Meet The Stokesbury’s and the history in Delaware
The Stokesbury house in 1910 with four generations of Stokesbury in this picture with a model S Ford in the drive way
Welcome to the Stokesbury’s Page and History in Delaware
Hello, My Name is William A. Stokesbury V, yep, that’s a mouth full. Actually, when they came to America, that started over again in the number of families. The brother that stopped in Smyrna, Delaware, was actually William A. Stokesbury the tenth, but he wanted to start fresh, so he was recorded as Sr. I am very proud to be part of this family. Although my family never made it rich and famous here in Delaware, I am proud that they are my four fathers.
Although growing up in the ‘70s’70s, I was never perfect and did not do my best to respect the name
They where always hard workers here in Delaware. they always worked to make life better for there families. I have thousands of images to go thru and share showing many places and town here in Delaware. Now the museum will have a Delaware history room but it will not be solely Stokesbury history. I have been in touch with several Delaware family’s that have been here for many generations and have agreed to share with me there history as well.
The Stokesbury story started in North Carolina when the two brothers got off the boat from England.
My Father William A Stokesbury IV worked hard toward the later years in his life to document and track his father history.
The one brother that came from England, William A. Stokesbury Sr., stopped in Smyrna, Delaware, and took up residence there. and our earliest record we have is a new paper article dated 1836, where he and other boat owners and captains. stood up against the state because they were in a dispute with many other boat captains of the time about the use of the Duck Creek River. Where the W. A Stokesbury’s was a boat captain. the boats in Delaware helped farmers in the state carry the produce to the marketplace in Wilmington, Delaware, and the Philadelphia docks. to sell for the farmers here in Delaware.
As time allows, I will be sharing this history with anyone who wants to learn about it.
What I Do Know
W.A.Stokesbury stopped in Smyrna, Delaware and took up residence somewhere in the early 1800s where it was a boat captain. At some point, he opened one of Smyrna’s first grocery stores on main st in Smyrna
In the 1890s after for years being a boat captain and when automobiles and trucks where being built, he decide in early 1900 hundred to purchase a fishing dock in Bowers Beach Delaware where instead of being a captian he learned to builds boats and take fishing party’s out to the bay to fish. This way he made more money then just being the captain. He eventually had built and had three boats where he paid other captains to run the fishing parties out to fish.
See the images of William A Stokesbury sr and jrs boats on the Stokesbury images page.
At some point when i can go thru all the boxes and boxes of images and documents i will show what i can and share with this site. we also have many many 8mm films from the 1940s and 50s that we hope to have put into digital format and share them. films that have never been seen out side of the family