Milford chronicle., 1927-01-28
OF
THE TOWN OF LEWES
Philadelphia

A lew lines dDOuL lue lOMA "a
Lewes.
Sixty-five years ago Lewes was a
prosperous and business town; one
OF the best in Sussex County. AT
that time 1 was boy thirteen years
old, but lived there all of my boy
hood and early manhood days.
well remember when the wharves
were piled high with hundreds of
cords of wood of all kinds, pine,
oak and hickory; also red oak bark,
while the gTanarys were filled with
corn and wheat.
Farmers used OK teams principal
ly. and 1 have seen second street
almost from one end to the other,
filled with OK teams. n. w. Hickman,
VIM. R. Orr and Henry Wolfe were
the principal buyers of wood and
grain, and several vessels came up
the creek to Lewes wharf to load
Z these articles. 1 have seen four
vessels loading there at one time.
Henry Wolfe owned two schOoners,
one was named the George l..
Wolfe" and the other the Henry
Wolfe"
Russell" was owned by Robert Rus
sell. N w. Hickman owned
square bowed schooner named the
Sussex"
These vessels came to Lewes
Wharf to load with corn and wood.
Mr.. Hickman owned a large schoon-
er named the IN. W. Hickman"
that had to load on the outside in
the Bay, while anchored in what
was called the "Pilot Boat Roads" ="
Mr.. Hickman would hire all the
teams that he could, and have her
cargo of corn hauled over to the
beach. These vessels traded between
Lewes and Philadelphia, returning
loaded with merchandise for the
merchants consisting of cases OF
dry goods, hogsheads of molasses,
hogsheads of brown sugar, cases OF
mems boots and wOmen's shoes, and
goods of all kinds; as the stores
sold everything from needle to an
anchor.
Capt. George Chambers owned a
sloop named the ''VictOry." Capt.
Charlie Bell owned a larger sloop
named the "Fish," which carried
mostly passengers. Sometimes, and
especially in the summer months,
the sloop would be loaded with live
freight.
Henry Wolfe sold his business to
Thomas E. Records, who with Pur-
mel B. Norman bought slop named
the Pearl" which proved to be too
small, so they sold it and bought a
schooner named the Garnet" Capt.
Thos. Carey owned a slOop named
the Hope" and afterward bought a
schooner named the ruby"
Can't. James Duffell owned a
schooner named the "Tom and Ed,
he had built in his back yard, and
when finished he had her taken on
rollers to the Creek, over heavy oak
boards. He afterwards bought a
schooner named the BIRD" we
bovs would make our Christmas
money by keeping the corn trim
med back from the wagons IN the
granarys, and keeping the wood pill
ed up on the wharves. We got hve
cents for each load for the corn
and three cents a load for the wood;
that was big money for us.
Mr.. Hickman had canal dug
from the lower end of "Pilottown'
to Broadkill Creek, which was a
big advantage; as he had it wide
enongh for the vessels to &c
through. He had from seventy-hve
to one hundred negroes to dig II
with shovels. A colored man by the
name of Alfred Daisey was thelI
"boss."
When the negro was given the
right to vote, Alfred Daisey was tne
only negro in Lewes and RehoDotn
that voted the Democratic ticket
and he voted it as long as he lived
because of Mr.. Hickman.
7 once saw the schooner Garnet
nearly loaded with old rags, thai
had been sold to the stores by the
T,ewes housewives and the farmers
wives; old rags then sold to the
store for two cents per pound. The
merchants in those days were N. W
Hickman, VIM. P. Orr, Thomas Il
Records, John Rodney and Wolte d
Waples. after John Wolfe died the
business was carried on by Lemue
w. Waples, Robert West and Mrs
Margaret Morris, who kept store
and had a millenery business II
what used to be the "Old BrlcR
Jail"
Iewes at one time was a ship
building town and N. w. Hickman
had several vessels built. VIM. Z
Orr and Capt. George Chambers
had three or four built. All the tim
hers and thanking was sawed out BY
hand at the ship yard, by an o!'
negro named Isiah Lewis and Ms
son James. With a cross cut saw
they were experts.
The big farmers in that day were
Shepard P. Houston, Thomas walk
er. John Hood, the Dodds, HOLLANDS
and Thompson; then came TN
Marshes, Stockleys, Fishers, Lynchi
and the three Hepburn boys-Hen
rv. John and William, who at ont
time carried on making what Wa'
called "boiled" salt from the springs
along Rehoboth Beach. The liant
/, where Rehoboth is now built, was
owned by a man named Lorans'
now Martin, who owned to high wa
fer mark along Rehoboth Beach.
The pilots then used sail boats
They would go several miles to sei
looking for vessels bound TO Phlla
|, delphia; the names some OF the Oh
nilots were VIM. Schellenger, DAVE
Marshall. VIM. Marshall, John Saun
sQrs. Sr., George Maull, Henry Long
= Edward Maull, Jacob Conwen, Sr.
Jacob Conwell, Jr., John Conwell
TIbn Marshall, Jacob A. Marshall