Dominic DeBenedictis and the Indian Queen

Dominico DeBenedictis was born in Italy around 1881. Sources indicate that he immigrated to America in 1886, when he was 5, though no passenger list can be found to corroborate. He was naturalized in 1905 while residing on Sansom Street in Philadelphia, around the age of 25. 

Dominic DeBenedictis and Shep

He was married to his wife Mary around 1903 and they had a son Eugene, and daughter Olivia. Eugene was born in New Jersey, though no record of Dominic living there could be found. Both Dominic and Mary were born in Italy, yet were listed on censuses as speaking English. He arrived young, so this is unsurprising. On the 1920 census, Dominic is listed as a master painter, and in a 1914 directory he is listed as a printer. There is nothing in the papers to indicate it, but Dominic's life in Philadelphia was about to come to a close, and a new chapter would open up about 27 miles away.

In December of 1917 DeBenedictis enters the picture in Bucks County, buying one of the most important farms in Upper Makefield township. He purchased the Samuel Merrick Farm, aka. The House of Decision, from William H. and Laura M. Hogeland near Woodhill. This is where General Nathaniel Greene made his headquarters prior to the Battle of Trenton. Dominic immediately set about painting the property and making repairs. This isn't surprising, given his listed occupation 3 years later.

Merrick House Plaque

Shortly thereafter, in November of the same year, he places an ad in the Enterprise for a hurry-up sale of personal property. The sale shows that at this time DeBenedictis had a well-stocked farm's worth of animals and implements available. This included four horses, 20 pigs, 60 chickens and a variety of crops. Presumably this was the Hogeland farming outfit which he inherited.

Nov 16, 1918 Newtown Enterprise

The sale was well-attended, despite inclement weather, and brought good money. It was reported that DeBenedictis couldn't make his necessary business trips to Philadelphia while simultaneously running the farm, so he sold his outfit. It appears that while Dominic moved away and left his family behind, he still had ties to Philadelphia and traveled there frequently. 

Dominic must've found the neighborhood to his liking, as two months later he bought the Woodhill Store, aka. The Eagle property from Mary B. Fell, of Yardley. The property is adjacent to the Merrick House property. It was reported that he intended to transform the store into a summer hotel or boarding house, and was already at work on the plans for this endeavor. No such undertaking ever took place and the building today is a residence.

The Woodhill Store

Albert E. Slack was a farmer on an adjacent tract to DeBenedictis'. On November 7th, 1919, we see him take out an advertisement in the Enterprise in which he apologizes for anything derogatory he might've said towards Dominic and his family. Prior to Dominic's arrival, one would be hard-pressed to find a farmer of Italian descent in Upper Makefield, Bucks County, PA. In fact, scanning the 1920 census shows that he is, in fact, the only citizen of Upper Makefield who was born in Italy. One wonders if the immigrant who was buying up properties in the yet sleepy hamlet of Woodhill had a warm reception from his new neighbors. The apology suggests he did not.

Slack's Apology

We must presume that Dominic left his wife Mary and their two children behind in Philadelphia when he decided to try his hand at farming. In the 1920 census he is listed as living with his housekeeper Avis Peterson, and one boarder. The next mention of Mary comes from an announcement about their divorce proceedings in February 1921. It seems that Dominic had traded the city (and family) life for greener pastures. 

Dominic's land purchases weren't limited to Upper Makefield. In 1920 he bought a building lot in Wycombe, though we never hear of this property again. He also bought the Anchor Hotel property in 1921, with nothing else found in the papers about his ownership. Often times rumors of sales, or failed sales are reported and later corrected. 

Things were going well for DeBenedictis. He owned multiple properties in a new area, and soon after the divorce he and his 10-year younger housekeeper Avis got married at his home, the Merrick House. The wedding was written about three times in the paper, the printer was getting some press himself. Naturally, we see an advertisement in the Philadelphia Inquirer looking for a new housekeeper, which he needed after promoting his old one. 

Philadelphia Enquirer June 30, 1922

DeBenedictis's land holdings were growing, and in 1925 he places an ad in the Enterprise looking to buy more farms. 

