Re: Origin of the name Polly Branch.

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In order to track the name back in time,please record below, in date sequence, citations for the map or document that mentions the name Polly Branch,including the exact name by which it is cited.

Message from Eliz. Wolpert:
In Dorothy Pepper's book, Folklore of Sussex County: (Sussex County Bicentennial
Committee, 1976) Dorothy retells a story from her girlhood in the early 1900's
that parents in the area used to frighten their children into behaving well. A
local character, Rick Showell, "Uncle Rink to all, lived in Polly's Branch and
could be seen going to town with his old white horse and carriage. He always
carried a burlap sack for groceries, but everyone knew it was for children. He
would often stop and shake the brown burlap bag at us, and if we saw him coming,
we would run and hide." Pepper goes on to quote the parent's admonition, "You
better be good or Uncle Rink Showell will put you in his bag and leave you in
Polly's Branch." As they grew older, the children talked to Uncle Rink and
learned that he wouldn't hurt anyone. "He told us that the St Martin's River
started at Polly's Branch ... and that moans and weird sounds could often be
heard there at night, especially near the walnut trees where Aunt Polly lived."
Finally Pepper describes the main road from Selbyville to Roxana in the middle
of the woods and over a wooden bridge across the branch, where horses often got
so frightened that their owners had to lead them across.

Comment from Jason Hudson: 
I love those little gems of folk lore. I guess we are still guessing who "Aunt
Polly" was. One possibility; I have good reason to place my 
gr.gr.gr.gr.grandfather Benjamin Hudson as living in the Jay Patch slightly 
east, between Selbyville & Frankford, which is at the head of Polly Branch.
In fact, one related deed I have refers to a "Benjamin Hudson Branch".
I have found no such tributary on any of today's maps, but... his widow of 1840
was a Polly. It makes me wonder.