Sunset Cottage and the Golding House -- Part 2

The lot sold to Annie Golding in 1880

In the last post we took a close look at Sunset Cottage, the Hockessin retirement home of John G.
Jackson. We learned how the property came to be acquired by the Jacksons, some of the unique features of the house, who owned the home after the Jacksons, and how the look of the house changed after a serious fire. We also learned that just before Sunset Cottage was built, John and Elizabeth Jackson sold off 1-1/2 acres of the original 5-3/4 acre lot. This acre and a half was on the corner of Valley Road and Southwood Road, and like its neighboring lot would have a house built on it in the early 1880's.

From a distance these homes looked similar to each other, and even though this house didn't have the unique features that its neighbor Sunset Cottage had, it has its own interesting history. In a small town like Hockessin (heck, I often think of MCH in general as just a spread out small town), it's no surprise that there were some connections, both professional and familial, between the residents of the neighboring homes. This starts right off the bat with the first owners of the lot, and the couple responsible for the building of the Golding House -- Edwin and Annie Golding.

In January 1880, the Jacksons sold the 1-1/2 acres to Annie H. Golding for $375. That price would seem to imply that there was no house there yet (when Annie sold just 9 years later, the price was $2200), but the home must have gone up very soon after. In the 1880 Census, taken June 10/11, the Goldings are listed right beside the Jacksons. (Incidentally, this could either mean that Sunset Cottage was completed by then, or that the Jacksons were still residing in their old home with no one between them.) So who were the Goldings?

Although the name on the deed was Annie H. Golding, the property was really sold to her and husband Edwin Golding, who along with his father Moses and several brothers ran the Golding and Sons Kaolin Company. The family was originally from England, more recently from the Trenton, NJ area, and had most recently moved to Delaware to mine kaolin clay in Hockessin. Their mines were located east of Old Wilmington Road, between Yorklyn and Sharpless Roads. Edwin would eventually become the president of the family company. Annie's name was the one on several of the couples' real estate holdings, so I would guess this was done for financial reasons, perhaps a way of separating and protecting personal from corporate assets. And remember that this was almost 30 years before another kaolin miner, John M. Walker, would move in next door.

1880 deed recording the sale of the 1-1/2 acre lot from Elizabeth and
John G. Jackson to Annie Golding. Not that Southwood Road was
called "the Dixon road (now named Sunset Avenue)". 

The house they built overlooking Hockessin Valley was in a typical style for the time, and matched nicely with Sunset Cottage next door. The Golding House, however, was of the more normal wooden frame construction, and not the poured concrete walls that John G. Jackson used. Also, like most houses, it didn't have an observatory attached. I'm not sure how long the Goldings actually lived in the house, but they owned it for nine years. They eventually moved to Wilmington (Broome Street), although they apparently also owned a farm in Hockessin, which they rented out. I have not yet determined where that was.

When the Goldings did finally sell their Hockessin home in February 1889, it was to a woman buying it in her own right. The new owner was Esther Ann Thompson, the widow of the late Cyrus B. Thompson. Cyrus was a local boy, growing up on his father George Thompson's farm on the corner of Doe Run Road and Little Baltimore Road. In fact, in the 1860 Census Cyrus' family is listed directly after that of John M. Walker, who would later own neighboring Sunset Cottage.

Esther was even more local -- her maiden name was Springer, the daughter of George Springer, Jr., and Esther grew up on her father's farm on the northeast corner of Valley Road and Limestone Road. Her father built the family a new home in 1852 when she was 10, and it's altogether fitting that when that house (which Esther later owned) was moved in 1997, it was placed on part of what has been the Golding House property that Esther bought in 1889.

When Cyrus Thompson died in 1880, he left the 38 year old Esther with seven children, ranging from infant Helen to 12 year old Rebecca. The eldest son was only 6. I think she first remained in their family home on the east side of Valley Road, just south of Evanson Road. I'm not sure why, but a February 4, 1889 newspaper report stated that she "was appointed guardian of her six children". I don't know why that took nine years after Cyrus' death, but I find it hard to believe it was a coincidence that it was later that same month that she purchased the Golding House. Esther also remained a part owner, then eventually full owner, of her father's 90 acre farm. It was eventually sold after her death to John M. Walker.

Report of the 1901 wedding of
John M. Walker and Anna Thompson,
held at the Golding House

That's a name that has come up several times, and there's a good reason why -- John McCabe Walker (eventual owner of Sunset Cottage) was married to the former Anna Thompson, making him Esther's son-in-law. In fact, when Esther died suddenly in 1919, it one of her grandsons living next door who found her unconscious body. On a more joyous note, as seen above the Thompson-Walker wedding took place at the Thompson's home on January 8, 1901. It would be eight years later that they would move in next door.

