Kiln-dried corn meal

Drying corn in a pan-kiln (patents by 1812, 1816; British patent 1824 at left) for corn meal was said to have been invented at the Lea owned Brandywine Mills (Wilmington, Del).  George Ellicott's daughter Elizabeth Ellicott Lea married Thomas Lea, the son of the founder.

Revolutionary War rations - bread with water

Lea flour mills along the Brandywine near Wilmington, Del. provided flour for Washington's soldiers.  Thomas Lea married George Ellicott's daughter.  Soldiers received a pound of flour per day ration, but bakers could add more water to make a pound loaf of bread, and keep the excess flour.

James Lea grafitti at the B&O railroad station 1838

James Lea (1816-1857) was the son of Elizabeth (Ellicott) Lea (daughter of George Ellicott), and Thomas Lea, of the Lea Brandywine mills.  James was born in Delaware but raised south west of Ellicott's mills at the family farm "Walnut Hill" near Sandy Spring, Md.  He and his brothers took produce and livestock into Ellicott's mills, then visited his grandmother Elizabeth (Brooke) Ellicott who lived by their mill, across the river from the station.

James fought during the Mexican War (1846-48), went overland to California for the 1849 gold rush then ran a hotel until he became ill and returned home. A further reason, when his grandmother Elizabeth (Brooke) Ellicott died in 1853 she left him a portion of her Brooke lands near Sandy Spring, MD if he returned to live in Maryland. He died, unmarried, in 1857.

Lea mills on the Brandywine

Joseph Tatnall and his son-in-law Thomas Lea, Sr. dug a mill race on the rocky north shore of the Brandywine, and by 1764 there were four mills on the shore. An 1873 article (image left) stated that the Lea mills were still in operation by the Lea family.  Elizabeth Ellicott of Ellicott mills married Thomas Lea, Jr. in 1812.

Brandywine Mills in the Revolutionary War

During the Revolutionary War the Tatnall and Lea flour mills furnished flour to the American army. Washington and Lafayette visited Joseph Tatnall.  Before the battle of the Brandywine, Washington ordered the top grinding stones of the mills to be removed and hidden from the British troops.

Lea's Brandywine flour mills near Wilmington Del., 1800

The famed Tatnall and Lea flour mills in Delaware were visited by many foreigners including the Duc de La Rochefoucauld [1747-1827], who left France during the beginning of the French Revolution. He described Thomas Lea - whose son married Elizabeth Ellicott (1st Md. cookbook) daughter of George Ellicott - as "a handsome, cheerful, active, man...a candid and obliging man" and their private "flour manufactory" bought "corn" (grain) and shipped the flour to Philadelphia then exported.

Conestoga wagon deliveries to Lea flour mills in Delaware

Before the first railroads in the 1830s, huge Conestoga wagons hauled by 6 horse teams brought wheat from Pennsylvania to the Lea mills along the Brandywine River by Wilmington Del.  A convoy of 20-30 "inland ships" would approach a mill, with the others waiting in line, blocking roads, as the first unloaded.  The physical activity of unloading and the loud noise from "rumbling wheels, clattering [horse] hoofs...shoutings and clamorings of the Dutch drivers" contrasted with the railroad and barges that replaced the Conestogas.

Elizabeth Ellicott Lea (daughter of George Ellicott) married Thomas Lea and lived in Brandywine (Wilmington) after their 1812 marriage and returned to Maryland in 1823.