The Abners Woodward House

The Abner Woodward House 

A little while back there was a post about the Stephen Mitchell House, located on North Star Road, in the community of the same name. Toward the end of that post, we learned that the farm associated with the house was sold as part of a larger tract by Ellen du Pont Wheelwright in 1952. She sold it to a group of Dupont Company employees working at the new, nearby Louviers site, who were providing convenient housing opportunities for themselves and their co-workers. However, while the Mitchell, or North Star, Farm was the largest portion of the newly-created community of North Star, it was not the only part.

On the west side of North Star Road, Mrs. Wheelwright had another property she called Barnstable Farm. Its farmhouse is located along North Star Road, and for 121 years it was owned by three generations of the Woodward family. The house itself may have been built by the first Woodward there, or it may have already been standing when he arrived in 1808 -- that's yet to be determined. However, the history of the farm definitely goes back further than that.

Unfortunately though, much of that earlier history has thus far eluded me. I know that in April 1798, James Short sold a 129 acre plantation to John Heron, "late from the County of Donagall in old Ireland". Frustratingly, the only document I can find is actually the mortgage from Short to Heron, not the actual sale. This means it's written as if Heron is transferring the land to Short (which he would if he doesn't pay the debt), so while it does have a detailed description of the metes and bounds (which are too confusing for me to map out), it does not have any information on how or when Short came into possession of the land (only that Short, "of Mill Creek Hundred", sold to Heron dated the same day).