USA > Delaware > Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. I > Part 1
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Gc 975.1 B52 v.1 2052102
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02254 2200
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
http://www.archive.org/details/biographicalgene01runk
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL
HISTORY
1
OF THE
STATE OF DELAWARE
CONTAINING
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS, AND MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.
ILLUSTRATED.
1.1 VOL. I. 1899.
Sc 975.1 B52 v. /
PUBLISHERS: J. M. RUNK & CO., CHAMBERSBURG, PA.
7
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PREFACE.
"It is wise for us to recur to the history of our ancestors. Those who are regardless of their an- cestors, and of their posterity, who do not look upon themselves as a link connecting the past with the future, in the transmission of life from their ances- tors to their posterity, do not perform their duty to the world. To be faithful to ourselves we must keep both our ancestors and their posterity within reach and grasp of our thoughts and affections ; living in the memory and retrospect of the past, and hoping with affection and care for those who are to come after us. We are true to ourselves only when we act with becoming pride for the blood we inherit, and which we are to transmit to those who shall fill our places."-Daniel Webster.
2052102
A work such as the one we are now pleased to present to our many patrons, in which we have collected and placed in permanent form the annals of an interesting section of our country, has two sources of value. One of these is its historic utility as a memorial of the progress and development of the community, from the earliest period with which we could become acquainted through family records and traditions to the present day. The preser- vation of these data affords the means of illustrating and confirming or correcting and amending extant histories, and supplies material for the compilation of future ones. The second source of value is the personal interest attaching to the biographical and genealog- ical records composing the work, either as studies of life and character, or as memoirs of individuals connected with the reader as relatives or fellow-citizens.
On both these accounts, a collection of biographical and genealogical records is a use- ful contribution to current literature and a legacy to succeeding generations. Colonies of , various nationalities and creeds peopled the territory now comprising the State of Dela- ware; their descendants have taken an active part in national affairs, in war and in peace; and it will be strange indeed if their annals have not brought to view many scenes and re- vealed many facts well worthy being noted and remembered.
In the execution of this work no pains were spared to ensure the absolute truth upon which its value depends. The material comprising "The Story of Delaware" is from the pen of John F. Meginness, an author of large experience in this kind of literary lore; and the biographical and genealogical sketches of representative citizens now living, and those departed whose lives have conferred distinction upon their native places, were gath.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Story of Delaware, . . 9
The Struggle for Possession of "South River" and what came of it.
An Early Colony, 10
The Colonists Massacred,
11
De Vries,
11
A Question of Title,
12
Action of Gustavus Adolphus,
13
Dutch West India Company,
14
Sailing of the Swedish Colony, .
14
Landing at the Rock,
15
Rev. Dr. Cort's Memorial Address,
16
Arrival of Governor John Printz, 17
Friction Between Governors, 20
Fort Cassimer Captured,
21
Governor Stuyvesant, .
23
Fort Christina Taken,
24
Courtesy to Prisoners,
27
Cruel Treatment, 27
29
What the Indians Did,
30
Jaquet's Administration,
31
Governor Alrich,
32
Lord Baltimore's Claim,
33
Stuyvesant Becomes Tyrannical, .
34
Lieutenant Alexander Hinoyosa,
35
Troublous Times,
36
A Perilous Journey,
37
Advent of the English, 38
39
The Dutch Again,
40
The English Recapture the Country,
40
Arrival of William Penn,
41
Beginning of Delaware, . 42
Land Titles Again, .
45
Lord Baltimore Again, 46
New Castle Disappointed, 49
Boundary Dispute Renewed, 49
"Old Swedes' Church,"
50
Delaware To-day,
54
13
Peter Minuit Appears,
The Dutch Protest, . 16
Stuyvesant Sole Monarch, .
Sir Robert Carr,
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6
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
The Three Counties,
55
New Castle County, .
55
Kent County, . 58
Sussex County, . 59
"Our Delaware,"
63
Governors of Delaware,
64
Swedish Governors,
64
Dutch Governors, .
65
English Governors, .
