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Scharf's HISTORY OF DELAWARE (pp 962, 963):
On February 2, 1788, during Jesse Higgins' first term in the Legislature, a supplementary act was passed for stopping St. George's Creek, and draining a quantity of marsh and cripple on both sides of the creek, being about three thousand acres, situated in Red Lion and St. George's, and for keeping the dykes and drains in good repair.
Henry Ward Pierce and Mathew Pearce were the owners of a portion of this tract. On the 18th day of April, 1796, they conveyed thirteen hundred and seventy-eight acres to Solomon Maxwell, William Guier and Adam Diehl, wealthy merchants of Philadelphia. In 1799, Maxwell sold his interest to Joseph Clark. While this tract was in their possession the hotel at St. Augustine Piers was erected and managed by them for more than twenty years. The marsh was inclosed and ditched and converted into pastureland, on which cattle were fattened, and found a ready market in New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore.
The tract was divided into three portions or farms and assigned by lot. Joseph Clark became the owner of the farm in St. George's Hundred; Adam Diehl drew the middle farm; and William Guier received the upper farm, which extended as far north as the present location of the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal. Clark's property was at a later period purchased by John Barney, and is now owned by Wm. S. Lawrence, of New Jersey. The William Guier farm is now owned by Arthur Coleburn, of Philadelphia. In 1828, Adam Diehl sold his farm to Captain George Maxwell, who, in 1843, conveyed it to J. J. Henry. John P. King was the next owner, and he sold it in October, 1861, to William Beck, the present owner, who came from England in 1848. St. George's marsh now comprises some of the finest farm land in the State. On this tract in 1831, the first peach orchards in the State were planted. The tidal wave in 1878 swept away the entire embankment and since that time $37,000 have been spent in rebuilding and repairing the banks and ditches along this marsh.
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