DAVID HOFFMANN 01

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Looking Back: June

June was a whirlwind of a month full of good friends and some travel and lots of money hemorrhaging! Yup, you heard me right. June was not a happy month for my pocketbook, but it was a good month for friends. 

Running: I would like to say that my training was going well and that I am totally ready for my 100 mile race in a couple of weeks, but I would be lying. June was not a great training month, although I did try to step it up a little in order to feel semi ready for the big day. In June I had no races, but I did end up running 136 miles in the end. 

Reading: While I was not running, I did read a few (four, to be exact) books. None of them were that great. They were, in order of best to worst: 

- At Home by Bill Bryson (I did not finish this one -- it was good but there were a lot of facts and I was in the mood for a more frivolous book - 3 stars)

- The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes (3 stars)

- Mother Daughter Me by Katie Hafner (2 stars)

- Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch (2 stars)

Travel: I did a lot of travel in June and much of it was in cars with other people, hence the reason I did not read as much, I think. At the beginning of June, I went to San Diego to crew/pace for a friend who was running a 100 mile race. I paced him in from mile 79 to the finish and he ended up getting 10th place! The next weekend was spent in South Lake Tahoe, doing trail work and a training run. I had a chest cold and the altitude really exacerbated that fact. It was really hard to run! The weekend after that I drove up to my parents' house to get some things from storage. It was a fun weekend with a lot of swimming and a run, but too soon it was time to load up the car and head home. The last weekend in June was spent crewing for a friend who ran the Western States 100M. He was such a champ and it was so inspiring (and daunting, thinking of myself doing the same thing in July) to see him push through and cross the finish line with pride. 

SD100

On top of that, my new category should be titled Home and Garden because there has not been a day that I have come home from work and just relaxed. There is always something to shovel, or to weed or to plant. There are things to be hung and cleaned and sorted. There is never an end to the things that need to be assembled or moved or painted. Basically I have been going to bed around 10 every night and getting up again at 4. There have been multiple trips to Costco and Home Depot and Target. I am a frequent flyer at Amazon.com. It's been busy! 

So....how was the month of June for you? What was your favorite weekend? Have you read any good books lately? 

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Talveg nedir ?

Talveg : Almanca asıllı bir isimdir . Akarsu yatağındaki en derin yerlerin birleştirilmesi ile elde edilen çizgi demektir .

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New Apron Finds!

Lately, it has been a bonanza of  apron finds! In the last two weeks I have ended up with almost a dozen! Today, I am going to share eight with you as I have already gifted a few. Since it is summer, and all the aprons smelled of moth balls, a photo shoot on the clothesline seemed very fitting!

 The majority of the aprons came from an estate sale. The lady was a seamstress and amazing embroiderer.

 This one needs a little help. I didn't notice if I bought it with a rip or if it happened in the wash. (Have you ever tried to remove the smell of moth balls from fabric? It likes to linger...) Surely, I can think of something creative to hide/fix it.

I love all the sweet details.

This striped one isn't my favorite. I think I need to pass it on to someone that can appreciated it more!

But the construction is marvelous! I think I might even have a similar pattern. And as always, the attention to detail is perfect. Ric-Rac around the edge, french seams and a notched waistband.

 This is a cheery little gem! I think Mandy might adopt it, as she loves red.

More details; a horizontal piece of fabric for the hem creating a lovely stripe. Stripes also on the pocket and waistband.

 A sweet little dotted swiss apron. This one looks commercially made for a costume as it has embroidered straps.

I love textured fabric! And the bitty lace edging is the perfect accent.

 This one I picked up at an antique store, I fell in love with the fabric!

How could I resist fruit clocks?

 How much more classic can you get then blue gingham? This apron was meticulously hand sewn.

 I had to add an extra picture of the embroidery, it is so exquisite.

 Here is another cute frilly apron with white eyelet.

Love this fabric! I wonder if it was scraps from a project, as it is pieced in several places. Perhaps leftovers from a shirt dress?

 A printed fabric apron with large pockets. Don't they look practical? I love the size.

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GOTLAR SÜTUNU, İstanbul’un tılsımlı en yaşlı anıtı.