March 21, 1925 Newtown Enterprise

Dominic appears to have moved around during this time frame. We know he lived at the Merrick House in 1921, then in 1925 we see an article in the Enterprise indicating that he moved from Lettie W. VanHorn's house on Chancellor Street to rooms rented of Russel Janney, in the building on the south west corner of State Street and Center Avenue. 

A week later multiple land transactions were reported. DeBenedictis purchased three tracts of timber in Buckingham Township, 14 acres in Doylestown Township, along with the 104-acre Heginbotham farm from John Tomlinson in Upper Makefield. He also secured a thirty-day option on three other Upper Makefield farms. They were Mary J. Paxon 130 acres, 60 or 70 acres from Horace B. Hunt, and a portion of the 105-acre farm of Georgiana Thornton. It was reported that these farms were being bought up for parties involved in the excavating and selling of gravel.

Next, he buys the 106-acre farm of Charles C. Winder, near Taylorsville. It appears that the sellers were not happy with the deal, as a month later it is reported that certain heirs of Winder filed a protest against the confirmation of the sale, alleging inadequate price. 

Dominic DeBenedictis was on a buying spree and he now held hundreds of acres in the county. His next purchase would be his largest-to-date. In May of 1925 he purchased the 184 acre farm of prominent farmer and citizen George L. Eastburn, the Creamery Farm. He set about making repairs to the farm, and the paper mused that it would be one of the showplaces in that locality. 

That same month he bought a building lot on North Congress Street in Newtown, which he later sold to the Burns Brothers, who erected a garage and paint shop on the property. He also bought Elmer E. Harvey's farm of 94 acres, east of the Eagle. This is also around the time that his dog lost a fight with an elephant. Whether or not this was hyperbole is unknown, as there was an actual elephant barn down the road to Brownsburg at the time. This is where the circus quartered their animals in the winter.

May 16, 1925 Newtown Enterprise

In 1926, Dominic DeBenedictis owned several farms in Upper Makefield, including some of the most well-known properties. He took out an ad in the Philadelphia Inquirer offering city-dwellers the opportunity to try their hand ar farming. Raise some chickens or ducks, he says. He had properties of 5 acres and up for rent. Interestingly, at this time, 1926, it took less than an hour to get to Philadelphia from Upper Makefield. It often takes longer than that today. 

June 6, 1926 Philadelphia Inquirer

That same year Dominic was in the newspaper for stumbling up an abandoned car with 50 half-pints of whiskey and $70 in paper money on the Buck Road. Dominic, despite being mistreated by at least one of his neighbors, likely more, did the right thing and turned the booze over to the police. 

Presumably, Dominic wasn't buying these farms for the love of the land. He was in it to make money, and now was the time to strike. Though it wasn't reported, he sold the Merrick House in this time frame to Charles A. Baldi. On April 29th, 1927 the Enterprise wrote that DeBenedictis had sold two of his Upper Makefield farms to Edward McPeak, of Philadelphia. The farms were the Eastburn (Creamery) farm of 184 acres and the Elmer Harvey farm of 94 acres, 278 acres in all. He allegedly earned himself a big advance over his purchase price. It appeared that Dominic's budding career as a real estate broker was taking off. 

The 94 acre Elmer Harvey farm, also known as the Highland School Farm because the school was located across the road, was formerly a part of the 184 acre tract on Creamery once owned by Frank Harvey. Running along the west side of Highland Road from Wrightstown Road to Woodhill Road, it featured a two and a half story frame and stone house, frame barn and wagon house and other outbuildings. We know this because of the fact that the property was seized from DeBenedictis by the sheriff and put up for auction, two years after the reported sale, which must not have gone through. Neither had the sale of the other tract that he sold to McPeak, as he was advertising them both for rent again in April, 1930. This ad shows that he also owned the Cannan Farm, located on Wrightstown Road, West of Eagle Road. 

April 3, 1930

Around this time, DeBenedictis was in an automobile accident on Roosevelt Boulevard. He was driving during a storm and his car struck and killed a woman named Mrs. Anna Meta, from Philadelphia. He was arrested, though he must've gotten away with it because, 8 months after having it seized, he was still renting out his arsenal of farms. 

