Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 101

Author: Runk, J.M. & Co
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chambersburg, Pa.
Number of Pages: 1500

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from two brothers, who emigrated from Eng- land early in colonial times, and many of them have been prominent citizens of the state. They have also become very munerous in the west, especially in Ohio, and the city of Col- umbus.

James H. Postles grew up on the farm, at- tending school in the winter till he was eigh- teen, after which he taught six years with sue- coss. In 1851 he purchased the estate on which he settled, his wife having inherited a part.

James II. Postles was married in 1850 to Miss Margaret Lowber, daughter of Isaac and Sallie ( Williams) Davis, and they have had seven children: I. Albert; II. James Bell; III. Francis Edward; IV. Mary Davis; V. Sal- lie Williams; VI. Charles; VII. Annie Pos- tles.

JAMES THOMAS BIRD was born in St. George's hundred, April 1, 1796, and was the only child of Thomas and Mary (Thomas) Bird. Mrs. Bird was the daughter of James Thomas, a farmer of St. George's hundred and also a manufacturer of broadeloth and fine woolen goods. She died when her son was only two years old and her husband never again married. He lived till 1830, reaching his sixty-second year. He was a man of fine proportions and great physicial strength, which he preserved till near the time of his death. He was a farmer much in advance of his day in his ideas and methods of agricul- ture. He was a very generous and liberal man, too much so for his own interests; no ap- peal was ever made to him in vain. He was many years an elder and member of St. George's Presbyterian church.

The father of Thomas was William David Bird, a farmer and a brave soldier in the Rey- olutionary war, in the Delaware line. He kept a hotel for some years at Mount Pleas- ant, in which General Washington once spent a week with him, his army being in the neigh- borhood. Mr. William D. Bird was in the battle of Cooch's Bridge, the battle of Brandy- wine and other engagements.

Ile married in 1762, Aun Davis, who was born in Wales in 1731, and came to this coun- try with her family. They settled on the Welsh tract near Buck's tavern, now Summit

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Bridge. The tract patented by her father is now owned by Mr. Bird and has never been sold. It contains 220 acres. Mrs. Ann Bird saw it in its primitive state, with the bears, and different kinds of game native to the soil. She died in 1806; her husband in 1783.

Ilis father, the original emigrant from Eng- land, settled awhile in Delaware, but after- wards removed to the southern part of Vir- ginia, all his family accompanying him with the exception of this son, William David. The old Welsh tract estate constituted the home farm, and upon it Mr. James T. Bird spent his childhood and youth. He was a delicate child and in consequence school was attended but irregularly. At the age of eighteen he commenced farming on his own account.

At the age of thirty-five he removed to Newark, and in 1862 to Wilmington.

Three of his sons entered the United States army. He was in active service through the entire period of the war.

Mr. James Thomas Bird was first married in 1821, to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and Gracie Clark. They had seven Children: I. Thomas; II. Dr. James C .; III. Henry B .; IV. Susan; V. Louisa; VI. Col. Charles; VII. William. Mr. Bird lost his wife in 1840, and in 1841 married Miss Susan daughter of Levi Clark. By her he had one child, Levi Clark Bird.

WILLIAM BACON ADAMS was born in Philadelphia, November 21, 1841, the youngest child of John and Eleanor (King) Adams. John Adams, his father, who was born in 1800, and was a painter by trade, died in 1842 before this son was a year old. The widow thus left without means, succeeded by her own brave efforts in raising her little fam- ily of seven children carefully and in respecta- bility.

William B. Adams had but limited educa- tional advantages, attending the old public school at Twelfth and Wistar streets, and a pay school for a few months, but before his ninth birthday his school days closed and he was put at service as an errand-boy to assist in the com- mon support. At the age of sixteen he be- came an apprentice to learn the business of manufacturing trunks, at which he continued

until 1860, when he came, as a clerk, to Wil- mington.

In 1862 he enlisted as a private in the First Delaware battery under the command of C'ap- tain Benjamin Nields, serving bravely and faithfully the cause of his country on the field of honor for three years. Receiving an hon- orable discharge at the end of his term of ser- vice, he again took up his residence in Wil- mington, and in 1866 entered into partner- ship with his brother, Joseph K. Adams, in the dry goods and notion business, in which they were prosperous. William B. Adams was married in 1877 to Miss Sallie P., dangh- ter of Ilenry D. Bains, Esq., of Philadelphia.

