The George Montgomery House

The Montgomery House

When I first started getting interested in local history one of the first questions I had, as I looked at the 1868 Beers map with all the houses marked on it, was "How many of these houses are still around?" The answer turned out to be so many that 15 years into writing this blog, there are still historic houses I haven't covered yet. One such house that I only recently researched sits along the hillside of narrow Barley Mill Road, across from the Mt. Cuba Center. In fact, the reason I looked into the history of this beautiful, fieldstone home is that the Mt. Cuba Center recently acquired the house, so we can get that part out of the way now -- While, like most old homes, it once had a period when it fell into a bit of disrepair, it had been in good hands for many years, and its future is secure.

While I've chosen to call the structure the George Montgomery House, he actually only owned it for a relatively short time. There were many owners of the house over the years, and even the original build date and first occupants are still a matter of debate. This is one of those situations where we know pretty much the full story of the land, but some of the details regarding the house are unclear. And to get the full picture, we have to go back and revisit the subjects of a pair of excellent 2014 Guest Posts from Walt Chiquoine, about Irishman Con Hollahan and his estate, Cuba Rock.

The important point for us now is that in about 1753, Cornelius "Con" Hollahan purchased a 148 acre tract (seen below, along with some of the neighboring properties as they were in the 1770's) from Solomon Dixson, who had purchased it in 1752 from the heirs of Daniel Barker. Con's Cuba Rock tract is the oddly-shaped one just right of center, pinched in the middle. The Mt. Cuba Center can be seen in the northern section, above Barley Mill Road, while the southern portion reaches down to today's Ramsey Ridge. Con's homestead was almost certainly down in the far southwestern corner, where the "Irish Wall" is today. What, if anything, is in the rest of the property is never mentioned. We're left to make inferences, assumptions, and guesses as to what was built where, and when.

Properties in the Mt. Cuba area, as they were in the 1770's (courtesy Walt Chiquoine)

We do know that Con Hollahan died in 1788, and in 1794 his debts caught up to the estate and Cuba Rock was seized by the sheriff and sold, to Evan Phillips. It appears that Phillips likely moved onto the farm for a time, presumably residing in Con's old home, because he was described as being "of Mill Creek Hundred" when he sold off a portion of it in 1800 -- a portion which took me longer than it should have to understand the importance of. At first I thought it was just a few acres, but in reality he had sold over 36 acres to John V. Weber, essentially the entire southern portion below the "pinch". This, of course, would have included the Hollahan homestead. When Phillips sold the remainder of the tract to Simon Johnson in 1804, he was "of Kennet Township", so the Phillipses had moved away by then, likely after the 1800 sale.

The importance of all this is thus -- originally I had assumed that after Johnson bought his 131 acres (I realize that 148 minus 36 does not equal 131 -- I think there was some resurveying done at some point) that he had resided in Con's old house, but that was not possible because it was on a different farm by then. There had to have been at least one house on the northern portion, either built by Johnson or already there (he is listed in the area in the 1810 and 1820 Censuses). After Johnson's death in 1824, his heirs sold the farm in 1825 to Wilmington businessman Israel D. Jones. Jones quickly sold off the property in two sections, divided by Barley Mill Road. The larger northern portion (where the Mt. Cuba Center is now) was sold to Matthew Kettlewood, while the 20+ acres south of the road went to Samuel Temple, Sr., of Kennet Township. Originally, I had assumed it was Temple who had built the original section of our stone house in question (the main block was built in at least two sections). But unless Johnson lived in a completely vanished homestead, he must have either lived in the house along the road, or in the one further north up the hill, which was demolished when the Copelands were building their Mt. Cuba Estate in the 1930's. 

The 1826 sale to Samuel Temple, Sr., and the original partition of
the 20+ acres. Was there a house there then, or not?

But one final note before we move on -- in the 1794 deed to Evan Phillips, it is stated that the debts were being recovered against "John Holohan Margaret Craig and Francis Ailcock heirs and terratenants of the lands and tenements of Con Holohan deceased". John and Margaret were Con's son and daughter, and I think Ailcock may have been a son-in-law. Their description as being terratenants could mean that they all lived somewhere on the property (or maybe not, the wording is unclear). Perhaps they all lived in the old house, or perhaps they each had their own home, built by Dad, somewhere on the tract. Maybe the later Temple and/or Kettlewood homes were originally built for Holohan children.

