The Reynolds-Janvier House at Delaware Park

The then du Pont House, under tenancy of the Banks
Family, c. 1860's (courtesy Steve Larrimore)

One of the most unique properties in Mill Creek Hundred (and, btw, one of the most useful when trying to orient yourself on an aerial photo) is the racetrack, casino, and golf course that I'll be referring to collectively as Delaware Park. Horse racing already had a long history in the culture in general, and in the area specifically (see the post about Brown's Track), by the time William K. du Pont, Jr., his brother-in-law Donald P. Ross, and their Delaware Steeplechase and Race Association (DSRA) opened Delaware Park outside of Stanton in 1937. The properties now consist of over 750 acres, and were purchased over the years from multiple owners, taking all or some of numerous farms. This is the story of one of those.

At the time the track opened in 1937, there were (at least) four old farmhouses standing on what was or would be DSRA property -- the Stroud House to the southwest, the Stopyra farm to the northwest, the Brown house near the track on its south side, and this house towards the eastern end, belonging then to James and Louise Cunningham. But they were the last of the private owners of the home, and they had only acquired it a year prior to selling to the DSRA in 1935. The house, however, dates back to the 18th Century (NCC lists it as 1790, although I can't confirm that), and the farm even further.

Since the area around the confluence of Red Clay and White Clay Creeks was one of the earliest settled in the region by the Swedes, it's no surprise that ownership of the property goes back quite far. The specific land on which the house would later be built was originally part of a 570 acre tract granted by Edmund Andros ("Lieutenant and Governor general under his royal highness James Duke of York and Albany") to Walraven Johnson Deffose and Charles Rumsey in 1676 (my guess is that they were already there, and just getting official ownership from the new English administration). The tract then went through a number of hands over the subsequent years -- John Watkins and Samuel Barker (1679), John Cann (1680), Richard Lewis (1710), John Lewis (Richard's son) (1725), and George Lewis (John's son) (1752), Charles Allford (1752), and John Hance (1754).

Approximate metes and bounds of the 248 acre tract sold in 1761 to William Reynolds

It's hard to tell who among those names actually lived on the land, although it seems that at least the Lewises did, as the father and son owned it for 42 years. Plus, in Richard Lewis' will he bequeathed to his son "my Lands Messuages and Mansion House wherein I now live". Whether that "Mansion House" was the earliest part of the current house or not is unclear. As far as the land goes, up through John Hance every transaction was for the full 570 acre tract. However, in 1761 Hance divided the farm, selling 248 acres of it to William Reynolds. My rough estimation of that tract can be seen above. I believe the remainder of the original 570 acres consisted of a portion to the upper left and two rectangular tracts to the southwest.

When William Reynolds died in 1777, the property went to his son Alexander. Upon Alexander's passing in 1803, his will bequeathed all his real estate to his son, William. But before we get to the land that William Reynolds inherited, I feel the need to address another category of possession that showed up in both William and Alexander's wills. While it might be easy for us around here to think of slavery as the "Peculiar Institution" confined to the South -- it was not. The Reynolds were a slaveholding family, and a relatively large one for this area (from my experience). Judging from his will, in 1777 William Reynolds owned six enslaved people -- women Sall and Hager (given to his daughter Ann), woman Kete (to daughter Martha), Dick and Jem (men named in his inventory), and Teen (a woman in his inventory). In his 1803 will, Alexander is shown as owning thirteen enslaved people -- Mariah and Charles (given to son Andrew), and Ealee and Porter (given to daughter Jane). His inventory lists the family of Rodger Howell (55), wife Hester (42), and child. There are two other men, Joseph (34) and Abraham (24); two boys, Jacob (10) and Jefferson (3); and two girls, Sophia (12) and Fanny (8). I feel it important somehow to list them and give them their names. I'll also note that Fanny was given her freedom by William Reynolds in 1805.

Part of the 1803 inventory of Alexander Reynolds' property,
showing the nine enslaved people not bequeathed in his will

But getting back to the land, there was a lot more of it by the time of Alexander's will of 1803. There was land he had purchased from William Marshall to the east, closer to St. James Church. Much of that, and some marsh land on Bread and Cheese Island, went to his son Andrew. Another son, Dr. William Reynolds, received the home farm of 248 acres inherited from the elder William, along with two tracts of 100 acres and 80 acres which were the two rectangular properties adjacent to the west (the 80 acre would be the main section of the Brown-Murray, or Farmhouse, farm), and which had been a part of the original land grant. There was also a seven acre lot (part of the Marshall purchase) given to William.

By the time of Dr. William Reynolds' death in 1827, his holdings totaled about 460 acres. In 1832 they were partitioned between his children, with Alexander getting a 155 acre farm and two lots in Stanton, all of which he sold the next year to William W. Rice. The 155 acre farm would later be sold to the Browns, and then to the Murrays (detailed in this post). The remainder of Dr. William Reynolds' real estate (285 acres) went to son Andrew C. Reynolds, and daughter Sarah and her husband Thomas Williams. In 1833, 217 acres of it was sold to Thomas Janvier of New Castle. Three years later, Janvier purchased tracts of 59 acres and eight acres from various heirs of Simon Cranston. Most likely all of this was acquired for the use of his son George, and in 1843 they made it official. All three tracts (which the deed states were in the occupancy of George Janvier) were sold to him for $1.

It appears that George did live on this farm for a time, but by 1850 he's listed in White Clay Creek Hundred, where he owned properties along Ogletown Road (Rt. 273) just east of Newark. This almost certainly means the farm was leased to tenants for the rest of George's ownership. Later he would move to New Castle and engage in the coal business, but in 1856 he sold his Mill Creek Hundred farm to members of another family engaged in their own business -- the du Ponts. Although I don't think any member of the family ever resided on the Stanton-area farm, they did own it for the next 78 years.

