Milford chronicle., 1958-02-28
Aunt MoIly's
History Chats
INDUSTRY, CHURCH AND
SCHOOL

February %, 1858
Come in, children. We have a
lot to talk about today and should
start so that you will be home be-
fore dark"
What will you tell us today,
Aunt Molly?"
Bobby, in the last three weeks
we have discussed the founding of
Milford, the men of early Milford
and their homes. Today let's find
out how those men made a living,
educated their children and wor-
shipped; in other words, our sub
ject today is Industries, Churches
and Schools of Early Milford"
May we have some cookies be-
fore you start?"
you certainly may. The cookie
Jar is on the kitchen table, and
a dish of apples is there too.
I'm our first chat this month
about early Milford, / told you that
one of the founders of the town,
Mr.. oliver, ran a grocery store and
also bought the farmers produce
which he shipped in his own ves-
sells. Primarily, the land furnish
ed the means of livelihood. Exten-
siye plantations produced large
crops to be sold or exchanged out
side the locality. An item which
was shipped in large quantities was
cord-wood, as anthracite coal had
not yet been brought into general
use. Rivers and bay furnished the
means of transportation"
"Do you mean the Delaware Riv-
er and Bay?"
, "Yes, and our own Mispillion
River. This means of transporta-
ton was too slow at times. Eggs
were packed with oats in -four bar
rels and shipped to Philadelphia in
sailing vessels. Sometimes these
vessels were delayed on the fats
for a week or more. In hot weather
the eggs arrived in Philadelphia in
a rather undesirable condition.
Slow as they were, the use of sail
ing vessels for transportation gave
rise to one of early Milford's most
flourishing industries = shipbuild-
ing.
"The first vessel built on the
Mispillion was launched at the
New Wharf, and its builders were
william Dredden and William Du-
Pree. In the early days of the nine
teenth century the business had in
creased. and number of vessels
were launched from this point.
- n,rtf
ish burned two schooners here and
as late as the end of the century
thei. hulks could be seen at low
tide"
"Were those schooners built in
Milford?"
"It is surmised that these two
vessels were built at the New
Wharf. The supposition is that Da-
vid West was the pioneer ship
builder in Milford. The industry
reached its height just prior to the
Civil War. At this time there were
seven shipyards in operation in
Milford. The vessels built were
large for the period and used. most
ly for the coasting trade. Some
times they were so large that there
was diffieulty in getting them out
of the river Only the spring tides
would float some of them.
would you like to guess how
many ships were built in Milford
by the end of the 10Th century,"
"I'll guess 100 ships"
by the close of the century
nearly 400 sloops and schooners
had been built on the river, most of
which were launched from the
yards in South Milford. Hundreds
of workmen were engaged and good
wages were paid. A fiourishing in
dustry usually improves the gen.
eral prosperity. Shipbuilding caus-
ed other trades to flourish, such as
saw mills. Delaware white oak
was In demand both in Milford and
many miles away. At one time as
many as fifteen men were engaged
in the sale OF ship timber. The ad-
vent of the steamboat and the ex-
tension of railroads ended the su-
premacy of the sailing craft and
also the balmy days of Milford's
shipbuilding industry"
81 wish | could have seen those
sail boats"
"Now. let's leave industry and
look at churches. Since one of the
founders of the town was a clergy
man, we can be sure that there was
a church i'm early Milford"
(which church in town is the
oldest?"
"The oldest church in Milford is
Christ Church. The first church
was at Church Hill, a few miles
west of town, but the two enter
prising founders of the town.
Thorne and Oliver. decided to move
the church to Milford after the
town was laid out. In 1871 the
foundations of the present church
were laid on ground given by Oil
yer. but the work of building came