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| The 200 acre Crawford-Rankin Farm |
The property in question lies on the east side of Polly Drummond Hill Road, mostly north of the western end of New Linden Hill Road. However, its story goes back long before the current path of New Linden Hill Road, and even generations before Mrs. Drummond graced the hill that now bears her name. The original tract we're looking at was a 300 acre parcel owned in the early 1770's by something called the Pennsylvania Land Company (PLC). The PLC was a Quaker-owned corporation which bought large swaths of land from William Penn and resold it in smaller parcels. But it was not only Quaker-owned, it was Quaker affiliated -- to the point that there seems to be a discussion among historians as to just how much it was a part of the Society of Friends. I think that most of their land was in the current Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (and I can't recall coming across them before), but they did own this 300 acre property in MCH.
The PLC was founded in 1699 by four Friends in London: Michael Russel, Tobias Collet, Daniel Quare, and Henry Gouldney. The last three of them are named in the deeds I've found relating to this tract. On March 14, 1722, they sold the 300 acres -- bounded on the east by Pike Creek (then called Peck's Creek) and extending likely just past Polly Drummond Hill Road -- to Griffith Lewis. Lewis was a weaver by trade, probably born in the early 1680's (although details about him are scarce). Four years later, in 1726, he also bought 200 acres bordering Red Clay Creek, which will be the topic of an upcoming post. Unfortunately, Griffith and wife Catherine didn't enjoy these properties together for long, as Griffith Lewis died in the early days of January 1731. He willed all his real estate and assets to Catherine (it does not appear that they had any children), and she sold the Red Clay farm in 1738.
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| The original 300 acre tract, as close as I could get |
Catherine seems to have held on to the Pike Creek-bounded farm, at least until her death in 1747. The next transfers took place in a fury in 1763. It was on August 15 of that year that NCC Sheriff Thomas Dunn sold the 300 acres in a public sale to John Rees. This was done (no pun intended) to satisfy a debt against "George Brown Administrator" owed to the Trustees of the Pennsylvania Land Company. The debt was actually owed by Griffith Lewis, and my assumption is that his original mortgage was never fully paid off. I'm not sure how Brown became involved, though, as he was not the executor of either Griffith or Catherine's wills, nor do I know who occupied the farm between Catherine's death in 1747 and the sale in 1763.
It's possible the Browns lived there, although if so their tenure came to an end the next day. August 16, 1763 saw two sales -- first from Rees to John Brown (George's son?), and then from Brown to Robert Crawford. One change that occurred at this time is that when Rees sold to John Brown, he only sold 200 of the 300 original acres. The other 100 acres (the southwestern portion) were sold the next year to Peter Sullinger, and after a few more transfers ended up as part of the Fair Field farm. What's interesting, though, is that the deed to Sullinger refers to the "Messuage Plantation and Tract of Land" while the deed to Brown sells only "all that piece or parcel of land". That implies that the Lewis farmhouse for the 300 acres was included in the 100 acres to Sullinger, and became the Fair Field house. This would mean that the house on the farm we'll follow was likely built by the new owner, Robert Crawford. It stood between the modern Tysons Ford and Rankin Roads, just above the bend in them.
There wasn't much I could find about Crawford, other than a few details. He was born about 1737, making him about 26 when he purchased his farm. He and wife Elizabeth had at least eight living children (four of each) at the time of his death in 1819. Robert lived the last 56 years of his life on his farm, except for some time away in his early 40's. Robert Crawford was a Revolutionary War Patriot, serving in James Black's company. One of his sons, Robert, Jr., purchased the Bartley-Tweed property directly across the road. Daughter Esther married Andrew Walker of Little Baltimore, and one of their sons later owned the next farm north for a time. More importantly for us in a moment, daughter Sarah married Joseph Rankin, of the Yellow Hall and Rankin Hall Rankins (the area later home to Louviers/Deerfield).
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| A section of Robert Crawford's 1819 will, wherein he gave his real estate to his wife and daughters |
When Robert Crawford died in 1819, he bequeathed his farm to wife Elizabeth (1/3 share) and their four daughters (remaining 2/3). When Elizabeth died in 1826, her share was divided between the daughters. This is where it gets complicated. The farm stayed in the family's hands, but it's unclear who was actually living on it for a while. The 1849 map shows E. Crawford, which would likely be Elizabeth, the unmarried daughter of Robert and Elizabeth. However, the 1850 Census shows her actually living with the family of her brother-in-law Joseph Rankin (Sarah had died before then). Judging by the census, the farm may have been the home to the family of John Stilwell.
Elizabeth wrote a will in 1845, which also has a date of 1858, which is when I assume she died. In it, she gives all her real estate to the children of Joseph Rankin. There are no more details than that (like what exactly it was), but it also doesn't say her share of real estate. This makes me think she ended up owning her father's farm. Also confusing things is that somewhere along the line, some of it was sold, possibly to the farm directly north, which was owned for a time by Esther (Crawford) and Andrew Walker, then by their son Robert. The 1860 map shows the Crawford farm as owned by J. Rankin, presumably as the father. I can't tell who lived there then, but soon after I think I can.