HON. JOIIN WALES, lawyer of Wil- mington, and United States senator from Del- aware, was born at New Haven, Conn., July 31, 1783. Ile was descended from Nathaniel Wales who landed in Boston 1633, whose great grandson, Rev. John Wales, graduated at Harvard 1728, married a lady by the name of Leonard, great-granddaughter of James Leonard, who was the first iron manufacturer on the continent of America, at Raynham, Mass. Ilis son, Rev. Sammel Wales, D. D., professor in the theological school at New Haven, was father of Hon. John Wales. His mother, Catharine (Miles) Wales, was a good and wise woman to whose care he was early left by the death of his father, and until the end of his long life the son omitted no fitting opportunity of praising her virtues and hon- oring her memory. He was a graduate of Yale, of the class of 1801, and pursued his legal studies with his brother-in-law, Seth P. Staples.

With numerous letters of introduction he left home. The late Charles Chauncey, of Philadelphia, advised him to settle in that city, but he finally accepted the invitation of James M. Broom, and formed a law partner- ship with that gentleman in Wilmington, and in 1815, was, on motion of Nicholas Van Dyke, enrolled a member of the Delaware bar. This firm continued until 1819, when Mr. Broom removed to Philadelphia.

John Wales had by this time established an independent reputation and position which for thirty years rendered him familiar to the peo-

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ple and courts of the state, and the earlier Del- aware reports show how large was his prae- tice. His chancery business was very large, and his natural and acquired abilities fitted him for laborious professional duties. A gentleman of quick sensibilities and large sympathy, he made his client's case his own, and relaxed no effort till his cause was gained or success became hopeless.

Ile took great interest in the prosperity of his adopted home, and was prompt to gve as- sistance to all plans for the moral or material improvement of the city and state. He was one of the original promoters of Delaware Col- lege; the president of one of the oldest banks in Wilmington; a director in the first fire in- surance company of the state; he bore a lead- ing part in obtaining the city charter of Wil- mington, and also in the earliest steps taken to get a railroad connection between Baltimore and Philadelphia via Wilmington. He be- longed to the Whig school of politics, was an ardent admirer of Webster, Clay, and other chiefs of that now historic party, and took his full share on the hustings.

He was appointed secretary of state in 1845, and in 1849 was elected by the state legisla- ture to the United States senate to fill the un- expired term of Hon. J. M. Clayton, who had become a member of Gen. Taylor's cabinet. In 1851 the Democratic party obtained con- trol, and James A. Bayard succeeded him. Ilis being selected to fill this high position was a just tribute to his abilities, and the highest mark of respect for his character, as well as a recognition of services rendered his party.

Ile now virtually retired from the active practice of law but was deeply interested in the questions which grew more im- perions and absorbing, and which were hur- ring the nation into the vortex of civil war; and though advancing years forbade his enter- ing on the labors of a political canvass, he took care to have it known that he was hostile to every form of secession. When the war came he shared the deepest anxiety of the patriotic unionists, and was in sympathy with the policy and principles of the Republican party, nor did providence permit his eyes to close upon his country until the military successes of 1963 gave him assurances that his hopes for the na- tion's unity and success would be secured in the struggle.

Hon. John Wales had an attractive person, was of medium height, possessing an easy ad- dress and fine social qualities. He was popu- lar in the highest and best sense with the pub- lie, and the idol of his home, carrying into the evening shades of his life an unclouded intel- leet, and died giving evidence of the faith of a christian, and expressing his devout thank- fulness to God for unnumbered blessings. He died December 3, 1863 in his eighty-first year. Hle married June 12, 1820, Miss Ann, only daughter of Major John Patten, a grand- daughter of Rev. John Miller, of Kent county, a woman of superior qualities of mind and heart, whose death occurred November 10, 1843. Two sons and three daughters sur- vived their parents, viz: I. Leonard E .; II. Dr. John P .; IHI. Catharine B .; IV. Matilda C .; V. Josephine.

CHARLES ALBERT BLAIR was born in Lebanon, October 5, 1843. His father, Au- gustus G. Blair, was a farmer, and with his wife, Olive (Hitchcock) Blair, settled in Johnsonburg, Wyoming county, N. Y., in 1854.

John D. Blair, the father of Augustus, was a farmer, and removed to Madison county from Massachusetts. He died in 1867 at the age of eighty-six. He married Achsah Lindsay, who lived to about ninety years. The father of John D., was James Blair, also a farmer, who moved from Massachusetts to Mendon, N. Y., and lived to the great age of one hundred and four years. The ancestors of the family on both sides were among the early settlers of New England, and were from Scotland and England.

