The Hand Family of Brandywine Hundred

The Isaac Hand house, shortly before
demolition in 1962. Inset shows a family
 headstone at Newark Union Cemetery

One of the running themes of this blog is the idea that every place and every family has a story, and that they are worthy of being remembered. While I believe that to be true, the reality is that like individual people, some families are more interesting than others. A little while back I was contacted and asked about the Hand family, who owned a couple of farms in Brandywine Hundred, around the Shipley Road/Silverside Road area. Although this is certainly outside of Mill Creek Hundred and might not be as familiar to some, I know that area pretty well. I found the necessary information to determine where the Hand farms were, but it wasn't until I started finding more stories about the people themselves that I realized just how interesting this family was.

The family's story in America seems to have begun with Gilbert Hand, who in 1808 purchased 53 acres on the south side of what would become known as Silverside Road, about a three quarters of a mile east of Concord Pike. Gilbert sold the farm three years later to Alexander Hand (almost certainly his son), who in turn divided the property in 1846 between himself and his oldest son, Isaac. Alexander kept the western 30 acres, while Isaac got the land (at first, 20 acres, then a few years later another 3) on the eastern end. Shipley Road does not seem to have been in existence in 1846, but was built a few years later and positioned along the boundary of the two lots. Alexander's farm was sold out of the family in 1866, a few years after his death. Isaac's property would stay in the family until 1962, when the development of Delwynn was built on it -- but we have a few stories before we get there.

An incomplete rendering of the 1865
Hand/Mousley funeral altercation

The first story involving the Hand family took place in September 1865, at the funeral of one of Alexander Hand's grandsons. The first telling of this tale I found was the article seen above, and the story it relates is frankly a pretty horrific one. The way this article tells it (and if you can, you really need to read this one and the next -- they're great stories), James Mousley was just trying to get into his child's funeral procession, when for no apparent reason Alexander Hand ran into his carriage and blocked his way. Patrick Hand then hit him with a club, while Alexander jumped into his carriage and began beating him. The two fell out of the vehicle and "Mousley was worsted," which is a polite way of saying he got the crap beaten out of him. Sounds like the Hands were a couple of "disgraceful" thugs, huh? However, this is an instance where hearing the other side of the story makes a big difference.

A likely more complete telling of the Hand-Mousley Incident

As Paul Harvey would have said, here's the rest of the story. First of all, the Hands didn't just happen to be there -- the deceased boy was their nephew, as James Mousley was married to their sister, Margaret Hand. Second of all, James Mousley was far from an innocent victim in all this. As the letter to the editor seen above explains, James and Margaret had been separated for a year or more, because  Mousley had been an abusive and inattentive husband. The writer (who may or may not have been Margaret -- it's signed "M") makes it clear that Mousley cared little for his wife or children and was, in her(?) words an "inhuman monster." It's altogether possible that this was written by someone on the Hands' side, and that there may be some measure of exaggeration here, too. But as we'll see in a moment, there's reason to believe this version is much closer to the truth.

The rebuttal also gives a differing version of the events of the day of the funeral. It states that Mousley was drunk and had been cursing during the funeral. As for the altercation itself, it's clear that Mousley was the instigator and that Alexander Hand (and only him, not Patrick) got fed up with Mousley's antics and threw him from his carriage, "manifestly doing both him and the vehicle some injury." Mousley proceeded to the grave site, but the procession returned to the house after Margaret fainted, preventing a second melee. 

The final twist in this story has to do with the other participant. Aside from being a good brawler against obnoxious drunks, Alexander Hand had something more impressive on his resume -- he was a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. A Naval Quartermaster, Hand was given the medal in 1863 for actions while aboard the USS Ceres on the Roanoke River in North Carolina. While his ship was on a raid upriver and under enemy sharpshooter fire, Hand stayed on deck and courageously returned fire. For his action he became the first Delawarean awarded the Medal of Honor, and one of the first overall. So needless to say, I don't think James Mousley scared him. And for what it's worth, both men were tried for the altercation a few months later -- Mousley was convicted of assault and battery, fined $25 and sentenced to two months in jail. Hand was acquitted. James and Margaret Mousley divorced the following year.

The details surrounding the 1910 dispute over Isaac Hand's 1861 will

But returning now to the 23 acre farm of Isaac Hand, after his death in 1861 it passed to his widow, Rachel. It looks like second son Isaac J. Hand was running the farm at the time, until his death in 1884. After Rachel's passing in 1891, the farm went to the youngest child, Charles Clifford Hand. When Charles Clifford died in 1908 and left no children, ownership of the farm seemed unclear. The family went to the Orphans' Court to determine who the farm belonged to, with the only surviving children of Isaac Hand being Mary Hand Kammerer and James Alexander Hand. The article seen above states that James lived on the farm, which perhaps by that time he did. He also owned a farm closer to Concord Pike, about where the Concord Plaza (now, The Concord) property is now. It also seems like James was quite the character.

The colorful story of James Alexander Hand

If you can, I highly recommend reading the above News Journal article from Oct. 6, 1960. James was a mason (the stoneworker kind, not the funny handshake kind) and homebuilder, and was well known around Brandywine Hundred and Wilmington. He seems to have taken to referring to himself as the Devil when he was out drinking, and enjoyed, shall we say, pushing the boundaries of law-abiding behavior. The newspaper article above, from October 1960, even suggests (tongue-in-cheekily) that there should be a second equestrian statue in Rodney Square, dedicated to James Hand.

Location today of Isaac Hand's farm, later developed
as the neighborhood of Delwynn

As for the Brandywine Hundred farm, the Orphans Court awarded ownership in 1910 to the heirs of Charles Clifford Hand. The property was put up for public auction, at which it was purchased by Mary Elizabeth Kammerer, daughter of Mary Hand Kammerer. Although ownership stayed in the family, it's unclear if a family member actually resided on the farm or if it was leased to a tenant. The Kammerers lived in Philadelphia.

By the early 1960's the inevitable forces of suburbanization were encroaching on the area, and in January 1962, Mary E. Kammerer sold the family farm to developer Edward J. Hill for $116,150. She had paid a mere $1,930 for it 51 years earlier. The old stone house, apparently known as "The Lodge" and seen in the photo at the top of the post, was torn down and new homes were built on the land worked by generations of Hands. So if you ever pass through there -- maybe on your way to the Silverside Pool, Bonsall Park, Springer Middle School, or just out to 202 -- know that you're passing by or through land once owned by a pretty fascinating family.