"from the Country all around, and from Maryland in great 

 Plenty." 1°' 



Newport, much like New Castle, declined in importance with 

 the rise of Wilmington and the coming of the railroad. After 1825, 

 its line road to the interior, its easy docking facilities, and its direct 

 waterway to Philadelphia no longer attracted the manufacturing 

 and commercial interests. Thus, the town's once thriving tannery 

 eventually gave way to the subsidiary activity of bark milling — an 

 enterprise worth noting here only because of the excellent descrip- 

 tion of the mill carried in the American JVatchmmi in 1825. Owned 

 by Jacob Squibb, the mill was completely equipped to break bark 

 before grinding it under one of three stones. The mill was horse 

 powered, and its gearing consisted of "one large cog wheel 17/2 feet 

 in diameter, together with three other face wheels and three 

 wallowers." ^°^ 



Generally every town had a tannery, and Newark, Delaware, 

 was no exception. In the 1760's Hugh Glasford described his 

 property and his tanner as well. As usual, the owner began by 

 appraising his lot as — - 



a good Tanyard, with Water drawn by a Pump . . . and a large Bark-house, 

 with about 80 cords of Bark therein, and a Mill-house with a good new Wheel 

 therein; likewise a Brick Shoemaker's Shop and Stove, and a Currying-shop, 

 Tanning and Barking-irons, where Hides may be had very convenient; and 

 Plenty of them, and Bark in great Quantities. Also a Negroe Man, that 

 understands the Tanning and Currying Trades well, and has had the Smallpox 

 and Measles. "° 



The first industry in Middletown, to the south of Newark, was 

 a tannery operated by a man named Peterson, ^^^ and not far away 

 at Odessa (Cantwell's Bridge), near Appoquinimink Creek, William 

 Corbit, whose elegant home still stands, built a tannery which 

 operated until the scarcity of bark ended the business in 1854.^^"' 



Two miles north of Newark on the New London road, Thomas 

 Crawford began a substantial country tanning and bark business 



108 Pennsylvania Gazette, October 7, 1762. 



109 Wilmington, January 14, 1825. 



"" Pennsylvania Gazette, September 29, 1763. The tannery located at the east end of the town 

 appeared for sale subsequently in the Gazette on July 11, 1765, and December 26, 1765. By the latter 

 date, the tanyard was described as "a little out of Repair." 



■" ScHARF, vol. 2, p. 998. In 17M the Peterson tannery was purchased by David Witherspoon 

 from the heirs of Adam Peterson. On February 11, 1825, the Delaware Gazette advertised a tannery 

 at Middletown. 



"- McLane Report, vol. 2, pp. 756-757, lists Daniel Corbit. See also Schark, vol. 2, p. 1007; Mun- 

 ROE, p. ?>0; and Sweeney, Grandeur on the Appoquinimink, pp. 17-20. 



45 



