The Jordan-Graves-Hoopes Farm

Location of the 108-acre farm
on the 1868 Beers map

This time we'll take a look at a farm property that you've probably never thought about before, and that might not even seem like it was once one tract. There are three old houses (and at least two lost ones) on what was the original tract, but they were long ago separated into different lots. The main part that we'll detail here was owned so evenly by so many families that there was no obvious name to give it, so I went with what you see at the top. But still, we'll try to break down the history of this 108 and later 59 acre farm in northeastern Mill Creek Hundred.

To get more specific, the land we'll be looking at is located in the area known as Loveville, and is bordered on the east by Loveville Road, the northeast by Old Wilmington Road, and the southwest by Lancaster Pike. The smaller farm we'll look at was originally a part of a larger, 200 acre rectangular lot (seen below) sold to James Jordan by Letitia Aubrey (William Penn's daughter) in 1720's. I have not found the original deed, but a later 1797 document I think has the date incompletely filled in. According to this indenture, which is between Aubrey's heir Christiana Gulielma Gaskell and Jordan's sons William and John, James Jordan's 1754 will bequeathed the land to these sons. In 1797, Gaskell was looking for full payment apparently never made by James back in the 20's. (Could you imagine someone now coming to you, saying your Dad hadn't fully paid for his land 70 some years ago, and wanting payment?)