The Clarnen-Armor House

The Clarnen-Armor House

One of the things that initially helped to spark my interest in local history was when I discovered how
many old houses were sitting in the middle of mid-to-late 20th Century developments. It's fascinating to me to drive down a neighborhood street and see split level, ranch, split level, ranch, HOLY CRAP 18TH CENTURY STONE FARMHOUSE! And most of the time it's very easy to tell the old houses from the new. Once in a while though, there's a historic house that for some reason seems only slightly out of place amongst its newer neighbors, and I'd bet that most people who pass it by don't realize the history behind it.

One home like this is in the development of Highland West, on the northwest side of McKennans Church Road and Mill Creek Road, across from Red Clay Creek Presbyterian Church (and below McKean High School, for all you former Highlanders). With a brick façade on the front covering its frame construction, the house is different from the surrounding 1960's homes, but not too different. Except for the fact that it sits further back from the street, you might not even notice it. But in reality, this home was here, all by itself, a century before its neighbors.

The house's story begins more than 30 years before its construction with a young couple -- one a local native and the other a recent arrival. The new arrival was James Clarnen, and I only know a little about his early life. He was born in Pennsylvania, and it was in a Pennsylvania regiment that he served briefly in the War of 1812. His father presumably had died, because his mother Jemima remarried to William Whaley, who took James on as his son. I can't find exactly when Whaley bought his property, but I know where it was and what he did on it.

Location of the 21 acre Whaley Farm

Whaley's farm (actually called "the Whaley Farm" in a deed with a later family) was the 21 acres on the southwest corner of McKennan's Church Road and Mill Creek Road. William Whaley (who was on this property by at least 1810) was apparently a weaver, because in his 1831 will he specifically states that "the weavers shop may not be occupied as a dwelling house, it being too near the other buildings to have a fire in." It's maybe not all that surprising that he was concerned with peoples' wellbeing (even after his own death), considering that his will also included money for three different churches. 

Whaley devised all his real estate to widow Jemima for her lifetime, after which it was to be sold and half of the proceeds to go to his step-son, James Clarnen. Meanwhile, back in 1821 Clarnen had married the girl across the street, Mary Crossan. Mary was the daughter of John and Mary Crossan, who owned the large farm on the north side of Mill Creek Road, directly across from the Whaley Farm. John Crossan had died back in 1813 (his wife, two years earlier), apparently without a will. There were quite a few Crossans in the area, but for some reason John Crossan's estate did not get settled by the Orphan's Court until 1854. At that time, among other things, his daughter Mary Clarnen received just under 70 acres, comprising the southeast portion of her father's land.

Location of the Clarnen Farm -- today's Highland West

Until then, it seems that the Clarnens were still living on the Whaley Farm, and they are shown as such on the 1849 map. There is no house shown on the northern farm. My guess is that sometime soon after they got ownership of the 69+ acres north of Mill Creek Road, James and Mary Clarnen built a new home for themselves on their new farm. More specifically it might have been after James' mother Jemima died in 1855. That would have freed up the Whaley Farm to be sold, which it was, to Nathan Yearsley. His sons would eventually have a blacksmith shop there.

So the money from the sale of the Whaley Farm may well have paid for the Clarnen's new house. They had seven children in all, six of whom were still living with them in 1850. That included three (Henry, Catherine, and Jemima) who were adults when they moved across the road, and who would remain unmarried and with their parents. The elder Clarnens resided the rest of their lives in the house, until their deaths in 1879 (James) and 1882 (Catherine). 

1881 map showing Henry Clarnen (Hy. Clarnan). Former Whaley Farm is listed as Mrs. Yearsley

Son Henry Clarnen had been farming alongside his father his whole life, and took ownership of the farm after James' passing. The children made it official when the sold the property to Henry in 1884. Sadly, though, Henry died only five years later, on February 9, 1889. And as mentioned, Henry was a bachelor and had no heirs. Therefore, the family next sold the farm to their sister Mary, who had married John G. Fisher back in the early 1870's.

The Fishers moved from their farm down by Churchman's Marsh and worked the Clarnen land, aided by their five children. Tragically though, Mary died from complications from the flu in 1897. John remarried in 1900 and sold the farm in 1903. He then moved to a house in the Cedars. The next owner was Abraham Armor, who had grown up on his father's farm along Lancaster Pike.

Although I haven't found it, I feel there must have been a connection between Fisher and Armor, or between the families. Abraham and wife Ella had three children. Their oldest, Laura, died of diphtheria at age 8 in 1892. When they moved into the old Clarnen house in 1903, they had with them Mabel and Howard. Abraham farmed his land, and in 1916 Mabel married Robert M. Walker. Sadly, she died of influenza (presumably the Spanish Flu) in late 1918. 

Her brother Howard (whose middle name was Fisher) married a month after his sister, to Mary Bertha Klair, daughter of Jonas Klair. Bertha grew up in the Klair family home on Limestone road, known as the McKennan-Klair House. It seems though, that Howard was as cursed as his sister. He too died of the flu, on December 20, 1918, only 11 days before his sister. Unlike his sister, however, Howard and Bertha did have two children before he passed. Son Merritt was born in late 1916 and daughter Mary Ella in 1919. I think that the photos below are of Merritt and Mary Ella.

Photos found in the Clarnen-Armor House, believed (by me)
 to be Merritt K. and Mary Ella Armor

After Howard's death, Bertha, Merritt, and Mary Ella lived with her parents on Limestone Road. Abraham Armor continued to farm his land across from the church. His wife Ella died in 1925, but two years later he remarried to Mary Dizer Barnes, a divorcée from Wilmington. When Abraham passed in 1931, he bequeathed the 69 acres to his grandson Merritt K. Armor. However about half was given as a widow's dower to second wife Mary, "for the term of her natural life." Mary moved out of state, though, and in 1932 sold her portion to step-daughter Mary Bertha, Howard's widow. Clear?

In 1940 the family made two sales of the property, presumably for legal reasons, in order to sort out ownership. The end result was that Merritt and Mary Ella became joint owners of the whole 69 acre farm. They continued to reside, however, at the Limestone Road home inherited by their mother. Mary Ella was married briefly in the 1940's and Merritt didn't marry until the late 60's. Around that time, too, Merritt ran a gift and fireplace accessory store out of his historic home (I know some of you remember it and him).

As for the Clarnen-Armor House, the Armor siblings finally sold it in 1962 to Marta Builders for the construction of Highland West (so named because it was on high land and west of the city). The old barn and outbuildings were removed, but thankfully the developers spared the old house. It now stands amongst its century-younger neighbors, testament to a different era.