Charles A. Blair graduated from the Gen- esce and Wyoming seminary, after which he was a clerk and bookkeeper in Johonsonburg and Buffalo. In 1869 he became bookkeeper for the old American Basket Company at New Britain, Conn., remaining till 1874, when he came to Milford to take the general manago- ment of the basket factory at that place, but in the following January he withdrew from this position, and with Mr. Theron H. Camp, of New Britain, Conn., established an indu- try of their own. Of this business Mr. Blair has had the entire management, and has been remarkably successful, making for himself an

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excellent reputation as a business man and a lege, from which he graduated in 1872. In citizen.

Hle joined the Free Masons in 1565. In 1872 he united with the Congregational church in New Britain, and afterwards be- came a member of the Presbyterian church in Milford.

Charles A. Blair was married in 1865 to Miss Ellen E. Woodford, of New Britain. They had one child; Orlando R. Blair. In December, 1872, he had the misfortune to lose his wife. In March, 1875, he married Miss Adelia, daughter of Imly Viets, of New Bri- tain. They have three children: I. Cyrus Hart; II. Nevia Louisa; III. Nellie Adelia.

JAMES M. WINNER was born near Lin- den, Lycoming county, Pa .. September 11, 1848. Ilis father, James Winner, an ortho- dox Quaker, was a descendant of the Carpen- ter family, who, with the Winners, came from England.

Ile pursued the business of farming and lumbering till 1870, when he retired and set- tled in Williamsport, Pa. In his youth he al- so had a desire to prepare himself for the pro- fession of dentistry and was deterred from it only by the opposition of his parents.

Ile always had a passionate fondness for books and reading, and was conversant with all current events and matters pertaining to affairs of state. In early life he with his wife, Mary S. (Wheeler) Winner, became con- nected with the Methodist Episcopal church, of which they have always been consistent members. He also served for many years as stewart and superintendent of the Sunday school. Ilis son, James S., was educated in the common schools, the labors of the farm, however, interfering greatly with his regular attendance. He however had many thoughts of the future, early becoming impressed with the idea that he could accomplish much in life, and began to lay his plans accordingly. These once formed, he kept steadily in view and fol- lewed them out with great determination. He had been the architect of his own fortune, and is a truly self made man.

After the family removed to Williamsport he applied himself diligently to his books, and entered the Williamsport Commercial Col-

1878 he commenced the study of dentistry, and in 1876 graduated from the Philadelphia College of Dental Surgery. He first practiced his profession about five months in Philadel- phia, and in August, 1876, entered into part- nership with Dr. E. Shelp, of Wilmington, with whom he continued until January, 1879, when it was dissolved by mutual consent.

Dr. Winner, then, at the solicitation of his Philadelphia patrons, opened an office at 1402 North Thirteenth street in that city. Dr. Shelp, in the meantime, had become dissatis- fied and desired to remove to Wilkesbarre, Pa., and Dr. Winner, knowing that it was a good opening, bought his practice in Wilmington, to which place he returned March 25, 1874, still giving two days in each week to his Phil- adelphia office. He was cordially received by his many friends in Wilmington, and his practice increased so rapidly that he was soon compelled to close his Philadelphia office.

Ilis thorough knowledge of his profession, and his superior skill gained him a reputation that brought him patients from all parts of the state, and many of the most prominent fami- lies of the city brought him their friends from other states.

Dr. James M. Winner was married Oc- tober 28, 1879, to Miss Lizzie B. Keene, of Wilmington.

REED JENNINGS MCKAY, M. D., was born in St. Louis February 6, 1843. His father, Harrison B. MeKay, was a merchant. Hle was born in Kentucky and died in 1849. Ile married Sarah, daughter of Rev. Obadiah Jennings, a Presbyterian minister, in Steu- benville, Ohio, afterwards, and until his death pastor of the First Presbyterian church in Nashville, Tenn. Mr. Jennings married in Wilmington Ann Wilson, who resided in the family of Thomas Read, D. D., to whom she was related. Her birth place was Middletown in this state. The father of Mr. Jennings was also a clergyman of the same church at Brandenberg, N. J.