At the beginning of the Great Depression Dominic DeBenedictis no longer lived in Upper Makefield township. In 1930 he was listed on the census as living back in Philadelphia, along with his former housekeeper, now wife, Avis Peterson. She must have also had a child in a previous marriage, as there's a 13 year old daughter named Dorothy E. Peterson living with the couple. There's also daughter Avis, 8, son Robert, 6, and daughter Gloria, 4 years old. Dominic's occupation is listed at this time as one would expect, real estate broker. We cannot glean much from a list of names, but things must not have been well in the household, as shortly after this, Dominic is back in Upper Makefield, again, without his family. This time would be his last in the township. 

Somehow Dominic found himself caught up in an issue over Arthur P Townsend's land that he sold to the State for a new park. Some idiot alleged that the land was worthless because it was of no historical value. The April 3, 1930 Enterprise writes that said idiot stated:

"I have absolute proof that Washington's army never camped there, and that no event of the Revolution happened there, and that the land hasn't the slightest bit of historical value, and that Townsend tried to get rid of it for $100 a lot."

Then the humorous part of the thing, he called on Dominic DeBenedictis to verify his statement. Dominic, a former resident of Newtown, and the owner of much acreage along the Delaware that he would like to sell the State, posing as a Bucks County historian, is just a little too rich for Bucks County folks.

In 1930 prohibition was still in effect and Bucks County had its fair share of bootleggers. Tenants from out of town, the exact kind Dominic advertised towards, would rent farms in Bucks County and set up illegal distilleries on the properties, (usually) unbeknownst to the owners of the farms. On December 11, 1930 the Enterprise reported that a man from Philadelphia, who was renting one of DeBenedictis' farms near Stoopville, was raided by authorities and found to contain two 200-gallon stills and hundreds of gallons of moonshine. Hyman Benn was sentenced to serve two months in prison and to pay a $200 fine. This was a small-time operation, another bust in Morrisville produced a 10,000-gallon still. 

Here we hit an obstacle with the research for this story. The Newtown Enterprise was published from 1868-1965, and the vast majority of issues are available on microfilm and pdf. The only exception is 1931. No library or archive has copies of the 1931 Newtown Enterprise. Other papers were searched, as Dominic showed up in the Trenton Times and Philadelphia enquirer, though nowhere near as many times as he appeared in the Enterprise. But whatever happened to Dominic DeBenedictis in 1931 will remain a mystery. We do, however know a piece of the story.

David Barton Taylor (1795-1873) was the younger brother of prominent Taylorsville businessman Mahlon K. Taylor. He built a house (today's Washington Crossing Vineyards) on the east side of Wrightstown Road, and a clover mill on the west side where he processed clover seed. The mill was never a success and was abandoned on Hough's Creek. Mary Snyder Taylor, in her tome about her ancestor's life in Upper Makefield and the surrounding areas, Annals of a Bucks County Family, says this about the mill (writing in 1940). 

As late as twenty years ago [1920] the mill was still standing and in 1928 when we attempted to take pictures of what remained, enough of the old walls and machinery were left to make a picturesque ruin. Now scarcely a vestige remains to mark the site although traces of the old dam may still be seen in the creek. 

DB Taylor's Mill on Hough's Creek

What happened to the mill between 1920 and 1940? There's no mention of it in the newspapers, but surely someone dismantled it. Who could it have been, and where did the materials go? We can again turn to Mary Snyder Taylor for some insight.

Upon a part of the tract near the road a large stone house has been erected, which has never been occupied. This house was built by Dominic DeBenedictis who intended it for a hotel. The funds for it's construction were furnished by George [L] Eastburn, a wealthy man to whom DeBenedictis had rendered a kindness. The interior of the house is now being changed into apartments, and the surrounding grounds are being graded and improved. The stones used for the house are said to have been from the old mill, who's last grist was ground many years ago. 

The Indian Queen

1058 Little Rd sits on an aptly-named lane near where Route 532 and Wrightstown Road intersect. It is a substantial squarish stone building, divided into multiple apartment units. According to tradition, it was known as the Indian Queen and was reportedly a speakeasy, though both accounts are unconfirmed. No good source exists calling it a speakeasy, nor is there anything in writing calling it the Indian Queen. It was likely built in 1931, and the demolition of the mill and  its subsequent re-use would've been reported in the newspaper. As far as we know, the Indian Queen is the only building that Dominic DeBenedictis ever built in Upper Makefield, or anywhere else for that matter. 