66
Presidents of the State,
66
Caesar Rodney,
67
John Dickinson,
67
Governors Under Constitution of 1792,
68
Under the Amended Constitution,
70
Judiciary of Delaware, 73
Delaware Judiciary Classified, 81
85
Some of the Old Families,
88
William Shipley,
94
Hon. Caesar Rodney,
99
Warner Mifflin, 100
Gen. John Dagworthy, 105
106
The Ross Family,
110
Thomas Fenwick,
112
IIon. George Read,
113
The Bedfords, 114
Commodore Macdonough, 117
Governor John McKinly,
119
The Richardson Family,
121
Van Dyke, 130
Jasper Yeates, . 131
Captain Edward Roche, .
131
Governor Nathaniel Mitchell,
132
Governor Bennett,
137
The Adams Family,
139
Henry Latimer,
140
William McKennan,
140
Major John Patten, .
141
Governor Polk,
141
Dr. James Tilton,
142
The Anderson Family,
143
The Crow Family, 143
The Duff Family, 144
Rev. Joseph Barr, 145
The Alrichs Family, 140
Captain Learmonth, 148
Descendants of Dr. E. A. Smith, 148
Chancellors, .
The Ferris Family, .
٢١١٢٢٥١ ٢١٠١١٢٠٠٠١
7
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Samuel McClary, .
149
Duncan Beard,
. 150
Adolph Ulric Wertmuller,
153
Major Peter Jaquet, 154
Major Kirk wood, . 156
Allen McLane and The McLane Family,
. 156
Lydia Darragh of The Revolution, .
158
Barratt Genealogy,
. 159
The Barker Family,
. 163
The Comegys Family,
176
Biographical and Genealogical Sketches, beginning,
General Index in Second Volume.
SS
STORY OF DELAWARE
THE STRUGGLE FOR POSSESSION ON THE "SOUTH RIVER" AND WHAT CAME OF IT.
The story of the discovery of the Delaware (South) River, and of the struggle of the Swedes, Dutch and English for the possession of the settlements on its banks, ending in the final triumph of the English, is one of deep and thrilling interest, and runs back for more than two hundred and seventy-five years. To write an exhaustive history of the events, to describe the stirring incidents of this long period, and to give in detail all that is worthy of being recorded, would fill a large volume. In this introductory chapter, therefore, no at- tempt will be made to enter into a full history of the state-only the more striking points will be referred to.
To Capt. Henry Hudson belongs the credit of having first discovered this great river, which has long since been recognized as one of the important highways of commerce in the Western Hemisphere, and the entrance to one of the greatest commercial cities. It was on the 28th of August, 1609-two hundred and ninety years ago-that Hudson entered that broad expanse of waters since known as the Delaware Bay, in his little vessel of only eighty tons, called the Half Moon or Crescent. He sailed slowly up and passed into the river, which he followed for some distance. The shores, wooded to the water's edge, presented a strange scene to the bold navigator. The bay and river were then known to the Indians who dwelt in the solitudes of the forest as Mar-is-kit-ten, Pon-tax-at, or Chick-a-hock-ee, these names being used by the tribes or clans who inhabited the country on the different shores. What meaning these names conveyed we have no certain knowledge at this day.
Henry Hudson, the discoverer, was an Eng- lishman by birth, but at this time he was in the service of Holland. Returning from the
river and bay, he passed out upon the ocean, and making his way northward discovered the river to which he gave his name, the name by which it is still known. Not content with these discoveries, in 1610 he boldly struck out into unknown seas in search of a northwest passage. As a navigator he was bold and in- trepid. Each new discovery stimulated him to further effort; the desire to add to his achieve- ments was with him a consuming ambition. After beating about for ten months in high northern latitudes he found himself out of provisions. The situation was desperate; Hudson could no longer control the men un- der his command. Starvation and death stared them in the face, and self-preservation, the first law of nature, asserted itself with uncon- trollable force. The mutinous crew thrust their commander, with his son, John, into a frail boat, and set it adrift. They were never heard of again. Thus miserably perished the first navigator who entered what are now known as the Delaware bay and river. But though his end was sad, his name is per- petuated in a noble river, and in a bay farther to the north, so that it is not likely that his daring explorations will soon be forgotten.
It was not long before another gave his name to the bay and river the discovery of which should have been credited to the fear- less Henry Hudson. In 1611, Thomas West, Lord De-la-war, then governor of the colony of Virginia, while on a voyage to the West Indies, came, or was driven by adverse winds, into the bay; as he believed it to be a new discovery, the name Delaware was given to the bay and the river, and they will probably retain the same for all time.
