Returning Ann Stern McFarlan

Ann Stern McFarlan, c.1861

This story is going to be a little bit different than most I do, and it's one in which I'm going to ask for your help, local history community. It started a little while back when I received a a random-seeming email from a woman, stating that she had an old picture and thought it belonged in "my" area. (She had searched for history in the Wilmington area, and stumbled upon the blog.) She wrote that she had found this old photograph in an antique shop in New York City, and wanted to find it a home. She asked if I knew who it was and if I knew of any descendants or family who might like to have it. I said that I didn't, but that I would look into it.

I want to take a brief detour here and mention that the thoughtful soul who found the photo and contacted me was a NYC-based musician named Cat Popper. She's an amazing singer-songwriter and bassist, who over the years has played with the likes of Grace Potter, Ryan Adams, Nora Jones, Jack White, Bonnie Raitt and many others. You can see and hear more of her on her website. If you're into podcasts, she has one called Anecdope, where she interviews various musicians (some her friends, some friends of friends, all of whom you might know depending on the depth of your musical knowledge) and gets them to tell intimate backstage, behind the scenes stories of the roll and roll lifestyle.

But after that short and well-deserved plug, let's get back to our story. The first thing I did, as anyone who has handled old photos like this knows, was to check the back to see if anyone had written anything on it. Sure enough, they had! There were three pieces of information -- "Ann Stern McFarlan", "great great-grandmother", and "Also Helen Mc F. Cloud's great great-grandmother". (As we'll see later, I'm pretty sure this information is slightly off.) The photo, as you can see, was of an older woman in what appeared to be mid-to-late 19th Century dress. At the bottom was information about the photo studio where it was taken -- "From Wm. H. Curry, 309 Market St., Wilmington, Del.". It was this indication of Wilmington which ultimately led Cat to me.

The very helpful writing on the back of the photograph. Please get this sort of information
about your own family photos, while the ones who know it are still with you.

However, once I started researching, I quickly learned that Ann Stern McFarlan was not from Wilmington or Mill Creek Hundred, but in fact had lived just over the state line, in southeastern Chester County. More specifically, her life was spent in and around Kennett Township, so if you had family in that area, or know anyone who did, please keep reading to see if you can help us out. Thanks in large part to information gathered by others, I was able to find a good deal about our dear Ann.

Ann Stern was born on January 6, 1802 to John and Phebe (McFarlan) Stern. (If you guessed where this is going already, please keep it to yourself so as not to ruin it for the others.) Both her father's and her mother's families had Delaware roots, and her grandfather George Stern was a Revolutionary War veteran. Her father, John Stern, was born in 1776 and worked much of his life as a leather-worker. He made not only saddles and harnesses, but also shoes. When Ann was born the family resided in a home on the north side of Old Kennett Pike, just a few hundred yards north of the PA-DE state line (nothing remains of this house). In 1816 the family moved a short distance south to a 48-1/2 acre farm on the east side of Kennett Pike, across from Lower Brandywine Presbyterian Church. This house still stands, and is now on the grounds of Winterthur. 

This is the house Ann lived in from 1816-1820, on the east side of Kennett Pike, across
from Lower Brandywine Presbyterian Church, now on the grounds of Winterthur.

Unfortunately for the Sterns, this move did not work out well for them, and in 1820 the farm was sold at a loss to George McFarlan. Within two years, both Ann's mother and father would be dead. On the positive side, though, in between the deaths, in January 1821, Ann married William McFarlan, Jr. If the McFarlan name seems like it's come up a lot already, you're not mistaken. The George McFarlan who bought the Sterns' Delaware farm was William's uncle. Phebe McFarlan Stern (Ann's mother), was William's aunt. Yes, Ann and William were first cousins. (For the record, this was not banned in Pennsylvania until 1901, and was not uncommon in the early 19th Century.)

William McFarlan, Jr. was born in 1798 in Brandywine Township, to William and Elizabeth (Pusey) McFarlan. When he was eight, the family moved to a new farm about four miles northwest of Kennett Square. For their first few years of marriage, William and Ann lived on his father's farm, and their first two children were born there. Their second child, Isaac, would be one of only two to live into adulthood, along with younger sister Elizabeth (Lizzie). Another daughter, Phebe, would pass at 18, while five others would die before the age of three.

The final mystery I tried to solve about the family is where exactly they moved, after leaving the senior McFarlan's farm. All I really knew was that their home and farm were "in Kennett". I first worked from the assumption that it was close to the town of Kennett Square, and found a very good candidate. My problem with this, as compared to tracking down families in MCH, is that I don't have access to PA land records and I only have two maps covering the area that contain property owner data. One is a pieced-together map from an earlier time (18th Century). The other is from 1860, which is just slightly later than would be helpful in finding the McFarlans' home, considering that William McFarlan, Jr. died in 1853.