İstanbul’un en büyük ve en ünlü parklarından olan Gülhane,
birçok tarihi olaya tanıklık etmesi açısından önemlidir ve gezilip görülmeğe
değerdir. Eskiden saray arazisi içerisinde bulunan ve günümüzde park olarak
kullanılan ‘Gülhane Parkı’ şehrin en güzel yerleri arasında yer alır. Bizanslılar tarafından kışla, Osmanlı döneminde ise kutlama alanı olarak kullanılmıştır.



Gülhane

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Gusletmesi farz olan kişinin yapması sakıncalı olan şeyler nelerdir ?

Gusletmesi farz olan kişinin yapması sakıncalı olan şeyler nelerdir ?

1.    Kur ‘ an ‘ ı Arapça olarak yüzünden okumak .

2.   Camide durmak . Durmadan geçilmesi mümkündür .

Kur ‘ an ‘ ı hayız ve nifas halinde olan kadının zikir maksatlı okuması mümkündür .

3.   Biçimsel namazı ( bilinen şekliyle namazı ) kılmak .

4.   Kabe ‘ yi tavaf etmek .

Kur ‘ an ‘ ı kendi dilinden mealini okumakta bir sakınca yoktur .

5.   Hayız ve nifas halinde olan hanımıyla cinsel ilişkiye girmek .

6.   Hayız ve nifas halinde olan bir kadının oruç tutması .

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William Guest (Part 1) -- Owner of Stanton Mill

William Guest's Wedgebury Tract

When Walt Chiquoine found out I was looking for more Guest Posts, I think he might have misunderstood what I meant. In any case, here is the first of two very interesting posts from Walt about the early history of the southeast corner of Mill Creek Hundred, the area now known as Stanton:

Researched and Written by Walt Chiquoine --

I thank Scott for another chance to talk about some of our earliest history in Mill Creek Hundred. This time, it’s about William Guest, a gentleman from West Bromwich, England who immigrated with the fleets of William Penn.  Early historians list him on the Hester and Hannah, arriving at New Castle in August of 1682.  Guest settled immediately in Mill Creek Hundred (MCH).  And despite his appearance in the same year as Penn, he was not Scots-Irish nor was he a Quaker.

William Guest did arrive as a fairly affluent and well-educated man, since he immediately engaged in legal and civil affairs.  I have not found his date of birth, but I’d guess he was around thirty – he certainly wasn’t afraid to mix it up in court with his peers, as a deputy to William Penn described him as “naturally passionate” in 1686.  Within a year of his arrival, Guest was elected to Penn’s Assembly as a representative from New Castle County (1683).  He later served as a judge for the Court at New Castle.  Guest left an incomplete legacy in his deeds and personal records; in what we have, there is no mention of an early wife or family.  But he may have a role in explaining two mysteries:  what happened to the first grist mill in MCH, and where did the name Cuckoldstown (early Stanton) come from?

In this post, I’d like to introduce you to William Guest and talk about the first Stanton mill.  I’ll follow with a separate post on Cuckoldstown. (Second post can be found here.)     

The story begins with a large tract of land between Mill Creek and Calf Run that was surveyed for William Guest in October 1682 by Ephraim Herman, as recorded in the Book of Surveys.  The southern portion he purchased from Charles Rumsey, and the northern portion was a new grant signed by William Penn.  He received his patent for the tract, known as Wedgebury, in 1684.  The survey, shown above, places a homestead near what is now Milltown.  It was probably built by Charles Rumsey, but that’s likely where Guest lived until about 1688.

In 1687, Guest won a court case against Abraham Man for a large debt, and Guest subsequently bought the property of Abraham Man at sheriff’s sale in 1688.  Man (also Mann) owned the property on Red Clay Creek from Telegraph Road up to Ham’s Run (his namesake), a tract that included modern Stanton and its mill seats.  Here is a survey of the Guest/Man property from 1702.  The town now called Stanton grew up at the southern end of the property. 

Guest/Man property, 1702

I think William Guest moved to this property between 1688 and 1691.  In that period, he sold off his Wedgebury tract to Richard Mankin (1688) and Ann Robinson (1691).  The road to Guest’s “new” house is referenced in a contemporary deed, and as noted, the property is re-surveyed to him in 1702.  Here is an approximation of Man’s (then Guest’s) land on a 2007 satellite image, with the property bounded by Red Clay Creek to the south and east.  Unfortunately, there is little evidence of the Stanton mills today.

