The Fanning Houses of Marshallton

The Walter Fanning House in 2012,
one day before its demise

One of the over-arching themes I've stumbled into after years of writing this blog is the idea that just about every place, no matter how unassuming it might seem, has a story to tell. This has been borne out again in the history of the Fanning Houses of Marshallton. I initially didn't know there was this much of a story when a commenter recently asked if I knew anything about the house that used to stand at 3419 Old Capitol Trail, in what's now an empty lot fronted by a beautiful stone retaining wall. I knew of it but not about it, but I did recall something from right near its end.

Back in March 2012, when he was still writing his Lower Red Clay Valley blog, Denis Hehman noticed activity at the property and talked to the owner. He learned that the house was about to be torn down (which it was, two days later!), but was able to get some information as well as a few before and after pictures. I thank Denis greatly for that, because that was the starting point for this investigation. The owner (an older woman) told him that her family moved there when her father was four, and that she herself was born in the house. He didn't mention her name, but this was Miss Eleanor B. Fanning, who sadly passed away in February 2022, on her 88th birthday. The Fannings' story, though, starts long before that.

It begins with Henry Fanning, who brought his family to America from Ireland, probably in the 1850's. I can't find them in the 1850 Census, but by 1860 Henry is working as a weaver in the cotton factory on Red Clay Creek, just below Marshallton. It was operated at the time by fellow Irishman John Wright, but in 1864 would be purchased by the Dean Woolen Company, converted from cotton manufacturing to wool, and renamed as the Kiamensi Woolen Company. Henry died in October 1861 at the age of about 50 of "consumption of the lungs" (tuberculosis), but his son George carried on working in the cotton-then-woolen mill.

George W. Fanning was born in Ireland in about 1843, and followed his father into the textile industry. In 1869 he married Sarah Torbert, who was originally from the Frederica area, south of Dover. I don't know how they met (or why she was up here), but I might have solved a different (but related, literally) mystery. Turns out that Sarah Torbert Fanning's first cousin was George Washington Spicer, Jr., who also moved to the Kiamensi area (undoubtedly after, and presumably because of, her, as he was 15 years younger) to work in the woolen mill. Later, Spicer would build and operate the Marshallton Silk Mill.

1934 photo of the newly-constructed Marshallton Consolidated School
I believe the buildings to the left are on the Fanning property

In 1879, Fanning purchased a little more than four acres of land from James Cranston, located between Old Capitol Trail (then referred to as "the Centre Public Road") and the Wilmington & Western tracks (then, the Delaware Western Rail Road). This is the lot sold about 40 years ago to State Farm Insurance, now home to Wayman Fire Protection, next to the Marshallton Post Office. George and Sarah Fanning raised six children here, but George only got to enjoy his new home for about a decade. On December 19, 1888, the newspaper noted that "George Fanning, a weaver at Kiamensi woolen mills, has had a paralytic stroke that renders him unable to work." It must have been a serious stroke, because George Fanning died about three weeks later, on January 8, 1889.

Brief note on George Fanning's stroke (12/19/1888)

Sarah and the children continued to reside in their Marshallton home, and the Fanning family would own the home until 1963, that year selling it to Earl and Mary Lloyd. Mary would later sell the property to State Farm in 1981. Meanwhile, back in 1904, George and Sarah's oldest child, Walter, had moved out of the family home. However, he didn't go far.

Walter Fanning was born in June 1869, and like his father and grandfather before him worked in the Kiamensi Woolen Mill. However, Walter seems to have been an active and outgoing man, and I think he probably always had his eye on something more than the woolen mill. In 1891 he was one of nine incorporators of the Marshallton Building and Loan Association (almost every other one has been mentioned in a blog post over the years). And like many men of the time, he was involved in multiple fraternal organizations, including the Freemasons, the Order of the Golden Eagle, and the Knights of Pythias.

1893 map of the Marshallton area

In 1896 Walter ran and was elected as an Inspector (I think for elections) for the Marshallton Election District and was involved in Republican Party politics on the state and local level. In 1899 he was elected as a trustee of the Marshallton School District, a position he would hold for almost 60 years. The point is, he was deeply involved in the community, and would be for his entire life. On a personal level, in March 1901 Walter Fanning married Martha Webb, also from Marshallton. The couple would raise three children together -- Warren, Sarah Elizabeth, and Anna. Where they raised their family finally brings us back to the subject of this post.