The c.1841 Lewis Pierce House, later owned by Isaac P. McFarlan,
off of McFarlan Road east of Kennett Square. 

As luck would have it, I did find a house that I thought was a good candidate for their farm. There are a bunch of McFarlans on the 1860 map in and around Kennett Square, but one due east of it was labeled with the name I. P. McFarlan. It seemed likely to me that this was Ann's son Isaac P. McFarlan, and without access to a will from father William, I worked under the assumption that Isaac (being the only surviving son) would have inherited the farm. As a bonus, the road that the farm sits off of is today called McFarlan Road! And the house is still there! Unfortunately when I looked into it further, I learned that this is actually the c.1841 Lewis Pierce House. The answer and connection was exactly what you might think it was -- in 1851, Isaac P. McFarlan married Lewis Pierce's daughter, Susanna. Seems that the new couple bought the farm from her father and didn't take up residence in his father's home. Oh, and the Helen McFarlan Cloud notated on the back of the picture? She was Isaac's granddaughter, through his son Lewis Pierce McFarlan. This means that Ann was actually her great-grandmother, not great great.

So it was back to researching, where all I could find were references to William as a well-respected citizen in Kennett, and that he died on his farm, called Hillside, in 1853. By 1860, Ann was living nearby with her sister Phebe and brother-in-law Benjamin Harlan, so it seemed likely that the farm had been sold out of the family sometime between 1853 and 1860. I started searching through newspapers under his name, her name, and Isaac's, with no luck. I feel a bit ashamed, as a father of two amazing daughters, that there was one person I forgot. And sure enough, I finally came across the sale ad seen below, from November 10, 1855. It's advertising a 91½ acre farm, with a "nearly new" stone house, for sale by Lizzie McFarlan. If you'll recall from a few paragraphs ago, Lizzie was the other surviving child of William and Ann, along with Isaac. It makes sense that she would have gotten the farm, as Isaac already had his own.

Nov. 10, 1855 ad for the sale of the McFarlans' farm

The final piece of the puzzle was to put the McFarlan farm somewhere on the map, which I was able to do when I then found a notice a few weeks later, stating that "Maris H. Fredd, of Christiana Hundred, has purchased the farm of Elizabeth McFarlan, in Kennett township, Chester county, containing 92 acres, for $89 per acre". The last step was to hopefully find Fredd on the 1860 map....which I was also able to do! Honestly I would have never looked there. It's near the eastern edge of Kennett Township, about 3½ miles from Kennett Square. It sits north of Burrows Run Road, just west of Kennett Pike and the Mendenhall Inn. The property was later given the name of Frog Spring Farm, and had several interesting owners. If I'm ever able to contact the current owners, perhaps there's another blog post in it. 

But looking back to the 1860 map, it shows M. H. Fredd, complete with the railroad tracks running right by the house. And as it turns out, this is not the first time we've run across Maris H. Fredd. Thirteen years later, and a year before his death in 1869, he would purchase the house on Burnt Mill Road featured in a post nearly two years ago.

The sale ad has some interesting information in it about the farm, but the piece that stands out to me is the mention of the nearly-new house. This would seem to imply that the home was built by the McFarlans, perhaps even as far back as the mid 1820's. I don't think it's out of range for a 25-30 year old stone house to be called "nearly-new". Whenever it was built, it left the family in 1855 and as noted earlier, Ann Stern McFarlan moved in with her sister and brother-in-law. Lizzie married Lewis Marshall in 1862. But let's wrap all this up with where we started -- the picture.

We can narrow down the date of the picture pretty well to between about 1860 and 1862. For the early date, from what I can tell William H. Curry moved to the 309 Market St address in about 1860. Ann McFarlan passed away on June 14, 1862 and was interred at the Longwood Progressive Friends Cemetery, where she rests along with most of the other members of her family. If you're not familiar, this is the one you pass on the way into Longwood Gardens (her parents are at Old Kennett Friends cemetery, not far away).

The final resting place of Ann Stern McFarlan. Wave to her as you
go into Longwood Gardens this holiday season.

So finally, this is my request -- are you, or do you know, any descendants of Ann Stern McFarlan? It seems like there are other copies of this photograph out there, but I was tasked with trying to find a good home for this one. If you or anyone you know might like to take possession of this keepsake, please contact me via comment or direct message.