THIS OLD HOUSE
1932
DR. HENRY FISHER OCCUPANT
The home of Dr. Henry
Fisher, Pilot Town Road, is a silent witness to early Lewes hstory,
and the Caesar Rodney and Sarah Rowland affair.
It was in this house that
Caesar Rodney met Sarah Rowland, the fascinting young Quaker
widow who was an ardent Tory. Story is that Rodney had left
Philadelphia , during the Assembly Convention to travel to Lewes to
quell Tory activities in Sussex county, and while in Lewes he
became infatuated with Sarah
Rowland, the daughter of the Lewes postmaster. It is told she
cleverly
intercepted mail sent to
Rodney at Lewes from Thomas McKean, asking Rodney to return quickly
to vote so that Delaware's vote would be accepted by the Declaration
of Independence. It was through
the patriotism of Sarah's
maid that Rodney was informed of the letter being held by the Tory
widow.
As soon as Caesar Rodney
became informed he at once took horse for Phildelphia, and made his
memorial ride.
Later, the same house,
became the residence of Colonel Samuel Davis, the commander of the
troops defending Lewes in the War of 1812. Living with Davis was a
young girl, who Davis cherished
as his own daughter. She
believed the colonel to be her father until remarks from friends
aroused her
suspicions. Taking advantage
of the Colonels church visit one Sunday morning the young girl
searched
his private papers and found
evidence that she was not only the ward of Davis and also was an
heiress to several large estates in New Orleans. Later the family
moved to New Castle and the girl ward married and became Mrs.
Myra Clark Gains, probably the greatest litigant of her age.
Source: Saturday, May 7,
1932, Wilmington Delaware, News Journal.
No comments:
Post a Comment