Brothers Charles I., Jr. (left) and Victor du Pont

Specifically, the new owners were siblings Mary, Victor, and Charles I. du Pont. They were the children of Charles Irenee du Pont, nephew of company founder  E.I. du Pont, who founded his own woolen manufacturing company (later purchased by the Dupont Company). Fun fact -- the Marquis de Lafayette attended his 1824 wedding to Dorcas Montgomery Van Dyke in New Castle. The simple section in the history of the du Ponts' ownership of the Janvier farm is that in 1858, Victor and Mary both sold their 1/3 shares to Charles. But Charles died in 1873, and gave a 2/3 share back to Victor and 1/3 to Mary.

Now the complicated part made simple -- Victor died in 1888 and gave his share to his wife Alice, who gave it to their children upon her 1904 passing. Mary died in 1909 and gave her share to her children. However, some of those shares bounced around, some heirs ended up with multiple shares, and some of the heirs had the same names. If you really want the full story, you can read it all below (actually, that's not even all of it -- there's one more paragraph about Ethel du Pont Barksdale and her daughters). However, since as far as I know no du Ponts ever lived on the farm, exact ownership at any given moment isn't important to us right now. But...

Almost all of the trail of ownership of the farm within the du Pont family

Unlike most tenant farms where it can be difficult to know who actually lived on and worked the farm at any given time, we do know at least one family who leased from the du Ponts for many years -- the Banks family. They've come up in the blog before, in at least six different posts. This was the family of Jabez and Jane Banks, who had emigrated from England in 1848. They appear in the 1850 Census in Christiana Hundred, somewhere near Dupont Road and Maryland Avenue. By 1860, and possibly soon after the du Ponts purchased it, the Bankses where living on the farm which the 1868 Beers map labels "White Hall". There eventually were, to my best count, 12 Banks children, quite possibly all born on the farm along White Clay Creek.

I don't know how and when the connection was made between the Banks and du Pont families, but in addition to Jabez, two of his brothers also tenanted du Pont farms, each in a different hundred. His brother Robert worked the Blue Ball Farm on Concord Pike in Brandywine Hundred, and William on a farm near New Castle that later became the site of the Tasker Iron Works. Jabez Banks, Sr. died in March 1880, and was held in high regard in the community. He and many other family members are interred at nearby St. James Episcopal Church, and the Banks memorial is one of the largest in the cemetery.

A Banks Family photo, probably taken at Brandywine Springs

The family remained on the farm for a number of years after the passing of Jabez, Sr., but eventually the children all moved on. John W. lived on a farm in the Bellefonte/Edgemoor area in Brandywine Hundred. Richard ended up in the new automobile industry, both manufacturing and then selling cars. Jabez, Jr. among other things, leased a wheelwright shop in Stanton, worked as a carpenter, worked with Richard making cars, worked the family farm, and then ended up managing the hotel at the Brandywine Springs Amusement Park. Jabez, Jr. seems to be listed in the Stanton area in the 1900 Census (as a carpenter), but it's unclear if he's still in the farmhouse. I don't know at this time exactly when the last Banks moved out of the old Reynolds-Janvier House, or who took their place. However, judging from a few brief newspaper mentions, the next tenants might have been John P. McKee, followed by Lawrence Othoson. In fact, Othoson might have been there from at least 1909 until his death in 1931.

In 1934, six of the remaining du Pont family heirs finally sold the property (all 284 acres) to James R. and Mary Louise Cunningham. At first I thought, since the Cunninghams only owned the farm for a year, that they might have been du Pont-affiliated placeholders facilitating the sale to the DSRA. However, after some quick research, James R. Cunningham turned out to be an interesting guy. 

1937 aerial of the brand new Delaware Park, with the Reynolds-Janvier House
circled in blue, next to the Pennsylvania RR spur to the park

Born in Pennsylvania in 1876, by 1900 his family was in Pencader Hundred where James was listed as a miller (presumably working at the Cooch-Dayett Mill near Cooch's Bridge, as the Cunninghams were listed between two Dayett families). In July 1906 he was mentioned in the newspaper as the new proprietor of the Elk Vale Roller Mills in Cecil County, MD, and the 1910 Census shows him near Bohemia, MD. In 1914 James made the paper again, this time by being arrested in Wilmington for drunk and disorderly conduct, and for getting into a fight with his father. He was again arrested in 1927 for the heinous crime of the "illegal use of a milk bottle" (he sold milk in a bottle that was not his farm's).

By 1930 he, Mary Louise, and their six children were living near Milford Crossroads, on the Diamond Hill Farm (I'm not sure exactly which one that was). In 1935, they bought the du Pont farm, but sold (most of it) to the DSRA a year later, their farm comprising much of the original Delaware Park property. In 1936 the Cunninghams bought what I believe was the old Phillips Mill northwest of Newark, along Nottingham Road (Rt 273) by the Newark Country Club. The portion of the Stanton farm they held on to was on the northern end of it, beyond the railroad tracks, which became the development of Albion (there's even a Cunningham Road there).

The current location of the old farmhouse (bottom right), nestled in
 amongst the trees, golf course, and race track facilities

As for the old Reynolds-Janvier Farm, it has remained as part of the Delaware Park property, with the house having several uses over the years. I'm hoping to gather some more information about it and elaborate in a future post. In any case, this is a pretty unique property, with a history that spans all the way from 17th Century Swedes to a 21st Century casino. The old house (I'll see if I can gather any more details on its current condition) still stands, albeit a bit hidden away, as a reminder of the area's long history.