :/•\ cleared the harbor of this fast-growing metropolis of the middle . · ,. I · �I . t/ ~ ~_.J .... -.;. ,.'rlt•, ..... • . (;::. ' ,, -.. .. ·4!. colonies.2 This was the Philadelphia that Benjamin Franklin knew as a young man; just two years before, in 1723, he had come to Sketch of Brandywine Mills by Charles Willson Peale, October 1789. 23, the Quaker City to seek his fortune. (American Philosophical Society.) When they were released from quarantine, Ann Ta tnall and her family bought farmland southwest of the city near Spring­ field, Pennsylvania. Soon afterward Mary Ann Shipley died, but William did nor remain a widower for long. At the Springfield Friends Meeting he met an intelligent and vigorous young woman named Elizabeth Levis who was a recognized minister of the Society of Friends. The two married and were the parents of two more Shipley children, William and Sarah. In addition to her responsibilities as a wife and mother in a household with five children, Elizabeth continued to serve as I5 a minister. These duties required her to make frequent journeys to Friends meetings throughout Pennsylvania, where she witnessed to her faith and experience of the Inner Light. Sometime in the early 17 30s Elizabeth Shipley experienced a powerfully moving . dream. In her vision she was traveling through the wtlds and came upon the vista of two rivers, one shallow, rocky, and swift, . the other deep and slow-moving, joining together on a flat plam.