Goodbye, Hocker Manufacturing

The small Hocker factory that has sat across Kings Highway from our neighborhood for as long as we've been here (and longer) has closed down. This was one of only a very few industrial uses we had in Lewes; losing it is another loss of the real-ness of this town. We're moving closer and closer to becoming a large-scale retirement village.

According to a 1976 report for the National Park Service's Historic American Engineering Record, Hocker Manufacturing began its life in Philadelphia in the late 1800's when brothers John and George Hocker started a tin-smith business. John, who had pioneered several new manufacturing techniques, moved the business to Lewes in 1899 to take advantage of lower manufacturing and transportation costs. According to the Engineering Record, Hocker was a Sussex native and was married to a Lewes woman, which may have played a role in his move.

The first factory location was out near Pilottown, on Queen Anne Avenue. Around 1903, Hocker Manufacturing became Henlopen Manufacturing and moved to a new factory building in town on Schley Avenue, now (I think) part of the home of the Lewes Board of Public Works. The Hocker family, and their manufacturing business, prospered at Schley Avenue until 1951. They made tin boxes, bottle caps and brush handles.

Founder John Hocker died in the mid-1940s and his son, John Jr., in the late 1940s. When Mrs. Hocker died, Henlopen Manufacturing passed out of the family and the factory was closed.

In 1953, John Hocker's son Harold, who had left the business a decade earlier to raise poultry, re-established a brush business in a small building behind his home on Front Street, across the street from where the Canalfront Park is now being built.

At the time of the Engineering Record report, Hocker's was still a very small, very specialized business in a tiny building on Front Street. At some point between that report, in 1976, and the mid-1980s when I moved to Lewes, Hocker's moved to Kings Highway, at one of the entrances to the City. The business grew a little, but remained very much a niche company.

In a standard Google search, I have not been able to find an account of that move. In the 20 years that I have lived here, Hocker's has simply always been there.

In early 2007, Hocker's was sold to National Novelty Brush Company, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was, according to a story in the Intelligencer Journal, at the suggestion of Hocker's management.

"We were friendly competitors for the last 30 years," [Novelty Brush president Richard] Seavy said, "until we got a call (from Hocker) wanting to know if we were interested in purchasing it."

The housing downturn, apparently, has depressed the market for one of the main products of the Hocker's plant, the metal cap with attached brush that is used to apply solvents and cements to PVC pipe. I can see one in the hands of This Old House plumber Richard Trethewey as he runs pipe for some re-built bathroom somewhere. As a result, there's not enough business for two brush-factories and the Lewes site will close.

I'll miss it.

A New Look

Our front yard has a new look. The Bradford Pear that split and fell partly down last month has been removed by our tree guy this week. He has yet to take care of that stump, but it's something of a relief to have the tree gone. As I noted in December, it had grown too large to really support itself and was too close to the house for comfort in windy weather.

We still have two Dogwoods out front. The one on the left was shaded-out by the Pear for several years and now lags behind its sibling on the right. I expect it will do much better now. We'll also be able to get grass growing on that side again.

I feel bad losing a tree. But it had to go. Meanwhile, we're awaiting young trees coaxed from the old tree that used to stand in the courtyard of Epworth United Methodist Church in Rehoboth. It also had to come down, but cuttings are being raised and sold as a fund-raiser. We'd always loved that tree, so we're looking forward to meeting its descendants.

Fox Appropriates Family Dog, Cultural and Economic Debate Ensues

A family in Baltimore spotted a familiar face during a Fox football broadcast last month. It was their family dog, Truman, in a photo they had posted to Flickr that was apparently harvested by the television network and used to "holiday-up" their broadcast of a game between the Saints and the Eagles.

This prompted a blog post by dog-owner Tracey Gaughran-Perez and, many comments later, a call from the Washington Post which led to 1) some (moderately) contrite reaction from Fox, and, 2) a story in the paper (Hey, Isn't That . . .).

The Post story takes a larger look at the growing issue of copyright infringement in a culture that is on-line and connected and very, very open. People are starting to point to a basic hypocrisy in large corporations on the one hand zealously enforcing copyright against individuals while on the other hand violating individual copyrights with seeming impunity.

The story also makes an interesting point about how the culture of on-line, personal and real is leading advertisers and corporations away from the traditionally false and contrived material they have long used in advertising and corporate communications.

It's a byproduct of the user-generated world: the trustworthiness of YouTube, the realness of Facebook. Above all else, we believe ourselves. "People don't want to buy the fake from the phony anymore," Pine says. "They want to buy the real from the genuine."

This story caught my eye in part because I am an active flickr-er. I place a Creative Commons "Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative" copyright on my photos, which, in theory, protects them from unauthorized commercial use. I do the same, by the way, with content on this blog.