Dr. Mckay was brought up by his father's relatives in Missouri, and graduated B. A. from the Lincoln Academy in that state in 1861. In his nineteenth year he entered the army and served four years in the ranks in the

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First Missouri brigade. He was in seventeen pitched battles, was four times taken prisoner, and once escaped. October 4, 1862, he was shot through the left lung and laid up for six months, but was perfectly restored. The war having closed he matriculated at the Bellevue medical college, graduating M. D. in 1867. He practiced one year on Staten Island, and afterwards in New York city until August, 1877. The catalouge of the above college says: "MeKay, Read Jennings, A. M., 1867, New York city, 1872, attending surgeon But- reau of Med. and Surg. Relief for out-door poor, '69 to '71, and from 1872-77. Assist- ant surgeon, New York Eve and Ear Infir- mary from 1869 to '76. District Physician N. Western Dispensary 1869-71. Assistant. Demonstrator of Anatomy, sessions of '69 and '70, and '70 and '71, and assistant to the chair of Ophthalmology, Bel. Hos. Med. Col. 1872 to 1877.

While engaged as above he had, in addition. a considerable private practice. In 1871 and 1872 Dr. MeKay was in London and Paris pursuing his medical studies. He became a member of the American Opthalmologieal society, the American Otological society, the American Medical Association and the Del- aware State Medical Society.

It was as an eye and ear specialist that he established himself in Wilmington in 1877, where he was soon regarded as authority, bo- ing the only oenlist and aurist in the state at that time.

Dr. MeKay was married in 1873.

LEONARD EUGENE WALES, son of HIon. John and Ann (Patien) Wales, was born at Wilmington November 26, 1823. His school days were distributed among several academies, his preparation for college being completed at the Hopkins grammar school, New Haven, from which he entered the Freshman class at Yale. On his graduation, in 1845, he read law in his father's office, and in the spring of 1848 was admitted to the bar. Ile located in Wilmington and for two years was associated with the late John A. Allder- dice in editing the Delaware State Journal, then the organ of the Whig party of the state.

For several years he was clerk of the United States courts for the Delaware district, under the appointment of the late JJudge Willard Ilall. In July, 1853, he was elected city so- licitor of Wilmington, and was re-elected the following year. In April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Company E., First regiment of Delawere volunteers, organized under the call of Prisident Lincoln for 75,000 men to serve three months, and was chosen second lieuten- ant. The regiment was assigned to the not very arduous duty of guarding the line of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, south of the Susquehanna river, and was mustered out of service at the expiration of its term.

In May, 1863, he was appointed commiss- ioner of the board of enrollment for Delaware, whose duty it was to prepare for the drafts rendered necessary to fill the wasting ranks of the Union armies. This position, which, like its predecessors, came without solicitation on his part, involved the discharge of harrassing and unpopular duties. Decisions on claims of exemption from military service, and on the qualifications of substitutes offered for those who had been, or were liable to be drafted, could hardly fail of causing dissat- isfaction when they were adverse to the per- sons interested. While still a member of the board of enrollment, Governor Cannon ap- pointed him associate judge for New Castle county, that office having been made vacant by the resignation of Judge Milligan. Re- signing the commissionship he took the official oath and entered upon his judicial duties Oct. 1, 1864. After his appointment to the bench he abstained from all active and personal par- ticipation in political or party contests be- vond the exercise of the elective franchise. Judge Wales always took great interest in the historical society of Delaware, of which he was at one time president.

JAMES MCDONOUGH, the first Ameri- can ancestor of the family in Delaware, was born in County Kildare, Ireland early in the eighteenth century, and emigrated to America in his youth, settling in Delaware, at or near what's now MeDonough. His parents were

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Thomas and Jane (L'oyel) Mcdonough. He married in Delaware Lydia, daughter of Peter Laroux, by whom he had six children: 1. Dr. Thomas MeDonough, the major of Colonel Hlaslet's regiment, and father of the Com- modore; Il. Micale: III. James; IV. John; V. Patrick; VI. Mary.

Patrick married Sarah MeMun in 1874, and had nine children, viz: 1. Lydia; II. Mary; III. James; IV. Augustine; V. Eliza; VI. Hester; VII. Kitty; VIII. William: IX. Sally Ann. The name is also spelled Mac- donough.

STILLMAN A. HODGEMAN was born in Stoddard, N. H., April 18, 1831. His father, Stillman A., Sr., a shoemaker by trade, and a man of sterling character, died in 1835. He married Dorothy Joslin, whose father was an officer in the war of 1812.