On May 2, 1904, Walter Fanning purchased just over two acres of land from John A. Cranston, fronting along the north side of Old Capitol Trail. This was part of the estate known as Roselawn, formerly owned by John's father, James Cranston. It was purchased from their father's estate by Samuel Cranston, who then sold it to John. However, I believe Samuel and wife Ella continued to live there, as John was a businessman who lived in Newport. In 1916, John would officially sell it back to Ella, who would then parcel it out, creating Cranston Heights.

The 1904 indenture recording the sale of just over two acres of land,
from John A. Cranston to Walter Fanning

From what I can tell, the first lot sold by John A. Cranston was in 1891 to Ada (aka Addie, aka Alexina) Thomas. This was the lot to the right (east) of Fanning's, a house that was torn down around 1990 (or possibly the one beside that, razed in the 1960's, where the small shopping center is now). I believe that the house shown on the 1893 map above (below the "o" and "n" in Cranston) is the Thomas house, and that Fanning had his built after his 1904 purchase of his lot. John A. Cranston sold other lots along the road, all the way down to the railroad tracks. And in a "Small World" coincidence, when Ada Thomas moved from her Marshallton home in 1908, she bought a lot in Bellefonte and built a house that's now owned by a friend of mine.

Meanwhile, Walter Fanning had moved himself from the blue collar world of the woolen mill to the white collar world as a clerk in the office of the Recorder of Deeds, in Wilmington. He would work there until 1930, when he was forced to retire due to failing eyesight. He was lucky to even make it that far though, because in 1907 he and another man had a run-in with a train -- literally. Early on the morning of October 19, Fanning and Harry Welch were on their way to Wilmington when their wagon was struck by a train while crossing the tracks in Elsmere. The wagon was demolished and both men injured, but both would recover. However, six months later Welch would again be struck by a train, this time at Kiamensi, and this time fatally. The story was recounted in the post about the Malcom-Burris-Weinstock Store in the Cedars, which I think Welch might have built. Fanning is the "and another man" mentioned in the train story in that post.

This nothing to do with anything, but
apparently in 1912, Walter Fanning's
coworkers named a stray cat after him

Walter Fanning's son, Warren G. Fanning, carried on the family tradition of community engagement and service. Warren served as the tax collector for Christiana Hundred in the 1930's, and as a State Senator in the late 40's. He was a carpenter by trade and also served as the head custodian for the Marshallton School District for 15 years. Warren was about four years old when the family moved into their house, and he lived there his entire life. His mother, Martha, passed away in 1949. Walter Fanning died a decade later, in 1959.

Account of the April 1964 barn burning and
accidental damage to the Fanning house

There was one "embarrassing accident" that took place at the house in April 1964 -- embarrassing not to the Fannings, but to some local firefighters. That day, Cranston Heights Fire Company was burning down an old barn behind the house two doors to the east from the Fannings (where the commercial building is now) when the winds picked up and carried sparks towards the neighboring houses. These sorts of burnings were common at the time as a "public service" to owners as well as training for the firefighters (the article states that the same day, Elsmere Fire Company burned a house to make way for Serpe's Bakery to move there from Wilmington). As a result of the barn burning, the roof and top floor of the Fanning house were extensively damaged. They obviously made repairs, as the house stood for another 48 years.

The razed remains of the Walter Fanning House, March 2012

Warren G. Fanning passed away in 1974, but his daughters Eleanor and Martha held on to the family home. They bought the newer house next door in the mid-1980's and I believe they lived there. Martha, a longtime teacher in the area, passed in 2007. I assume the old house was unoccupied for a while and that the upkeep and maintenance became too much for Miss Fanning. The house and large garage were finally torn down in early March 2012, but Miss Fanning kept ownership of the property. She passed away in February 2022, and since the lots were just sold in August 2023 to a home building company, I assume there will be new homes going up there at some point. I do hope, though, that they don't erase the memory of the family that was an active part of the Marshallton community for over 160 years.