The Springer-Chandler Farm

The Springer-Chandler farms, 1927

For this story we venture again outside the confines of Mill Creek Hundred, but not by much. In fact, 
the land in question was originally part of a tract that extended into MCH, and ultimately ended up as part of one which was featured in a post not long ago. It's a story that is, on the one hand, fairly simple. Over the course of more than 300 years, it was really only owned by members of four (although, really three) different families. But on the other hand, there are a few details and actions that make the chain of ownership a lot more complicated and confusing when viewed on a closer level. Also, there are actually several tracts in question, which multiple times are split up, only to be later reunited in ownership. Also also, I don't have a strong understanding of the exact boundaries of most of the tracts. 

"Originally", the land in question (which is along Lancaster Pike between Centerville Road and Red Clay Creek) seems to have been on the eastern end of the holdings of the Barker family, who began acquiring much of the area around what would become Wooddale from the Penns as early as the 1680's. There were several members of several generations of Barkers who bought a number of tracts over the years, from Wooddale up to Mt. Cuba. For our purposes here, suffice it to say that in 1764, several grandchildren of Samuel Barker (who had purchased the land in 1685 from William Penn) sold a 200 acre tract in western Christiana Hundred to Charles Springer, son of Jacob Springer. While the exact boundaries are unclear to me (lots of white oaks and hickories and other property lines I don't know), it seems to generally sit now between Lancaster Pike and Barley Mill Road, mostly (or entirely) west of Centerville Road.

Charles presumably settled on the land and lived there for almost 40 years. In his 1802 will, he divided his land between sons Reese (who got the westerly part) and Thomas (who got the rest). Apart from being severed from the other Barker holdings, this is the first of several instances of the property being split up, only to be later reunited. Thomas Springer died in 1824, and in his will gave most of his land to his son Charles, except for about 40 acres that he says he bought from Joseph Robinson in 1809. This portion went to son William Foulk Springer. I was frustrated at first because I could not find any record of that 1809 sale, but I think I finally have a theory as to what happened. 

In Reese Springer's 1808 will, he stated that he wanted his property sold and the proceeds to go to his three kids (all of whom were young, I think). His brother Thomas was executor of the will, so legally he was forced to sell the land at public auction. I believe he sold it to Robinson, with the understanding that Robinson would then sell it back to him. I've seen maneuvers like that before, done to fulfill the terms of a will. Since it was a "friends and family" type sale, it may not have been filed, which is why I couldn't find it.

This is all relevant because in 1834, William Foulk Springer sold those westerly 40 acres (plus land on the south side of Lancaster Pike, which he also got from father Thomas) to Samuel Gregg Chandler. This was far from a random person to sell to -- Chandler was his brother-in-law, married to William's sister Hannah. Samuel G. Chandler was born in 1803 to Swithin and Ann Gregg Chandler (one of about 11 children), I believe at their home on the SE corner of Lancaster Pike and Brackenville Road. Among his notable relatives were his brother Abram (owner of the the grist mill at Milltown) and nephew Dr. Swithin Chandler.

A portion of the 1849 map showing the two Chandler houses, and a very
generalized indication of the extent of the property to the best of my understanding

As of the 1849 map, there were two different houses indicated -- one on the north side of the turnpike and one along Centerville Road south of the turnpike. Presumably both were there much earlier, and I think the southern one was part of Charles Springer's land, while the northern one was Chandler's. They can be seen on the 1927 aerial photo of Breidablik Farm (at the top of the page), which was across the road. And so to recap to this point (because this is where can be confusing) -- Charles Springer split the land between sons Reese and Thomas, Thomas reunited Reese's part, Thomas split the land between sons Charles and William, William sold his portion to brother-in-law Samuel G. Chandler. So the original land is now split between Chandler and Charles Springer.

Samuel G. Chandler was quite an active and energetic man. He was active in Democratic politics in the the mid-1800's, several times running for office. From 1850-1852 he served as New Castle County Sheriff, and all the while farmed his land along the turnpike. He and wife Hannah (remember -- Thomas Springer's daughter, and Charles' and William's sister), raised three children on their farm -- Thomas, Ann, and Mary. Ann married William Reese, owner of the Mt. Pleasant Inn, while Mary married only very late in life. Neither had any children.

A December 1875 notice of Thomas Chandler's death

Samuel's son Thomas Springer Chandler and wife Hannah (Woodward) did raise one child, but Thomas died in late 1875 from cancer. Samuel Gregg Chandler died in February 1886, and in his will he (surprise!) divided his land into two. Technically, he first devised everything to his widow Hannah, but upon her death (which occurred in 1890) most of the land would go to his grandson (Thomas' son), Samuel G. Chandler. The excepted land was described as "about fifty acres which I bought of Amor Frame", and it was to go to his daughter Mary. And like that earlier "land from Joseph Robinson" in Thomas Springer's will, at first I struggled to figure out what that was. Also like that earlier tract, I eventually found the answer.

