Here is an interesting story about people from Galeton, In Potter County, who moved to Delaware in 1907. The complete story from the Milton, Delaware Chronicle can be seen by
clicking on the title.By Gwen Guerke, Milford Chronicle
THOMPSONVILLE - Delaware
The canal and its namesake are the subjects of local legend.
According to local historian Dave Kenton, citing a 1992 Milford Historical Society newsletter, the Greco family also moved to Delaware from the Keystone state.
Franco and Emily Greco moved to the Milford Neck area in 1907 from Galeton, Pa., and eventually purchased 3,500 acres of land between Misspelling River and Baucambrig Gut (Brockingbrig or Brockingridge), then started in the vegetable canning business at a cannery built in 1910 on the Gov. Charles Polk farm, north of Big Stone Beach.
They imported at least 50 Italian immigrants to work on their extensive farming operation and lived in the former Gov. Charles Polk mansion (Ellerslie) that eventually burned in 1929.
Today, it is the site of the Tall Pine Hunting Club.
Mr. Greco needed a transportation link to the Mispillion River to sell his canned goods in Philadelphia and Baltimore.
He was formerly a railroad engineer and knew much about heavy construction, according to Mr. Kenton.
In 1910, he built a wooden barge and mounted a steam-powered dredging device (shovel) that allowed him to dig the Greco Canal from Big Stone Beach Road to Conch Bar landing, then farther south to the Mispillion River near the former lighthouse location.
When he grew tired of dragging his canned goods to the Big Stone Beach road over muddy roads, he decided to petition the state to build a drawbridge at the Big Stone Road in 1912 in order to extend his canal northward to his home and cannery one mile north.
Local politicians blocked his effort to get state permission, so about 1915, when the price of canned goods was very unprofitable, Mr. Greco shut down his cannery and gave up the idea of extending the canal.
Mr. Greco moved to Cedar Beach Road in Milford, and in 1923 accidentally ate toadstools, thinking they were mushrooms.
According to local history, he and his wife refused to allow a doctor to induce vomiting using saltwater because of their religious convictions. After they died from poisoning, a neighbor, Harry Bowen, saved their daughter, Philomena Greco, by making her drink salt water.
Philomena lived for another 50 years and died in 1980s, then her extensive land holdings were sold to the state.
Gwen Guerke can be reached at
tell2gwen@aol.com or at 422-1200.