Thomas Lea & Son.

Flour millers of Wilmington, Del.

Thomas Lea was born in Chester County, Pa., on May 22, 1757, the grandson of John Lea, a Quaker emigrant to the Delaware Valley. Early in life he moved to Wilmington, Del., and engaged in the flour milling business with Joseph Tatnall, who in the 1760s had built large flour mills at the falls of the Brandywine. On January 21, 1785, Lea married Tatnall's oldest daughter, Sarah. The Brandywine Mills turned Wilmington into a major flour-milling center and were the primary factor in the growth of the town. They drew grain from as much as 100 miles into the interior and developed a thriving trade supplying the West Indies. During the Revolution, the mills were a vital supplier to the Continental Army. Thomas Lea died in 1824, and his son, William succeeded him in the business.