Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1884-01-03

unexpirsd leases Is where, 1t Is said, thes
untold millions are. Now know whef
this question could be settled In half
minute. Right here In Wilmington 70
. l83 years past, there has been kept a
perfect private record of liant
transactions as there is in America
record which iu all OF the
lanc transactions they in tn,
deed lease or whatever the imminent Of
title might have beer, obligated themselvei
10 keep If they sold, 1t is recorded i
they bought, it is recorded If they
leased or took lease 1t is recorded. This
is the corporation now known as the
minister, wardens and vestrymen Of the
Old Swedes Church. The successors Of
the very church to whioh, it Is said,
Charles Christopher Springer made his
lease. These were and are men Of
God from 100 to this year Of 1883 they
not only have been men Of the
highest Christian and business char
acter, bnt there has, as q general il
not as an universal rule, always been In
that board, some representative OF the
original Springer family, lineal or other
wise. Now is it to bs said or believed
that such men, through 30 many years,
would systematically and continuously
set themselves to work to keep this lease
hid and thus cheat Charles Christopher's
heirs Or wha' is iaore, could they have
for so many years prevented the knowl-
edge of this lease becoming public, how
ever they might have endeavored so to do.
| But this is not all. Ill of the deeds
by or to this church; all of its leases by
| or to it, or whatever the instrument may
IA " ha lad mi oh
| in which it Is interested, is on the
records OF our recorders office. These
record books, from the organization of
this church to say about 1880 or 1900,
| are full OF such instruments, deeds,
leases, &c. Now, will it be believed that
from the beginning OF these records, our
earliest ones, say from the first
York record-1682.4- 4-down to l776, and
they are continuously and regularly
kept, the name of Charles Christopher
Springer, either as grantor or grantee,
lessor or lessee, nowhere appears. Other,
many other grantors to and grantees
from the church appear; 80 Of lessons and
lessees, but no Charles Christopher-and
should not this tact settle him and put a
quietus and end to this nonsensical claim
Of his baronial descendants ? No. Mr.. E.
Z. 3, your man is myth, or If not he
did not stop among the slot of Swedes h
found here" Locate him elsewhere and
begin again.
But there was Charles Springer and
rather considerable man for that time.
Could read and write an accomplish
ment, which our records show, a great
many of his Swedish friends did not
possess. He came early from Sweden;
he did not Immediately buy / 300 acres OF
land, OF any other number; after he had
been here for some years Gas the records
show by his being named as witness,
&c } he began to buy and sell and he
bought and sold up to his death, which
occurred sometime early in the forties-
l740 to l745 Not any great amount but
about what the average business man does.
His deeds were generally in fee-simple
sometimes on lease but few; they were
what we would now call ground rent
deed-a small sum as a yearly rental for
some few years and then the fee to be
conveyed for gross named sum and that
small one and the lessee to build
house in certain time, &c.
The payment of those ground rents to
him or his representatives, certainly
have not been made for many many long
years, as have been told by some of his
liueal descend snts, and this, with the
adverse holding by any one for 20 years
from the end of the lease, makes a good
and perfect title. This settles our heirs
apparent if they jump from Charles
Christopher to plain Charles, and try to
claim under him. But they will not do
this, as the inducement is not enough
Charles individually had no $50 acres to
lease; of the few leases he made, the
land leased was described in perohes
aud few at that, about a small
building lot of the present day. Charles
Springer has to-day lineal descendants
here il this city and county, men of bus
iness habits, and who, as well as their
ancestors, would have searched this
thing out, and If there had been anything
in 1t, made it known. One OF them some
years ago being in Philadelphia, and
hearing that there was to be meeting
OF the Springer heirs somewhere away up
in the northern part of the city concluded
as he WAS one of them and as near as any
one could be at this late day, that he
would go; he went, had some trouble to
get in. but did, aud enjoyed the romance
hugely sat there for an hour or two,
hesrd of the immense sum of money
which was right then down at Whining.
ton awaiting their going after it, that the |
city WAS ready to buy them ont but their
offer was too low. How the fortune
arose to a good deal more which he knew
was untrue. At last he arose, told them
he WAS a lineal Springer, one of the very |
fellows who was awaiting anxiously the |
payment OF his share, but unfortunately |
Full hair h.a f,,
ton, his father and grandfathers before |
him had all done so back to the original |
Charles, aid he knew that no fortune |
WAS there, never had been, and that the |
whole thing was a humbug, cheat and |
fraud, whereupon the heirs flocked |
around him and were about mob. |
bling him, until quieted by one or two OF
the crowd who happened to know him.
But to return to CHARLES Springer. He |
doubtless was among the Swedish settlers
who came over between l675-80 he was
of age in 1878. His name, however, is
not found in the records until much later,
say about the last of the century, or he
may have been born here. He was q
great churchman; had hand, doubtless,
in the rebuilding of the Swedes Church
here in 1898 and also the one at 'iCrane-
hook" which was on the river below the
mouth OF the creek. When the church
here was without pastor he tfficiated,
reading tbs service and a sermon-did
this regularly every Sunday for come
eight years, during which time from 1891
to 1899, when the church was without a
pastor, was the senior warden and much
relied upon and trusted by the congrega-
ton, and from this fact, think, arose
this ''cock and bull story" Of the great
Springer fortune.
Thus the Swedes Church had ACQUIRED
a good deal of land Immediately around
it's site-the churches of that day believed
in acquiring land-but early in the eigh-
teenth century it had tremendous wind
fall. One Anne Stallcop made deed of gift
to it of 500 acres, begin ming at about what
is now Poplar street, with considerable
width, running in 8 northerly direction
out to Rattlesnake run. The boundaries
are not important here, but as you sac
it took in large part OF what ia now our
city. Mrs. Stalloop granted this land TO
the minister, church wardens, vestrymen
and congregation OF the "ohurch at
Christina" The church was aDxious
to sell, lease, or in some way to 4 spose
of these acres in lots at cheap rates, 80 IS
to attract settlers. But In their con-
struction Of the Stallcop deed not only
the minister, church wsrdens and vestry-
men had TO sign all the deeds or leases
which they made, but each individual
male member Of the oongreg alton. The
pburcl waa mt inpor nnrata,} than opd |