I don’t know exactly what Samuel, Sr. did, but I do know that his son Samuel, Jr. was often listed as a mason and/or as a nurseryman. Obviously a mason wouldn’t need a large farm, and “nurseryman” likely meant he had orchards, which also don’t take up as much room. Samuel, Jr. also owned parts of orchards in Maryland. Then, probably just as a technical “keep it in the family” sort of deal, in 1842 Samuel, Sr. sold the property to Samuel, Jr., for the exact same $363 he paid in 1826. Two years later, Junior sold it to his son William C. Temple for what was probably more like the fair market price -- $3800.

William was also listed here as a mason in the 1850 Census, but he was also a businessman who owned other properties. Unfortunately for him, soon after, several of his properties were seized by the sheriff to pay off his debts, including this one. This 20+ acres was bought (for the bargain price of $950) by a local boy – George Montgomery. George was a blacksmith, who had previously owned a property along Ramsey Road, then one down on Old Wilmington Road. George Montgomery was also the son of Robert Montgomery, Jr., who had previously owned Montgomery’s Tavern, later the Mount Pleasant Inn. Additionally, Mrs. George Montgomery was the former Miss Mary Craig, daughter of Jacob Craig. Jacob Craig had also run and then owned the Mount Pleasant Inn, about 20 years after Montgomery. 

The structure in front of the Montgomery House (left) and the
Hickman Blacksmith Shop in Marshallton (right). Similar?

As noted, George Montgomery was a blacksmith, and had already had his shop in at least two other nearby places. And in front of the house on Barley Mill Road, there’s what we would probably call a garage now. I haven’t had a chance to examine it closely, but judging by the door and window and the size, my guess is that this is George’s blacksmith shop. If you compare it to the Hickman Blacksmith Shop in Marshallton, it looks very similar to me in size and shape. Plus, carriage houses are usually closer to the house, often behind it. This structure is right down on the road.

George and Mary lived in their home until George’s death in 1868. When Mary passed four years later, the two were laid to rest, side by side, just up Old Wilmington Road in the small Montgomery family cemetery. After George’s death, his will specified that his real estate be sold. It was, in 1869, to a widow named Hannah Marshall.

1886 Return of Marriage for Thomas S. Marshall
and Rebecca S. Montgomery

In the 1870 and 1880 Censuses, Hannah Marshall is listed here with two or three of her adult sons. She died in 1891, but the family held on to the house. By 1900, it looks like another son, Thomas, is there with his family, and brother John. Thomas was listed as a carpenter, which makes me wonder if he used George Montgomery’s blacksmith shop as his workshop. And as for Thomas Marshall, with him we have yet another familial connection. As you can see on his 1886 marriage certificate (above), Thomas wed Rebecca Montgomery, the granddaughter of George and Mary Montgomery. Later, Thomas and Rebecca would move to Elsmere, and their daughter Alice will marry J. Paul Woodward, who owned the farm where Delcastle High School is now.

After their move to Elsmere, Thomas and his two surviving brothers sold the Mt. Cuba house in 1911 to Silas C. Phipps, who only owned it three years. But, in 1920 he’s in Kennett Square and listed as a carpenter, so perhaps he knew Thomas that way. The next owner was Charles McMonigle. Although he flipped it three months later for a nice $500 profit, he was a carpenter as well. He sold to James H. and Margaret Gallagher, and gave them a mortgage. They were there until defaulting on that mortgage in 1926. That started a carousel of five different owners in four years, before it came into the orbit of the du Ponts, when Daniel Cauffiel, real estate agent to the du Ponts, bought the 20+ acres in 1929. I assume the old house of Samuel Temple became a country home then, first of Eugene du Pont, then du Pont affiliated lawyer Edward Porter, then Dupont chemist John Kelly.

The springhouse in front of the home, along Barley Mill Road

The most recent owners (who also had tangential du Pont connections) had lived in the house for about 50 years, before selling the home to the Mt. Cuba Center in 2023. Apparently they had known Mrs. Copeland (the owner of the Mt. Cuba estate), and were fulfilling her wish that the property one day become a part of Mt. Cuba. With that status now, this beautiful home's future is as bright and secure as it's ever been. I may have a few more details to add to the story in the near future. If so, I'll be sure to pass them on.