I have found unauthorized use of content from Mike's Musings in the past. I found a post from this blog pasted into an ad-spam blog. These are blogs that scrape content from bloggers to give their ad-sites something for google and other search sites to find. In that case, when I e-mailed the site's owners they apologized and took my content off their site.

I have not yet found any of my photos taken without permission. That doesn't mean it hasn't happened, though. There have been several cases where I have been asked for permission to use photos. I have given the travel guides site Schmap permission to use shots I have taken in the Florida Keys and at the Statue of Liberty. I have granted permission to the Cape Gazette to use a few shots in backgrounds on their site as well. And I have given permission for their use in a few publications; there was an economic development brochure for a small city in New York, and a set of state-themed poems published as postcards.

I have not yet tried to make any money of my work; I'm usually happy to help out local institutions or non-profit groups. That doesn't mean I wouldn't be interested in making some small amount of cash, however, if Fox or CNN or MSNBC or someone wanted to use a photo of mine in their election coverage.

Thank You, Coach

Joe Gibbs resigned as head coach of the Washington Redskins football team yesterday. It was unexpected but not too much of a surprise, in retrospect. Joe Gibbs is a thoughtful and spiritual guy. He had been quoted lately as saying that the tragic death of Redskin Sean Taylor had reminded him of the importance of family and friends. It seems time now for Joe Gibbs to focus on more personal things.

I think sports columnist Mike Wise put it well in the Washington Post:

Smile. Feel good for a 67-year-old man who decided to spend more time with his grandchildren. A coach at Redskins Park went out on his own terms for the first time in 15 years. He got his life back.

I agree. To that I would also add a "thank you" to a coach who brought a team I have followed as a dedicated fan for the last 36 years back to respectability. I am a Redskin fan. I will root for my team whether they are world-beaters, almost-great, or doormats.

Joe Gibbs was not a perfect coach, but he reminds us that a football franchise need not be perfect all the time. It should conduct itself as a true team, however, and make an honest and dedicated effort to be the best team it can be. It should value people as people and not as machines filling positions. It should remember that the game is not the most important thing in this life, even as it strives to succeed.

Field Trip Needed: Mahaffey, PA

I need to make a visit to the Borough of Mahaffey, in western Pennsylvania, somewhat southeast of Punxsutawny. I'm adding it to my list of places to visit to learn more about family history.

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Mahaffey is the only populated place in the US that I know of that is named for a relative of mine. There is a small lake named Mahaffie created by the US Farm Service out in Oklahoma.

I had been aware for some time that there is a place called Mahaffey in Pennsylvania, but it is only recently that my genealogical wanderings led me to a reference to the person it was named for, Robert Mahaffey, who was the grandson of my great-great-great-great-grandfather's brother. That makes him my second cousin, four times removed. It's probably more useful to say he was second cousin to my great-grandfather, Doc Mahaffie.

Back around 1750, a group of Mahaffeys emigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania, settling originally in Cumberland County. There were either two sets of two brothers who were cousins, or more likely there were four brothers. Records are sketchy; our best source is a family history from the early 20th century.

In any case, one of those original American Mahaffeys was Charles, whose son Andrew changed his name's spelling to Mahaffie and produced JB, who produced Doc, whose son Charles was my grandfather. The elder Charles Mahaffey's brother Thomas, meanwhile, fathered William, who fathered Robert Mahaffey, who appears to have founded the settlement that now bears his name.

I had already shown Robert Mahaffie (1815 - 1900) in my family tree, but it wasn't until I found an extract from Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, and Representative Citizens, by Roland D. Swoope, Jr. (published by Richmond-Arnold Publishing of Chicago in 1911), that I had a reference to a founder of Mahaffie:

Robert Mahaffey equaled his father in enterprise. He engaged also in lumbering and later cleared up a large farm in Bell township and also conducted a general store and in addition, operated a mill. His various enterprises prospered and each one assisted in the developing of the other and ere long many settlers had been attracted to his neighborhood, a village resulted and in his honor was named for the man of energy and progress, who had had the foresight to select this certain section of the wilderness as his place of investment.

Today Mahaffey is something of an also-ran among the many municipalities and boroughs of Pennsylvania. I couldn't find a town government in my Google-searching. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania doesn't link to one. And I couldn't find anything via the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities or the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs.

The 2000 US Census found 402 residents; all of them white with a median age of between 39 and 40 years. According to the Bell Township/Mahaffey Borough Joint Comprehensive Plan (found via the PA County Planning e-Library) prepared in 2000, population at Mahaffey reached a peak of 801 in 1920. A lack of economic opportunities, likely tied to the shift away from an agrarian economy in the eastern US, led to high levels of out-migration.