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| Part of the 1860 map, showing J(oseph) Rankin as the owner. Note how (New) Linden Hill Rd ends north of Fox Den Rd |
In 1864, the rest of the Rankin family sold the farm to 42 year old Robert T. Rankin, who in 1870 was living there with his sister Rebecca and a few farm hands, including Joseph Golt and family. This is one of those situations where on a map it appears that the property has changed families (Crawford to Rankin), but really hasn't. Robert T. Rankin was the grandson of Robert Crawford. One thing that did actually change was the size of the farm. While it had been 200 acres, R.T. Rankin was only sold 161 acres. From what I can tell, the northern border might have been moved a bit south, the public road (Polly Drummond Hill Rd) was now the western edge, and a little might have been shaved off of the south edge. The 1881 map shows it at 160 acres, which is probably the same thing.
Robert never married, and worked his farm until 1889, when at the age of 69 retired from farming, selling all his farming utensils and many household goods at a public sale in March. I assume he moved in with a relative (probably brother Joseph), but the loss of the 1890 Census makes it impossible to know for sure. Robert suffered a "stroke of paralysis" in 1894 and died in March 1896. It seems that the family held on to the farm for another 13 years, finally selling it in 1909. Thus ended 146 years of ownership of the property by the Crawford/Rankin family.
The new owner, however, was no stranger to the area or the neighborhood. The Rankin heirs sold the farm to 62 year old John L. Greenwalt, whose farm was a couple miles south along the White Clay, and which partially entailed the eastern end of the Sanders-Currinder Farm. And I include his age to point out that he was not buying this farm as a new place to settle down, but exactly why he bought it I'm not sure. However, six years earlier he purchased the neighboring Fair Field Farm for his son and daughter-in-law, whose family had previously owned it. It's possible that the Rankin farm was going to be an extension of this, or maybe planned for another of his children -- it's not clear. In any case, John Greenwalt died in 1910, and in 1913 Lewis Greenwalt bought out his siblings to purchase the Fair Field farm, and the Greenwalts sold the old Rankin farm to John C. Knotts.
Knotts, again, was not a young man and died a year later in 1914, but the family held the property for another seven years. In 1921 they sold it (to pay off John's debts) to Joseph H. Vought, Jr. If you're keeping track, it was still the same 161 acres that was sold to R.T Rankin in 1864, plus another, smaller lot of about an acre and a quarter, but I'm not sure exactly where (somewhere on the border of the larger tract). Vought was another local boy -- he grew up on his family's farm at the foot of Possum Park Road, in the old Meeteer House, now Yasik's Funeral Home.
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| August 31, 1926 - Joseph Vought arrested in death of a young boy. He was released and charges were dropped |
Joseph's father, Joseph Vought, Sr., had died in 1920 and the family spent several years selling off smaller lots in what would become Delaplane Manor, then sold the remainder of their farm on the Lincoln Highway. Joseph, Jr. moved to his farm up the hill, but only owned it for a decade. However, during that decade he did have at least one event that must have been fairly traumatic for him. In late August 1926, Joseph was driving his car, I think in Wilmington, when 7 year old Robert Leslie of Tuxedo Park jumped off of an ice wagon he was riding on. He jumped directly in Vought's path and was struck by his car before anyone could react. Joseph scooped him up and drove him to St. Francis Hospital, where the boy died soon after from a fractured skull. Vought was initially arrested on manslaughter charges, but they were officially dropped the next week, the incident being ruled an unavoidable accident.
In 1931, Joseph Vought sold the farm to Eugene du Pont. However, it does seem that he remained on the property, farming it for Mr. du Pont, until 1947. At that point he sold his farming equipment and stock, along with some home goods, and moved to care for the property of Dr. J Draper Brown, Jr., on Kennett Pike just south of Centreville.
Eugene du Pont's purchase was part of a larger buy-up of at least seven farms in MCH along Pike Creek around 1931. I think that some or all of it was called Skyline Farm by du Pont, and may have been centered where Skyline Middle School is today. This era needs much more research in the future.
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| June 16, 1965 - Notice that developer Robino would change the name to the Village of Meeting House Hill |
In 1965, developer Frank Robino got approval for a new neighborhood originally called The West Knoll. Robino wanted to call it Meeting House Hill, but there was already a development with that name on Yorklyn Road in Hockessin, so he changed to the Village of Meeting House Hill. The Hockessin development eventually changed to Meeting House Meadow, and I can't find any actual uses of the "Village" part. I'm not sure if Robino bought the property directly from du Pont or not, but I assume he did. The houses began being sold in the fall of 1966. The neighboring development of Deacon's Walk was built just a few years later.
The name of "Meeting House Hill" came from the area's moniker prior to the "Polly Drummond" name, and derived from the White Clay Creek Presbyterian meeting house (church) built down toward the base of the hill. The street names in both neighborhoods are historically-themed, coming either from Presbyterian history (Old Side Court, New Side Court, Whitfield Road) or local area history (Rankin Road, Tyson's Ford Road, Worral Drive, Vansant Road). This is a wonderful piece of continuity for a property with ties back to the earliest days of English settlement in the area, and a fascinating roster of owners through the years since. The one thing I have been unable to find so far (and which was the original request that led to this investigation) is a photo of the old house. If anyone happens to know of one, let us know!
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