XXV. DEDICATION OF THE CRANE HOOK CHURCH MONUMENT, OCTOBER 17, 1896. UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF DELAWARE. THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF DELAWARE, WILMINGTON. DEDICATION OF THE CRANE HOOK CHURCH MONUMENT. THE Committee appointed for the various purposes pertaining to the commemoration of the site of Crane Hook Church have the honor to report the final performance of the sundry duties with which they were charged; and, pursuant to the instructions received at the last meeting, we present herewith a copy of the historical paper read, with reports of the remarks of the several speakers made at the final dedicatory exercises, which are here incorporated with such a connected and detailed, yet brief, account of the whole proceeding from the beginning, as is deemed a substantial compliance with the wishes expressed for a complete record and souvenir of the whole event. The movement originated in 1894, when, at the Society's regular April meeting of that year, Mr. Pennock Pusey presented some fragments of brick he had found on the site of Crane Hook Church, which he accompanied with a few remarks expressive of regret at the rapidly perishing relics of the unusually eventful and interesting history of which our immediate vicinity was the scene. The subject at once interested the meeting, and elicited a general discussion, which terminated with the appointment of a committee, consisting of Pennock Pusey, Hon. L. E. Wales, and E. T. Canby, to confer with the present owners of the historic spot with a view to setting up some suitable mark to designate the site of the ancient place of worship. The appointment of the committee was accompanied with a request that its chairman, Mr. Pusey, should prepare and read a paper on the subject of Crane Hook Church. In compliance with such request a paper was written embracing a summary of early ecclesiastical history on the Delaware, with a review of the times and incidents preceding and attending the building of the primitive edifice, which was read to an unusually large and attentive audience on the 18th of June, 1894, and published by the Society the following year. With growing public interest in the subject, the committee then applied themselves anew to the performance of their duties, towards which the first requisite was to secure the right or privilege of erecting the proposed memorial on the church site, from its present owners. Here they encountered at the outset a serious obstacle. The historic spot was found to belong to the unsettled estate of Richard Jackson, some of whose heirs, dreading perhaps a possible prejudice or complication of their interests, were, for a time, reluctant to consent to the erection of the proposed stone upon their land. But through the friendly interposition and influence of one of our members, George A. Elliott, Esq., attorney for the estate, the written consent of the several heirs-viz., Samuel A. Jackson, Lucy J. Jackson, Elizabeth Jackson, and John J. Jackson—was finally obtained to the placing of the stone on the church site, for which the Society tendered thanks by formal resolution, an attested copy whereof was duly presented to the said owners of the property. Having thus obtained the requisite permission, your committee, at the March meeting of the present year, submitted from Mr. George L. Jones, stone-cutter, two different plans of the proposed memorial, with specifications as to character and dimensions, which Mr. Joseph Jenkins, with characteristic liberality, guaranteed should be furnished the Society at a considerable reduction from the price named. After due examination by the members present, one of the two plans was approved, and the committee was authorized to cause the stone to be prepared and planted upon the church site. The adopted plan provided for a single shaft of Brandywine granite, fifteen inches square, with proportioned breadth and height of base, the whole to stand about four feet above ground, topped with a peaked central apex, and with a widened under-base to be sunk over two feet beneath the ground surface; three sides of the upper stone to be undressed, the fourth to be dressed and bear the inscription, "This stone marks the site of Crane Hook Church, built 1667. Erected by the Historical Society of Delaware, 1896." Bishop Coleman suggested that there should be suitable ceremonies in formal dedication of the stone, whereupon he was added to the committee, which, thus constituted, were fully authorized to do all things necessary to consummate the matter, and to finally name a day and prepare a programme for the dedication. But various causes seemed to conspire for further delay, among which was an exceptional and prolonged spell of op |