Mr. Hodgeman's ancestors on both sides were among the early settlers of New Eng- land. They were intelligent and industrious, and became distinguished in public affairs and in the learned professions. S. A. Hodgeman was left an orphan at four years of age, and poor; his early 'advantages were few. Ile grew up on the farm, attending the public school only in winter, yet he was always in ad- vance of others of his age. At sixteen he spent a year at the high school in Lowell, Mass. After working two years in a woolen mill, and on cotton machinery in Middlesex and Manchester, he returned to Lowell and entered the works of the Lock and Canal Ma- chine Company, under a three years' appren- ticeship. After two years his employer, Mr. Colby, removing to Philadelphia, he com- pleted his apprenticeship at Waltham.

His first experience in railroad and locomo- tive work was in 1851 with Hinckley & Drury, Boston, and in 1851-3, he was with Hittinger & Cook, machine builder-, at Char- lestown. In 1854 Mr. David Upton, mechan- ical superintendent of the R. L. & N. F. Rail- road Company at Rochester solicited Mr. Hodgeman to take a responsible position in these works. Mr. Upton was a native of Stoddard, N. H., and well knew Mr. Hodge- man's antecedents and ability. He was one of the ablest railroad men of his day, and un- der his instruction Mr. Hodgeman learned the railroad business thoroughly.

After a year in the shops, he spent two years on the road as engineer, when, in 1857, he was made foreman of the repair shops which position he filled with great ability and ac- ceptance for several years. During that period a complete revolution took place in the construction of locomotives and railroad ma- chinery, yet Mr. Hodgeman kept fully abreast of the times and attained a wide reputation among the railroad men of the country. In 1864 the P. W. & B. Railroad Company sought his services and he became assistant su- perintendent of motive power under G. M. Perry. In the spring of 1872 he resigned to become general superintendent of the Wil- mington & Western Railroad, which, under his able management, was completed the fol- lowing October.

Stillman A. Hodgeman was married in 1859 to Miss Eliza II. Searles, of Cattaraugus county, N. Y., who died July 26, 1873, leav- ing two children: I. George P .; II. Adelaide Eliza. He was again married in April, 1875 to Annie L. Wheaton, of Delaware, and they had three children, two of whom survived: I. Florence; II. Stillman A., Jr.

HON. GEORGE RUSSELL was born Oc- tober 11, 1829, near Drawbridge. His father was Robert Russell, a ship carpenter and far- mer, of Broadkill hundred. He served in the war of 1812 under C'ol. S. B. Davis, and died March 12, 1859. He is buried on his farm known as "Manlove Russell" estate near Drawbridge. His mother was Sarah, daugh- ter of Curtis Shockley, who was the son of Richard Shockley, who owned and lived upon the land upon which the town of Lincoln is now built. Mr. Russell's grandfather was Manlove Russell, who lived and died upon the "Russell" farm and is buried at the landing upon what is known as the "Morris" farm.

George Russell was the eighth child and the seventh son of a family of nine. He was edu- cated at home by a teacher employed by his father who took great pride in the educational interest of his neighborhood. Just before be- coming of age he went to Philadelphia and learned the ship carpenter's trade, and con- tinued under instructions for one year, when he went to work as journeyman, and after- wards as sub-contractor in Philadelphia, New

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York and Boston. He continued to follow this business until 1857 when he returned to Delaware an L in partnership with his brother Wiliam, engaged in building vessels at Mil- ton upon Broadkill Creek. This partnership continued until the death of his brother, when in the autumn of 1864, he located upon a farm situated near the town of Milford.

In the spring of 1870 Mr. Russell began the coal and lumber business in the town of Mil- ford, which he made a success; he disposed of this business, purchased a waterfront in South Milford, and built extensive wharves, extend- ing 210 feet on the river front upon the south side of the stream. Here he continued the coal and wood business to which he added a line of packets trading between that port and Philadelphia. Mr. Russell became one of the largest shareholders in the Milford Gas Light Company which was organized in 1875, and the works were built upon the land supplied by him. Hle was one of the incorporators of the First National Bank of Milford, was one of the largest shareholders and a director.

In 1863 he was elected as state senator from Sussex county for four years, and assisted in the election of Thomas F. Bavard for his first term in the United States Senate.

Mr. Russell was united in marriage March 12, 1864 to Miss Mary S., daughter of John T. Conwell, of Sussex county.

WASHINGTON HASTINGS was born in New Castle county September 15, 1857. At the age of twelve years he became a resi- dent of the city of Wihnington and went to school at the old public school at Sixth and French streets, which at that time was the only one in the city.

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Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 101

Author: Runk, J.M. & Co Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Chambersburg, Pa. Number of Pages: 1500

Author: Runk, J.M. & Co
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chambersburg, Pa.
Number of Pages: 1500