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?)

The approximate outline of the 200-acre tract purchased by James Jordan in the
1720's. Lancaster and Newport-Gap Pikes merge in its southeastern portion.

We jump ahead now to 1824, when the executors of the last will and testament of Joseph Ball went to court to collect a debt owed to Joseph by the now late William Jordan. They meant to collect from his widow Rebecca "two hundred pounds lawful money of the State of Delaware". I think that in and of itself is interesting, because we tend to think that as soon as we gained our Independence we immediately dropped all things British, like their money. But here we are, almost 50 years after the Revolution, and they're still collecting in pounds. Although, to be fair, they did also throw in fourteen dollars and two cents for damages.

The point for us here is that in this judgement a 108 acre portion (seen below) of the Jordan property was apportioned and put up for sale, essentially encompassing the northern half of the original 200 acres. Notably, this northern portion did not include either of the two older houses along Lancaster Turnpike -- the Jordan-Love House which was definitely there, built by William Jordan and purchased in 1829 by Rev. Thomas Love; and the Robinson-Highfield House which was probably there, but there doesn't seem to be a firm build date for. It also appears that there was another historic home on the north side of the Newport-Gap/Lancaster Pike merger, but it was torn down in the late 1950's. It seems that after the division, William Jordan, Jr. continued to own most or all of the remainder (southern half) of the original farm.

The 108-acre farm purchased by John Cleland in 1824. It's
essentially the northern half of the original 200-acre farm.

I don't know where the original Jordan homestead was, but there was one more old home on what became the 108 acre farm. It was located on the southeastern end of the farm, where the Wilmington Christian School was built in 1983. I can't find any information about this house, and it seems it was likely torn down just before the school was built.

The 108-acre farm was purchased in 1824 by John Cleland of Wilmington, and he likely rented out the farm. In 1838 he sold it to man who I am even more sure did not reside on the property -- Simon Cranston. We've certainly met him and his family before, and I think Simon has the distinction of being the only person profiled on this blog who had a poem written about him (and his wife). And though Simon did not live on this farm, another S. Cranston did -- his son Samuel. I'm not sure exactly when he moved up from Stanton -- the 1840 Census is a bit hard to follow -- but I think he was here then. He was definitely here by 1850. A clue might be the fact that in 1848 he married Edith Sharpless, of the nearby Ashland Mill Sharplesses (his first wife, Hannah Mitchell of the Woodside Farm Mitchells, had passed in 1844). Perhaps Samuel met Edith because he was already living "in the neighborhood".

They may not have been there for long, though, because in 1851 Samuel Cranston purchased the farm where Delcastle Technical High School now stands. In any case, in 1855, very soon before his wife's death that year and his the following, Simon Cranston sold the 108-acre farm on Old Wilmington Road  to John Soward. He also was not there long, as Soward died in early 1860. In March 1861, Soward's executor George Klair sold the farm to Samuel Graves, who had been living on his farm on the south side of Lancaster Pike west of today's Hercules Road (the "J. Vandever" farm at the bottom right of the 1868 map at the top of the post). Graves almost immediately sold a small lot (about 1/3 acre), I think in the southwest corner by the turnpike, to Thomas Hoopes. At least some of the rest of it would be held by the Graves family (though under different names due to marriage) for another 78 years.

Notice for the sale of Samuel Graves'
property in November 1892

Samuel Graves was 52 when he moved into his new farm, along with wife Jane and three children -- daughter Margaretta and sons Thomas, Henry, and Robert (all in their early teens to early 20's). All three boys would die unmarried and childless, but Margaretta would marry. When Samuel Graves died in 1883 he left his real estate to Jane, for the remainder of her life. After her death in 1891, the property was to be sold, which it was, in November 1893. The buyer, Enos C. Hoopes, was also no stranger to the area. He was the son of Thomas Hoopes, and had grown up on the neighboring farm, and was more recently residing north of Hockessin. And like Graves, Enos was also 52 when he purchased the property, which the 1900 Census does appear to show him living on with wife Margaretta and daughter Clara. And yes, his wife was the former Margaretta Graves.

The 59-acre farm sold to Jesse and Jennie Miller in 1908

Also living with them was their other daughter, Mary J. (called Jennie) and her husband Jesse B. Miller. Jesse had grown up in the farm across the pike from the original Graves farm closer to Wooddale (his father Lewis Miller can be seen on the 1868 map at the top of the post). In 1908 Jesse and Jennie got their own place, sort of. As had happened nearly a century earlier, the farm was divided more or less in half, and the northern 59 acres (seen above) were sold to the Millers. The dividing line was on the northern edge of what's now the Wilmington Christian School property. This also gives us a clue as to the build date of the last of the old houses, this one fronting Old Wilmington Road immediately north of the school. I do not see this house of any of the old maps, up to and including the 1904 topographical map. However, the 1908 sale does specifically say, "All that certain lot or piece of land with the frame dwelling house and barn thereon...". It seems likely that this was a new house built for the Millers. 

The sad and sudden death of
Jennie Miller in Sept. 1914

Unfortunately they did not get to enjoy it for very long, as Jennie passed away suddenly in September 1914. She was visiting Wilmington with her sister Clara when she suddenly collapsed, was taken to the Delaware Hospital, and died soon after of uremia (a build-up of waste products in the blood, usually due to kidney malfunction). Jessie retained the farm for the rest of his days, until his passing in 1939, residing there with his sister-in-law Clara Hoopes. As Jessie and Jennie did not have any children, the farm was left to Clara and her brother Thomas, who sold it in 1939 to a member of another local (well, Centreville) family, Joseph H. Chandler. And though it had passed through several last names due to marriage (Graves, Hoopes, Miller), this sale was the first one truly outside of the family since 1861.

Joseph and Dorothy Chandler would own the full 59 acres until selling almost all of it in 1950. They did hold on to a lot of just over a half acre along Old Wilmington road on the northern edge, on which they built a home. Their son Joseph, Jr. bought it in 1981 and finally sold it out of the family in 1988. As for the rest of the 59 acre farm, it was sold in 1950 to  a member of another family we've come across on the blog, but for a change, not one from this immediate area. The new owner was Ralph Lindell, a son of Andrew Lindell, owner of the farm on Milltown Road across from Dickinson High School.

Ralph Lindell served in the Air Force during World War II, and worked for Hercules for over 30 years. In addition to working his 59 acre farm here for a time, he also had a farm down near Dover. The Old Wilmington Road property is now the development of Bon Ayre, the first proposals for which appeared about 1966. However, it doesn't seem like it came to fruition very quickly, and I'm not sure how many actual homes were sold before the mid-1970's. There is a notice for a sheriff's sale in August 1975, for the entire 59 acres (minus the lot the Chandlers held on to). Although the barn and the rest of the farm are gone, the frame house possibly built for Jesse and Jennie Miller was spared, and still stands along Old Wilmington Road. Other than that and a couple homes on Lancaster Pike, nothing else remains of the originally 200, then 108, then 59 acre farm, with roots dating back three centuries.