But Mahaffey looks like an interesting place. It sits among the hills and along a mid-sized stream. There are some recreation areas nearby and a Mahaffey Camp, "A Christian Center for Spiritual Growth," up the road.

I think I may need to take a field trip to see the place for myself.

Even More Delaware Blogs

Almost as soon as I posted my "really big list" of new (or new to me) Delaware blogs, I've been finding even more. This is a catch-up list.

• Rolfe Photography is the blog of Judy Rolfe, a professional photographer in Lewes. This one could also have been added to the Delaware Photo Blogs post.
  
• Wilmington Family Blog is by "a wife, mom, and dog owner in DE, ... also a high school teacher..."
• Don't Eat Baby is the blog of a stay-at-home mom.
• Behind The Mike is an internet radio show.
• Life in the Slow Lane is the "everyday ramblings of an aspiring economist, a stay-at-home mommy, and a one-year-old..."
• Follow His Leading is by "an Assistant Church Planter in Lower Delaware."
• Jecilyn and Treavor's Mom is by the Mother of two....
• The Day and Life of MissyMiss who is a wife and mom.
  
• And the Ramblings of "a Massachusetts native living in Delaware; a Patriots and Red Sox fan."

RIP (and Thank You) George Macdonald Fraser

I was saddened to learn of the death yesterday of the author George Macdonald Fraser. Fraser, a Scot, created the Flashman series of novels, which have given me a great deal of pleasure over the years. He was 82. The cause of death was cancer.

Fraser had served in India during World War and worked as a journalist in Glasgow before becoming an author and screenwriter. The original Flashman novel started that portion of his career in the late 1960's. In it, he took a minor character in 19th century literature and imagined him into one of the greatest cads in English fiction. His novels are great fun and feature well-researched and accurate historical people, places, and actions.

He also wrote a wonderful memoir of his military service (Quartered Safe Out Here), and a series of short-stories inspired by that period of his life (the "McAuslan" stories). He wrote a parody of pirate books (The Pyrates) and a handful of novels set in Victorian and Elizabethan England. His screenplays included several "musketeers" movies and Force Ten from Navarone.

George Macdonald Fraser was a fine writer. He has left us an impressive body of work. Thank you, sir.

Election Fun #3

In an admission of an intent to announce something later that won't be surprising because no one was really taken unawares by today's admission, Jud Bennett has 'fessed-up: he'll make another run at Lynn Rogers for his Sussex County Council seat.

Last time, Jud lost the race by three votes. In the intervening years, he's been keeping a steady, if jaundiced, watch on County Council. There's never really been any doubt that Jud would run again. He'll make the race about growth and development and land-use controls. It should be exciting.

Interestingly, I had a blog-visitor today from New York City who found one of my post-election posts from fall of 2004 via a google search for "Lynn Rogers Sussex county council member campaign donations."

Does Jud have an election consultant from New York?

Election Fun #2

The News Journal held an on-line straw poll today in preparation for the Iowa Caucuses.

On the Democratic side, Barack Obama edged-out Delaware's own Joe Biden by two votes. They were followed closely by Ms. Clinton and more distantly by John Edwards and a few other fellows.

On the Republican side, Ron Paul scored what looks like a decisive victory over Rudy Guiliani, followed by John McCain and Mike Huckabee. Mitt Romney was in fifth place. The Ron Paul win may be tainted by (very slight) hints of astro-turfing; someone posted the poll to Digg with the following note:

The Wilmington News Journal is sponsoring a virtual caucus for the state of Delaware. Ron Paul is trailing Rudy... let's make it happen!!

In the comments that followed, several supporters posted information on Delaware ZIP codes, which might have been useful in fooling the News Journal's polling system. Of course, this may only have been an attempt to get Delaware e-voters involved, and there's nothing to say that other candidates' supporters did or didn't try the same thing. But it looks a bit funny.

And let's not forget that there were only 4,696 votes cast. We probably shouldn't take this very seriously.

Election Fun #1

I was (only a little) surprised to find out today that there is a link to this blog from an unofficial "Mike Huckabee President 2008" blog. The Feedjit traffic feed widget I installed recently showed a click-through today from a post on that blog listing Other Bloggers on Mike Huckabee. That post is from last February. I had included some praise for Huckabee back then in a brief collection of some things I liked about some politicians.

I wonder if readers who've come here from there have had a look around the rest of the site and been horrified to find that I am, indeed, a left-wing, progressive liberal? I am, you know.

I did like what little I had heard from Huckabee at that point; he sounded like a reasonable fellow. There was never more than the slimmest possibility that I would have voted for him, though. And as the race among the Republicans has heated up, his rhetoric and positions have become more traditionally right-wing and evangelical. So...

But I do like him on a personal level.