| ||||||||||
|
Tidbits From Milford’s Historyby Dana Kester-McCabeAll of Delmarva's towns have interesting histories and Milford, Delaware is no different. One minor foot note in the towns storied past is that President Warren G. Harding, while visiting the region in 1923 was initiated into a local Masonic lodge at the Plaza Theater in Milford. Milford has had some difficult periods. When desegregation became the law of the land in 1954 the town's schools took it up immediately but racial strife forced them to back off for a few more years. There was a devastating fire in 2003 which destroyed a city block in the historic section of town, seven businesses, apartments, and a church. Fortunately no one was killed. There are a variety of interesting people who hail from Milford, like the poet John Lofland who we have previously covered on this show. Seven of Delaware's governors have lived in Milford including Governor Ruth Ann Minner. There is also a Civil War General named Alfred Torbert who called Milford home. A West Point graduate, he had a mixed military record. He was offered a commission in the Confederate army but chose instead to join the Union side. He led a number of successful battles during the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. His troops had to rescue General George Custer's division in what came to be known as Custer's First Last Stand. Torbert's commander General Sheridan was sometimes frustrated by his lack of initiative. After the war Torbert did not receive another military commission, so he became a diplomat. He died while traveling to Mexico when the ship the City of Vera Cruz was caught in hurricane off Cape Canaveral, Florida. You can see a statue of General Torbert in front of the Milford Museum. Milford was incorporated February 5, 1807. But the area in and around Milford was first settled in 1680 by Henry Bowan on what was known as the Saw Mill Range. A century later the Reverend Sydenham Thorne built a dam across the Mispillion River to generate power for his gristmill and sawmill. Reverend Thorne and a number of other property owners decided starting a town would be an effective way to bring in the people and businesses that could help their ventures succeed. His friend Joseph Oliver laid out the first city streets and plots nearby on a part of his plantation. Thorne's dam, the mill, and everything that followed were centered on a place travelers had been using to cross the river - a ford - leading people to call it the mill at the ford and eventually the town became known as Milford. Reverend Thorne had been born on Virginia's Eastern Shore and was an ordained Episcopal priest. He was extremely popular with his parishioners at Christ Church in the nearby Mispillion Hundred. He was also ardently loyal to the Church of England and the King. On February 13, 1777 the Treason Act was amended by the General Assembly of Delaware, forbidding clergy from preaching against the fight for independence. In addition they were prohibited from praying publicly for King George. Thorne and Rev. Charles H. Wharton were the last two Episcopal priests left in the region. Their vows prevented them from following the new law so they had to step down and let laypersons preach with the restrictions required by this act of censorship. After the war Reverend Thorne's business interests in Milford continued. He petitioned the legislature to wave his taxes and to codify this for all clergy since that had been the practice in the previous government. Delaware's lawmakers turned him down on both requests. Thorne turned his attention back to his religious calling. ![]() Beside's Reverend Thorne's mills several others were built nearby. On April 23, 1802 Nathan Willey, along with a group of his neighbors, applied to the legislature for a license to operate the grist mill they had just completed. Grist mills were an integral part of the agrarian economy here during that time period. They were also closely regulated. Over many centuries millers often had a poor reputation for dishonesty. Some had been known to cheat their customers skimming off more than their contracted share of what they milled; or having weights and measures that were inaccurately in their favor. There is no indication that Delmarva's millers of that era were anything but upstanding citizens. But the regulations helped to keep them in check. Nathan Willey's mill must have been in good standing with his customers. It thrived and kept up with changing technology. Its water wheel was replaced in the late 1800's with a turbine. It passed through several owners before it got to Ainsworth Abbott in 1919. He installed a diesel engine so the mill could operate even when the water level of the mill pond was low. He operated the business until 1963 when the state of Delaware purchased it to preserve it as an historic landmark. In 1976 it was renovated. 456 acres were added to the original 27 acre lot including Blair's Pond Nature Preserve, the Isaacs and Greene Preserves, and the Marvel Saltmarsh Preserve. Today it is Abbott's Mill Nature Center and it is leased and operated by the Delaware Nature Society. They host a variety of programs on nature and the mills' history throughout the year. Visit their website to find out more. References:Fire destroyed the Plaza Theater in Milford. The Free Lance Star Septemner 23, 1946 Milford, Delaware Wikipedia Alfred Thomas Archimedes Torbert Wikipedia Alfred T. A. Torbert USA - General - July 1, 1833 – August 29, 1880 civilwar.org Alfred T. A. Torbert: One of Delaware Finest Generals By Thomas J. Ryan Special to the Coastal Point - August 12, 2011 Milford's general finally has his statue. By David LaRoss The Milford Beacon July 4, 2008 Inventing Custer: The Making of an American Legend By Edward Caudill, Paul Ashdown Rowman & Littlefield - New York - 2015 The Complete Civil War Road Trip Guide By Michael Weeks Struggle for the Shenandoah: Essays on the 1864 Valley Campaign edited by Gary W. Gallagher The Kent State University Press - Ohio - 1991 The History & Salvage of the SS City of Vera Cruz By E. Lee Spence General Alfred T.A. Torbert Historical Marker Database Major General Alfred T.A. Torbert Statue Historical Marker Database Milford, Delaware Wikipedia The WPA Guide to Delaware: The First State By Federal Writers' Project Some Records of Sussex County, Delaware Compiled by C.H.B. Turner - Allen, Lane & Scott - Philadelphia 1909 A Short History of the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware History of the State of Delaware (Volume 2) Henry C. Conrad Proceedings of the House of Assembly of the Delaware State, 1781-1792 By Claudia L. Bushman, Harold Bell Hancock Parson Thorne Mansion Historical Marker Database Milford Historical Marker Database Christ Church - Mispillion Milford Historical Marker Database The City of Milforrd History Christ Church, Milford, Delaware Christ Church Remembers 300 year Heritage Bryan Shupe Abbott's Mill Historical Marker Database Abbott's Mill Nature Center Abbott's Mill Debbie Kenton Wesley College Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs Abbots Mill Nature Center The Grist Milling Process Arts & Humanities Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening Science/Technology excerpted from "The Grist Mill-fulling Mill Complex" from the Collections at Historic Bethlehem [PA] Preserving Historic Gristmills By Marti Attoun on August 18, 2011 Classical British and American mills Wikipedia Joseph Oliver Founded Milford 162 Years Ago On The Mispillion The Sunday Morning Star - October 23, 1949 Colonial Craftsmen: And the Beginnings of American Industry By Edwin Tunis Property Rights in the Colonial Era and Early Republic edited by James W. Ely The Miller in Eighteenth Century Virginia By Thomas K. Ford, Horace J. Sheely Colonial Williamsburg 2001 |
© Copyright 2018 - Delmarva Almanac - Moonshell Productions - All rights reserved. Questions about this site? Email: info@delmarva-almanac.com ![]() |