Although it is generally accepted that ITudson, in 1609, was the first navigator to
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BIOGRAPHIICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA
enter and explore the Delaware River, careful investigators are of the opinion that small traders entered the river as early as 1598. They built rude cabins for shelter in the win- ter time, and it is possible that they con- structed temporary fortifications as a protec- tion against the aborigines. The object of these adventurers was to trade with the In- dians. But if this theory is correct, tradition has failed to point out where their temporary settlements were made.
AN EARLY COLONY.
Before 1620, however, there is scarcely a doubt that Dutch trading ships sailed up the river to traffic with the natives. And in 1621 the Dutch West India Company, we are in- formed, had agents stationed on the river with men and small stocks of goods for the purpose of trading in peltries. It is said that in their little craft they sailed up the small streams, in which the volume of water was greater than it is now, and that they carried on a consider- able business for those early times.
Color is given to this theory by the fact that as early as 1623 Capt. Cornelius Mey planted a small colony on the Delaware, which was called Nassau, near what is now known as Gloucester Point. But as it was on the New Jersey side of the river, it is not taken into account when discussing the early Dela- ware settlements. Judge Houston, in his con- tribution to the Delaware Historical Society on the boundaries of the State, expresses the belief that there were Dutch traders settled on the "Hoorn Kill," now Lewes Creek, as carly as 1622. When the bay was first discovered, there was a permanent Indian village near where Lewes now stands, and even now traces of where their fires were built are occasion- ally uncovered in the sand along the creek, with great piles of muscle shells.
The presence of Indians at this point no doubt became known to the Dutch adventurers in pursuit of traffic, and induced them to at- tempt the founding of a permanent settlement.
The success of this little settlement on the "Hoorn Kill" became known to a class of men in Holland who saw at once the feasi- bility of establishing there a larger and more profitable business. Of this class were De Vries, and a number of others of like intelli- gence and means in Amsterdam and other
cities in Holland, as early as 1629. They formed a private company to purchase all the salt marsh skirting the side of the bay from Cape Henlopen to Bombay Hook, in order to establish a whale fishery, and in connection with it, and as a part of the enterprise, to plant a Dutch colony on the "Hoorn Kill." De Vries, who had filled, with credit to himself, a post of some importance in the military ser- vice of the Netherlands, and had for some time resided in the West Indies, was selected to take charge of the enterprise as the Director General of the colony. Early in the spring of 1629, three ships were dispatched to Fort Amsterdam, now New York, to procure an or- der by which one of the vessels should convey from that place to the "Hoorn Kill" an agent of the company to complete the purchase of the salt marsh from the Indians of the village. The order was procured, and the ship arrived at its destination in the latter part of May; on the first day of June in that year the pur- chase was duly made, and the sale was after- wards acknowledged by a delegation of the Indians of the village before the director gen- eral and council of the New Netherlands in Fort Amsterdam, July 15, 1630. The com- pany also made a similar purchase on the New Jersey side, that they might have entire con- trol of the river. The tract they purchased on the Delaware side was an almost continu- ous body of salt marsh, extending from Cape Ilenlopen to the mouth of the river, between forty and fifty miles in length, with a mean breadth back to the main land of from two to three miles.
There is some uncertainty as to the exact time when the colony was first planted on the "Hoorn Kill;" there is no doubt, however, that it was as early as the spring of 1631. De Vries himself, the director general, however, in the incidental allusion to the massacre of the colonists by the Indians, contained in his letter of indignant protest and remonstrance addressed some ten or twelve years after that event to Director General Kieft, of the New Netherlands, against the design he had formed of slaughtering the Indians in re- venge for the brutal outrage perpetrated by them on the Dutch settlers in that vicinity, speaks of it as having occurred in 1630. The passage in De Vries protest reads as follows: "Consider, sir, what good will it do? We know that we lost our settlement at the 'Hoorn Kill'
11
STATE OF DELAWARE
in 1630 by mere jangling with the Indians, when thirty-two of our men were murdered!"