In her later years, Esther Thompson kept herself quite busy, being involved in several different charitable organizations. On January 27, 1904, Esther hosted a card night at the house, benefiting the Delaware Hospital. The roll call of that night can be seen below, and I know there are some of you out there whose ancestors were there that night. In fact, she was very involved in the Hockessin Branch of the Delaware Hospital Auxiliary and participated in and hosted numerous events. In 1917 she was elected president of the newly-formed Hockessin branch of the Red Cross. When she died, it was literally front page news (reported on Page 1 of the Wilmington Every Evening, January 10, 1919). 

Report of and list of guests at Esther Thompson's charity benefit euchre night (Jan 27, 1904)

The Golding House stayed in the Thompson family after Esther's passing, occupied (I believe) by her unmarried children George and Helen. George Springer Thompson died in 1929, but Helen is still shown in the house in the 1930 and 1940 Censuses. Like her mother, Helen Thompson was involved in her community. She was a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (which had its summer gathering on the lawn several times), the Hockessin Community Club, and the Waverly Club (a women's club). 

For most of the 1930's Helen traveled in the winter, staying with other family (including the Walkers in Georgia), and closing up the house for a few months. Also around this time she had a housemate -- the well-known Hockessin lawyer Francis Walker. I think it was Walker who had picked up from John G. Jackson the mantle of "most famous Hockessin resident". In articles he refers to Helen as his foster niece, but in reality he was the brother of Helen's brother-in-law, John M. Walker. Frank Walker eventually passed at the age of 102. When you practice law in a small town (and in Wilmington) for over 60 years, you get to know everyone.

The first signs of trouble for Helen appear in the early 1940's when there are sale ads for the house, even saying it was suitable for two apartments. She may have been in some sort of financial difficulty, because in May 1944 the property was sold by the sheriff in order to pay off a $1000 debt. Honestly the whole thing is a bit confusing to me, but I think it might all boil down to her falling behind on a mortgage originally given to her mother by Stephen Mitchell. In any case, the house was purchased by Mark P. and Margaret T. Brown. Helen, it looks like, moved to another house on Lancaster Pike south of Hockessin.

The new owner of the Golding House, Mark P. Brown, was an executive in the meat packing business. He began working for Wilmington Provision Company, then later formed his own business, Brown and Scott Packing Company. In case anyone remembers, they apparently had a fleet of yellow trucks with their logo, a pig in a bow tie, on the side. And I haven't seen this elsewhere, but in notices of the 1947 wedding of the Browns' son, Dr. Leonard Brown, their residence was referred to as "Holly Hill".

Turns out that Brown & Scott packing was being formed right about the same time that the Browns themselves moved on from the Golding House (or Holly Hill?), as they sold the property in early 1948 to William and Eloise Bergland. Sadly, the Berglands did not get to spend much time in their new place. In May 1949, William Bergland, a Princeton-educated engineer with Dupont (and who seems to have been a personal friend of some of the du Ponts), died suddenly while gardening at his home.

The next owner was Ralph B. Williams, an executive with Beneficial Corporation. He only owned the home for a few months, and presumably never lived there. The next owners, Jesse and Jean Harmon, did live there for eighteen years and raised six kids there. Dr. Harmon was a chemist, also with Dupont, as was their Sunset Cottage neighbor Archie Barkdoll. (I'm sure you remember the days when if you didn't work for Dupont, you knew someone who did.)

Another thing to keep in mind about this era (1950s and '60s) is that while there was lots of housing being built in southern MCH, closer to the Kirkwood Highway corridor, that level of suburbanization wouldn't reach Hockessin for another few decades. Hockessin in the '50s and '60s still had very much of a small town feel. Obviously, thanks to the automobile (and the train and trolley before that) it wasn't completely isolated, but it was definitely not "the burbs" just yet. One of the Harmon children who I've had the pleasure to speak with (and who we may hear more from later), recalls how as young children they would ride their bikes "around the block", which meant out Southwood Road, down Limestone Road, and then back up Valley Road. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't send my kids out on those roads today. (On a related note, I've had the pleasure of hearing from several Hockessin residents of that era and if anyone else has any memories they'd like to share, please let me know.)

The Golding House has had several more owners since the Harmons left in 1969, and is now over 140 years old. But judging from the listing photos from just a few years ago, the home has been both preserved and updated in ways that I'm sure would please and thrill Annie and Edwin Golding. The country house they built to be near the family business has remained a vital part of the Hockessin community for almost a century and a half, and shows no signs of slowing down now.