Report of Samuel G. Chandler's death, 1886

If you'll recall from earlier, back in 1824 Thomas Springer had split his land between sons William and Charles. It was William's portion that Chandler bought in 1834. Charles, meanwhile, held on to his land (about 60 acres, I believe along the west side of Centerville Road) until his death in 1843, at which time it passed to his daughters Sarah Elizabeth and Mary Ann. In 1852, Mary Ann sold her moiety (or half share of the land) to Eli Logan, husband of her sister Sarah Elizabeth. The Logans sold the full property in 1854 to Jonathan Hoopes and William Lemon. (Don't worry, we're almost there -- I told you all this got confusing.) Hoopes and Lemon sold the farm two years later to Amor Frame, who in 1858 sold to Samuel G. Chandler. So at that point (1858), the land that had been split apart 34 years earlier was reunited under Chandler's ownership, only to be divided again 28 years later.

The March 1909 marriage of Mary Chandler
and George H. Lawson

Most of the rest of the confusion came years later, from sorting out the terms of Samuel G. Chandler's will. After widow Hannah's death in 1890, part of the old property belonged to Mary and part to the younger Samuel Chandler. Mary's 60 acres were the first to leave the family. Remember how I mentioned that she had married "very late in life"? Well, in 1909, at the age of 70, she wed 43 year old George Lawson, who had been released only two weeks earlier from a one year stint at the County Workhouse for practicing medicine without a license. Mary Chandler Lawson died less than a year later, and her 60 acres were sold to William Moore in 1911.

Also passing in 1910 was the younger Samuel G. Chandler, whose death set off some scrambling due to stipulations in the elder Samuel G. Chandler's 1882 will. In it, he stated that if his grandson died without children, or with children "who do not attain the age of twenty one years", then the property would revert to daughters Ann and Mary. When the younger Samuel died, he and wife Leona had one child, Elva, who was about nine at the time. Ann Chandler Reese wanted to transfer the property to Elva, but there was one more hurdle to overcome.

Another stipulation in the 1882 will was that there were to be payments made to Ann and Mary, of $2000 and $1000 respectively, two years after Hannah's death. As of 1914 (24 years after that death), Ann claimed that the bequests had never been paid. She actually took Leona Chandler (the younger Samuel G.'s widow) to court. Leona claimed that the farm had been turned over to Ann in 1895 to manage and collect rents from, and that this satisfied the debt. The judge disagreed, and in July 1914 ruled that the payments be made. All must have been ironed out with no hard feelings, because shortly after Ann sold both her share and Mary's share (she was executrix of Mary's will) to Elva for almost nothing ($100 to Mary's estate and $5 to Ann). It's interesting to me that the sale was directly to Elva, who would have been only about 13 at the time.

In the ruling over the will, it was stipulated that the property (which was comprised of 40 acres on the north side of Lancaster Pike and 20 acres on the south) could not be sold out of the family for two years, so two years later Leona (acting for herself and as guardian for Elva) did sell the farm. It was sold at public auction, with the highest bidder being Danish chemical company owner Henrik J. Krebs, who also owned Breidablik Farm on the other side of the turnpike. Krebs had purchased Mary's old land from William Moore in 1914. He and son Sonnin would eventually own much of the land in the area.

Elva Chandler never married, but spent her life active in
charities and as a businesswoman. She passed in May 1990
at the age of 89

After Breidablik Farm closed in 1946, most of the Krebs land was sold to the Hercules Company, and I believe that all of the former Springer-Chandler land was included in the sale. Although Hercules initially had big plans for the land, ultimately they did very little with it. Most of the land south of Lancaster Pike was left untouched, until some of it was incorporated into the Hercules golf course in the late 1960's. About 25 years ago some of it began to be developed residentially, then about 15 years ago the Little Falls Corporate Center was built along Centerville Road (where the southern house was). In 1998, the development of Stonewold was begun on the old Chandler land north of the turnpike. The southern house (which I believe was part of the Charles Springer/Mary Chandler 60 acres) was torn down probably sometime in the 1970's. The northern house was incorporated into the community of Stonewold. 

So as we've seen, the history of this area, which you may only think of as part of "that stretch on the hill between Centerville Road and Red Clay Creek" is both simple and complicated. For a span of about 260 years, most of it (with only a few minor exceptions) had only been in the Barker, Springer, Chandler (which was really an extension of the Springers), and Krebs families. But understood at a closer level it was split apart and reunited several times, with some legal issues thrown in for good measure. This is another great example of a seemingly quiet, non-descript area having a fascinating story to tell.