Very near the Indian Queen sits a house that was known as the "Widow's Curse Place". The house was built by Benjamin Taylor for his daughter, who had life rights to the property. Her husband had drowned in Hough's Creek and she and her 7 children lived in the modest home until David Barton Taylor urged her to sell it so he could use it as a miller's house for the nearby mill. Allegedly she uttered Barton, the Widow's curse will always be upon this property and thee will never succeed with thy mill. The mill did fail, as did the intended hotel that Dominic built with it's ruins. Nothing good happened to him after he demolished the mill. Perhaps the curse, trapped in stone, got to him as well. 

Dominic's name appeared at least 7 times in the 1930 Enterprise, and 10 times in 1932. We can presume that his real estate transactions and life happenings would've been reported just as much in 1931.  Events in 1932 suggest that whatever happened to Dominic in 1931 wasn't good. 

Avis Peterson

We pick up the story in the Enterprise in May 1932 when Dominic was in what the papers called an amusing bout in court with his still-wife Avis. Dominic had deserted his second family around 1931 and was living with another woman somewhere in Upper Makefield, presumably at one of his farms. Avis came down from Philadelphia looking for money for the children's shoes and food. The meeting became acrimonious and the other woman, who was afforded fancy footwear of her own, was slapped across the face by Avis. Dominic replied in kind, and Avis kicked him in the shins. The money was handed over and they parted ways. In court, he called her the daughter of the devil and said she came looking for "dramatics" and I gave it to her. He expressed that he felt he got the worst of it, hiking up his pants to show his wounds. Everybody got a laugh out of the situation except Dominic. True he was acquitted but he was required to pay the costs of the entertainment. 

Dominic's pattern of marrying and starting a family, only to desert them doesn't paint the picture of the most honest man in the township. Perhaps Albert Slack was right about him when he first got to town. Karma was about to catch up to the man, as the 1932 papers are filled with sheriff's sales of his once large landholdings. First we see the Creamery Farm being seized, followed by other tracts he owned, some as small as an acre. Besides the assault on his wife there isn't one story about Dominic, just sheriff's sales, in both the Enterprise and the Doylestown Intelligencer. 

Creamery Farm Sheriff's Sale

What happened to Dominic DeBenedictis that led to him losing all of the property he acquired? We could assume that building the Indian Queen for a hotel in 1931 might have hurt him financially, but Mary Snyder Taylor says that it was funded by George L. Eastburn. She's not always the most reliable source, but that's oddly specific. Eastburn was a prominent man, owning the pumpkin farm in Pineville, among others. Apparently, their friendship wasn't enough to keep DeBenedictis in Upper Makefield.

We may never know exactly what led to the loss of his properties. Dominic lived in the township for a brief period one hundred years ago and the only mark he left was the Indian Queen. People remember it being called that, but Dominic's name had been lost to history. Someone out there knows more information and it will come to light one day with further research. No map of the township at the time exists, 1940 is the closest we get. Had one been drafted, his name surely would've been featured prominently next to the families who had lived on the land for generations. 

There is a fairly good tree for Dominic DeBenedictis online, the source of the images of him and Avis, though it isn't perfect. There is no record of Dominic's birth, death or immigration. Census records and newspapers articles brought his story to light. The trail stops in 1932, both in the papers and genealogically. He is not in the 1940 census, so he either died, or perhaps moved abroad, once again fleeing his family obligations. 

Searching for Dominic DeBenedictis was uniquely easy, despite the few variations of his first and last name. This is because there was nobody else named Dominic being written about in the Newtown Enterprise during this period, except for Dominick Kay and a few random out-of-towners who made the news. Since I also research Kay, this was fun. 

Whatever ultimately happened to him, we have a man who for a brief time entered a foreign space and planted his colors. He had ambition and drive, and wasn't afraid to blaze a new trail for himself. He also left us the Indian Queen, which will outlive us all, cursed or not.