Guest/Man property today

THE FIRST STANTON MILL

Very little has ever been published about the history of the first mill in MCH, built on Red Clay Creek at the top of Bread and Cheese Island.  That mill, built around 1680 after the petition of Charles Rumsey and John Watkins, was placed in a controversial location - it was not built on Rumsey’s property, which was all west of (now) Telegraph Road.  Pieces of that little-known controversy are part of the early records, as different parties laid claim to the mill property.  Apparently, Cornelius Empson, a Brandywine miller, bought an early interest in the mill and became the operator. 

Empson tried for years to get clear title to the mill property, but I think it ultimately eluded him.  Abraham Man (and therefore William Guest) had the strongest claim to the land where the mill was built.  Now keep in mind that Empson, Guest, and Man were all attorneys and judges, and regularly faced each other in court.  They were both collaborators and adversaries, they all had some clout with the courts, and it probably would make a good TV series.

In 1699, William Guest (as successor to Abraham Man) won a case against Empson about the mill property, but Empson posted bond to appeal the decision.  Sadly, Cornelius Empson’s appeal is the very last court record that exists until about 1720.  Darn. 

Empson's appeal

I will conclude that William Guest ultimately won his case, but odd things happened in the meantime.  To bolster his claim, Empson bought one-half interest in the mill in 1705 from the estate of Thomas Wollaston, one of the original petitioners for the mill.  Did Wollaston have a legitimate interest in the mill, or was this just a quitclaim to appease his estate?  Empson bought 12 acres between Telegraph Road and Mill Creek from John Cann in 1708, adjacent to the mill.  Immediately after that, Cornelius went to the Board of Property and petitioned for a “small Piece of vac’t Land” on which his mill was “placed there by mistake”.  You don’t have to read far between the lines to see that Empson, a rather powerful man, had a weak hand – and he finally threw himself at the mercy of his friends on the Court.

The Court ordered a survey, never recorded, found in the notes of surveyor Isaac Taylor (below, dated 1708/9).  It seems Taylor was sympathetic to Empson’s cause, because without doing his homework, he carved out a 12 acre property around the mill for Empson.  But based on prior surveys, it was a hack job – this was not vacant land, it was part of the Man/Guest tract.   In the same court record, this resurvey also raised the ire of the folks on Bread and Cheese Island (BCI), and Edward Robinson and Matthew Peterson demanded a new survey of BCI as well.  

1708/09 Taylor Survey of Empson's land

Cornelius Empson died in 1710, supposedly passing his interest in the mill to his daughters.  I’ve found no civil record of how these claims were resolved, other than to conclude that William Guest ultimately won his case.  Guest died about 1717, and his estate sold about 30 acres at sheriff’s sale to Isaac Hersey in 1720.  That property sat just above the neck between White Clay and Red Clay Creeks, and included grist, saw, and fulling mills.  They may not be the original mill structure, but it was essentially the same mill seat.  The metes and bounds are not given in the deed, but can be inferred from later deeds.  You can see the Hersey property in the image below, compare it to the previous satellite image.  It seems to include a few acres of Empson’s property west of Telegraph Road, I don’t know why.  

Modern location of properties

The history of the mill has some gaps, but it really does leave a trail in the records.  Amidst the controversy, it seems that Cornelius Empson operated the mill until his death in 1710, when his family finally lost control to William Guest. 

We know from later deeds that the other parts of Guest’s property around Stanton were sold off, but some of the original deeds are lost.  As for the mill property, it probably went through several owners after Isaac Hersey until it appears again in 1762, when it was sold at sheriff’s sale from Thomas Garrett and George Robinson to Richard Jacobs, Jr.  [Jacobs obtained a release from Empson Bird, Cornelius’ grandson, and others to get a clean title.  That seems to end the controversy.]  While not quite a complete story, the connections between Cornelius Empson, Abraham Man, William Guest, and Isaac Hersey offer a lot of new and fascinating insight on the history of the original mill.

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