"The Parson Thorne Mansion," Milford, Delaware

Ellen's first work of art to go into print, age 18

The 18" x 24" pen & ink by Ellen Rice was a commission that was years later donated to the Milford Historical Society who is in charge of

the Parson Thorne Mansion.

I lived within a mile of The Parson Thorne Mansion in Milford the first year I was married. My in-laws had opened their large home on Mill Street to my husband and I to help us get on our feet. During that year and for many years afterward I was treated to countless stories of the shenanigans my late husband and his brothers got into, some of which involved the grounds of the Parson Thorne Mansion. There were references to haunted secret passages and ghosts. They did know how to entertain with interesting tales.

The mansion had special meaning for one of my brothers-in-law, the late Steve Rice, and early on in that first year, he asked me to do a drawing of it. The result is above. I gladly did it for him, trying to think of a unique way to portray it and make it special. The inclusion of the old the ivy-covered tree was the result. That tree had witnessed so much over the mansion's long history.

A month or two after I presented the drawing, Steve's wife presented me with a box filled with prints of their drawing. This was the first every print of my work. She said, "You've got talent. Go out and sell them." And that was the beginning of my professional career as an artist.

Below is the Milford Historical Society's history of the mansion. Over time I'll try to find more information to fill in the blanks between the dates of this beautiful, unique mansion. There have got to be more tales than those of the four Rice boys and their probably not involved sister.  ~ Ellen

The Parson Thorne Mansion historic building lies within a 1,750 acre Duke of York land patent called Saw Mill Range granted to Henry Bowman in 1680.

The first known resident of this portion of the tract was Joseph Booth, who purchased 510 acres from the Bowman family in 1730. The center brick section of the present structure was built by John Cullen after his purchase of 263 acres in 1746.

Reverend Syndenham Thorne, an Episcopal clergyman who was instrumental in Milford’s development, bought the property in the 1780s and is interred on the grounds. John M. Clayton, United States Senator and Secretary of State under President Zachary Taylor, spent a portion of his boyhood here.

Members of the Clayton family lie at rest nearby as well. This was also the home of philanthropist Col. Benjamin Potter and Dr. William Burton, Governor of Delaware during the early years of the Civil War.

Col. Henry Fiddeman, founder of the First National Bank of Milford, came into ownership of the mansion in 1858 and changed the Colonial Georgian architecture to Gothic Victorian.

The Draper family purchased the property in 1916. In 1961 the building and grounds, then known as Silver Hill, were conveyed to the Milford Historical Society by J. Richard Draper.

The Parson Thorne Mansion was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.