Milford chronicle., 1953-10-16
GEORGETOWN

Every once in so often hunters
and others rambling over farms and
woodlands in Sussex County, Stun
bic across small ancient burial
plots, many of them with markers
carrying names of first settlers in
this area. One such was noticed a
few years ago, near Georgetown,
and it was called to the attention
of Mrs. Mary Houston Robinson,
who in the past two weeks has
spent considerable time in running
down the history of the stone mar
ker located between five and six
miles from here, just north of what
is known as the Lone Gum" A
half-acre burial plot, located in a
huge cornfield, its trees towering
above the surrounding country and
its borders almost impossible with
brambles and underbrush; the i'm
mediate vicinity of the marker is
practically free of weeds and un-
dergrowth, due to a carpet Of peri
winkle. The stone marker, of much
significance contains the following
inscription:
PHILIP WINDSOR died Sept
"a. ITS IN HIS Sind YEAR,
SARAH, HIS WIFE, died March 4,
1775, in her 51st YEAR. They emf
grated from the Meni River and
settled on this farm-174A o. S.
at that time wilderness and in
the limits of Somerset Co., Md
Erected to perpetuate the memory
Of the FIRST settlers between the
Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. F"
The tombstone not only marks
the graves Of two pioneers but the
inscription is a reminder Of the
historical background of this near
by area which once was a part of
Maryland and calls attention to
the fact that the earliest settlers
built their homes along the coastal
areas, on the shores of bays and
rivers and that the establishment
of homes in the wilderness be-
tween the bays" came almost a
century later. The peculiar method
of giving the date they settled on
the farm was the system used in
all English speaking countries pri-
or to 1852. In this case, the time
90. S. meaning Old Style) was the
: latter part of the year 1743, near
ing 1744, hence the marking-%
following the ia. It is said the
Meni River is in Scotland.
A search for the living descend
ants of Philip and Sarah Windsor
has brought out some interesting
local family histories. Their daugh-
ter, Leah Windsor, married the
first James Anderson who settled
in Georgetown. He had come to
America with the British Army and
had remained in this country and
worked in Philadelphia with a
wholesale firm which, with the use
of relays of horses, did business
throughout this territory. The An
dersOns lived on the site of the
homes of President Judge Charles
S. Richards and Mrs Rowland G.
Paynter on the Public Square. The
only vestige of the old home is a
small kitchen in the rear of the
Paynter home.
Mrs. Paynter is a descendant of
the WindsOrs and is named for
Leah Windsor, daughter of Philip
and Sarah Windsor. Other descen-
dents are w. Linden Rawlins, for
mer mayor of this town, and Mrs.
Sarah r. Quicker. The Andersons
had seven sons, James, Theophil-
ius, Walter. Peter, Frederick, Will
liam and George. In 1917, James,
the eldest son, married Elizabeth
Paynter Frame, and it was
he who erected the TOMBSTONE in
memory of his grandparents, Philip
and Leah Windsor. He had nine
children, George, Paynter, Mary
Ann, Leah (whO married John Nor
gan Rawlins), Ellen Wright, Mar.
garet NAPLES, Emily Landsberry
James Theophilius, Eliza b e t /
Frame and Walter Scott. So the
many, many descendants of tbi:
pioneer family of the WindsOrs are
the ancestors of hundreds of thu
people in this section. A wealth o.
historical lore goes back to tha
tombstone which stands like a lone
sentinel guarding the graves of tn,
pioneer settlers in central SUSSEX
County.
The Georgetown High School re
Gently held its fire drill in the in
terest of Fire Prevention Week ant
the entire school was emptied il
slightly under two minutes. 1t wa
pointed out by school authoritie