De Vries came with the colony as director general, and was in command of the expedi- tion from its departure from the shores of Holland. His native place was the little city of Hoorn in that country, a seaport on the Zuyder Zee, and it is said that he conferred the name "Hoorn Kill" on the creek in honor of that city.
After passing the cape he entered the creek, which was deeper than it is now, and abound- ed with oysters and fish, and planted his col- ony. "Kill" is the Dutch word for creek, and wherever it follows a name it is clearly un- derstood as applying to a place situated on a stream of water. From the terms "Hoorn Kill," "Hoorkill," came by corruption the name "Whorekill," which has been largely used by modern writers .*
Here De Vries erected a rude house and surrounded it with palisades as a greater pro- tection in time of danger, and named it Fort Oplandt. Some writers say that he gave the name of "Swanendale" to the settlement. After everything was arranged to his satisfac- tion, he placed Gillis Hossett, the commissary, in charge, and sailed away in pursuit of other business. The colony consisted of a small Christian community of European settlers, expressly formed and organized for colonizing that portion of the southern shores of the Delaware Bay. Not only was this done with all the regularity and method usual in such cases, but the arrival of the colony on these shores was preceded by a larger purchase of land from the natives for the purpose of a plantation, than had perhaps occurred before in the history of any of the English or Dutch settlements. Including De Vries, the colony must have numbered on its landing at least thirty-three men, to say nothing of women and children.
A body of land was selected and cleared, and the work of cultivating it commenced. The name "Swandale" is said to have been suggested by the large number of swans that
were found disporting in the creek, or "kill." Before his departure De Vries had gained the esteem and respect of the natives, and rela- tions of entire concord and amity subsisted be- tween them and the colonists.
THE COLONISTS MASSACRED.
Tradition says that soon after the departure of De Vries, the colonists set up on a post the coat-of-arms of Holland, made out of brass. The shining metal attracted the attention of an Indian, who desired to possess it for the purpose of making ornaments. On being re- fused, his cupidity got the better of his judg- ment, and stealthily approaching the place at night, he carried away the coat-of-arms. When it was missed, there was much indignation in the settlement, and the theft being strongly suspected, a peremptory demand was made on the chief for the delivery of the culprit to the colonists for punishment. The tradition runs that he was given up, tried and executed, for the offense was regarded as a criminal one.
This summary proceeding entirely changed the feelings of the Indians towards the strangers on their shores, and their savage ire being aroused they resolved on vengeance. Seeking an opportunity when the men were at work in the field, they pounced on the fort, which was left in charge of two or three in- firm persons, and killed them. Then having secured the arms and implements of defense they assailed those at work in the field, and speedily dispatched them. In this way the settlement was entirely wiped out. The bodies of the slain were left where they fell, to be de- voured by wild beasts. When De Vries re turned the next year he found their bones scattered about the field where they had been slain. Moved with deep pity by the sad spee- tacle, De Vries and his followers set to work to gather up the bones of the slain and give them Christian burial. A trench was dug in which the fragments of the unfortunates were placed and then carefully covered with earth, when the burial party returned to their ships and sailed away.
More than two and a half centuries rolled away, and the circumstance of the ernel mas- saere had passed from the memory of man. It was one of the forgotten incidents of the early efforts of a band of adventurous pioneers to found a settlement in the New World; his-
* Several writers, more careless than correct, have said that the place took its name from the bad character of the Indian women found dwelling there. This assertion is entirely erroneous. The name is derived as stated above, from the Dutch. It was not applied in its modern form until after the arrival of William Penn, and was used to designate ty.
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BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA
torians had ceased to notice it, and the facts of the tragedy were no longer recalled. But dam in 1635. time, which reveals all things, came to the rescue. A few years ago, when excavations · were being made for the construction of a rail- road, the workmen laid bare the place of sepul- ture of the bones of the early colonists. Many of them were in a good state of preservation, but the smaller bones crumbled on being ex- posed to the atmosphere. The skulls and thigh bones were intact. Dr. D. L. Mustard, an old physician and resident of Lewes, ex- amined these fragmentary remains, and had no hesitancy in pronouncing them of Anglo- Saxon origin. This was regarded as conclu- sive evidence that they belonged to the De Vries colonists. After this careful examina- tion, in which others participated with Dr. Mustard, the bones were carefully collected and reinterred, where they will probably be undisturbed until they have crumbled into dust.
Thus perished the first men and women who attempted to found a settlement on the Dela- ware Bay, within what are now the contines of the State of Delaware. Their place of sepulture is within a few hundred yards of the present borough of Lewes, on the "Hoorn Kill." With the extinction of the settlers the name of their place, Swandale, passed out of existence, and in the course of years a town called Lewes grew up almost on the site where the first settlement was made. It is supposed to have been named for Lewes, in Sussex county, England. The "Hoorn Kill," now known as Lewes Creek, sluggishly meanders by the town and through the marshy mead- ows to the bay. The fact that the change of names took place after William Penn became the proprietary, leads to the belief that the present titles are of English origin.
The project of whale fishing on what is now known as Lewes beach, was soon after aban- doned by De Vries and his partners, because they found it more expensive than profitable. The destruction of his colony also operated against the success of the enterprise. De Vries soon after took up his residence at New Am- sterdam (New York), and engaged in found- ing Dutch settlements on the North River. He, however, retained his interest in the lands purchased at the "Hoorn Kill" and on the shores of the bay, until the sale of the same
by the copartnership to the City of Amster-
A QUESTION OF TITLE.
This land transaction of the De Vries com- pany, and the attempts to found a colony at "Hoorn Kill," form the basis of a historical event of great importance. Judge Houston says:
"It was the sole fact on which the question - of title to the three lower counties on the Dela- ware, now constituting the State, between Lord Baltimore and the Dutch of the New Netherlands in the first instance, and subse- quently between his lordship and William Penn, originally and finally depended for its solution during a period of just one hundred years thereafter, or up to the year 1732, the date of the first agreement entered into be- tween their respective heirs-at-law for the ami- cable settlement of it by mutual compact be- tween the conflicting claimants. For, with the exception of that settlement, and with all the lights and information which the most patient and most thorough historical research and examination has in the meantime shed upon the subject, I am constrained to say that there is no good reason for believing that there was a solitary Christian, or child of civiliza- tion, within the limits of what now consti- tutes the State of Delaware, or anywhere west of the Delaware River, on the 20th day of June, 1632, nor until nearly six years after that date."
It is not necessary in this connection to ex- plain in detail the facts relating to Lord Bal- timore's grant, but we will pass on to the his- tory of the settlements on the Delaware. In the first place, it is only necessary to note that the first civilized settlement within the limits of Delaware, and the first similar settlement within the limits of Maryland prior to the date of Lord Baltimore's patent, were almost simul- taneously made by different European races and under different European sovereignties. And while the subsequent contests between rival European races for the possession of Delaware territory were of higher historical grade and dignity than those recorded in the history of Maryland, yet so far as the epochs or eras-if they deserve such an appellation-of each are concerned, thev
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13
STATE OF DELAWARE
were almost as simultaneous, although during the greater part of that period the settlers on the Delaware and those on the Chesapeake, within the limits of Maryland, had no intercourse, or even acquaintance with each other. De Vries, however, was fully informed of the English claim by the Governor of Virginia on his visit from the "Hoorn Kill" to Jamestown in the summer of 1632, and the Swedes learned of it in like manner when their first expedition touched at Jamestown in 1638.
ACTION OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.
The Dutch West India Company had been incorporated by the States-General of the United Netherlands as early as 1621, for the purpose of colonizing the Dutch possessions in this country and promoting trade and com- merce in all the regions of the New Nether- lands, as those possessions were then for the first time formally denominated. But it had so long neglected to make any settlement, or to take actual possession of any part of the coun- try on the western side of the Delaware above the mouth of the river, that finally one of the original promoters and most active members of the company, who had become dissatisfied with the management of its affairs, made an effort to find some other power in Europe to undertake the enterprise. It was such a motive that prompted one William Unclinex, of the city of Am- sterdam, to repair in 1624 to the court of · the young and able sovereign of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus, and to submit to him a plan for the formation of a Swedish West India Company, for the express purpose of colonizing the neglected regions on the Dela- ware. It did not require much persuasion to induce Gustavus to embrace the proposition, and he soon fell in with the scheme of the wily Dutchman and shrewd ex-member of the Dutch West India Company.
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