Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 63

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

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DESCENDANTS OF HON. GEORGE READ.

I. Hon. George Read, 2, born August 17, 1765, died September 3, 1836, married Octo- ber 30, 1786, his cousin on the maternal side,

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Mary, daughter of General William Thomp- son, of the Revolution, and his wife, Cath- erine ( Ross) Thompson. Hon. George Read, 2, was eminent as a jurist, and was for nearly thirty years U. S. District Attorney of the state of Delaware. Hle died in that state, at the family mansion and was buried at Eman- nel church.

i. Ilon. George Read, 3, of Delaware, eld- est soll of George Read, 2, of Delaware, was born in the Read mansion, at New Castle, Delaware, June 4, 1788, died November 1, 1837; married April 19, 1810, Louisa Ridge- ley Dorsey, whose family resided near Balti- more, Maryland, her father being Dr. Nathan Dorsey, a surgeon in the Revolutionary navy, who afterwards became an eminent physician in Philadelphia. After graduating at Prince- ton with honors, in 1806, George Read studied law with his father, and was called to the bar in Delaware. Distinguished as a lawyer, he was still more eminent as an advocate. He was remarkable for his conversational powers, fine taste and extensive and varied literary at- tainments. Frank, generous, benevolent, gentle and unassuming in manner, it was said of him that the general regard that his many admirable qualities attracted was only sur- passed by the warm attachment of his imme- diate friends. His father had occupied for many years the post of United States district attorney, and he also filled that office with ability during the administrations of three of of our Presidents. George Read, 3, died at the family mansion, in New Castle, Novem- her 1, 1837, on the eve of his nomination to the United States Senate. He had constantly refused the highest state and national offices.

ii. William Thompson Read, son of George Read, 2, of Delaware, was born in the Read mansion, at New Castle, August 22, 1792, and was baptized on the 16th of September following at Emanuel church. He graduated at Princeton in 1816, studied law with his father, and was called to the bar of Delaware. For some years he resided at Washington, and was at the head of one of the government departments. Later he became secretary of the legation of the United States to Buenos Avres, and a senator of Delaware. He was also Grand Master of Masons of Delaware, and one of the founders of the Historical So- ciety of Delaware. He was a man of great

culture, an ardent churchman, and highly re- spected in all relations through life. William T. Read was the author of a life of his grand- father, George Read, the signer. He died in his mansion at New Castle, January 27. 1878. William Thompson Read was married to Sally Latimer Thomas, who died before him. They had no children.

iii. Catherine Anne Read, daughter of George and Mary (Thompson ) Read, was born in 1794, in the Read mansion at New Castle, and died there in 1826; married, on the 18th of Anne, 1812, Dr. Allen MeLane, of Wil- mington, son of Colonel Allen MeLane, of the Revolutionary army, brother of the Hon. Lewis MeLane, secretary of state of the United States, and uncle of the Hon. Robert M. MeLane, United States Minister to France. Their daughter, Julia Read MeLane, born February 21, 1818, died November 21, 1SS0, married Dr. John Alexander Lockwood, born 1812, had issue, John Alexander, lieutenant U. S. A., born October 30, 1856, and Flor- ence, born April 26, 1853, married Captain Charles Alfred Booth, U. S. 1.

iv. Gunning Bedford Read, and v. Charles Henry Read, sons of George Read, 2, were lawyers of great promise. Both died unmar- ried.

Children of George Read, 3 .- George Read, 4, son of George and Louisa R. (Dorsey) Read, of Delaware, was born at New Castle, October 16, 1812; married, in 1844, Susan Chapman, of Virginia, and died in August, 1859, forty-seven years of age, at Rossmere, near Columbia, Arkansas. He showed early aptitude for business, and was trained in the counting house of an eminent firm in Balti- more. In company with his grandfather, George Read, 2, he purchased a cotton planta- tion of several thousand acres in Chicot conn- ty, Arkansas, on the borders of Louisiana, which he made one of the great representa- tive plantations of the South. He took an ac- tive part in the organization of a parish in his neighborhood, where his kindness and gener- osity made him the object of warm affection. He died in the communion of the Episcopal church, of which he was a prominent mem- her, like all of his family. He was charac- terized by sound judgment, foresight and energy. He was most fastidiously refined, a

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man of medium height, of handsome face and carriage.

George, 4, and Susan (Chapman) Read had eight children; nearly all died without issue during the lifetime of their father. Their chil- est son, George Read, 5, of Arkansas, was born at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, in February, 1847, and succeeded by will to the great plan- tation of Rossmere, which was much damaged by the l'nion army during the War of the Re- bellion. He married Susan Salmon, of Lynch- burg, Virginia. He is also a successful cot- ton-planter, and gentleman of great refine- ment and varied culture. His eldest. son, George Read, 6, of Rossmere, died in infancy. Other children were: Alice Read, born Feb- ruary 15, 1880, and Cleveland Read, born July 4, 1884.

William Thompson Read, son of George Read, 4, a prosperous planter, was born at Rossmere, October 7, 1857, married January 7, 1879, Miss J. Saunders, of Chicot county, and had children, William Thompson Read, born at Rossmere, April 2, 1880, and Earl Read, born July 15, 1883.

Marion Read, daughter of George and Susan (Chapman) Read, was born at Ross- mere, February 3, 1853; married, November 10, 1880, F. M. Carlton, Esq., of King and Queen county, Virginia, had children, George Read Carlton, born July 9, 1883, and Marian Read Carlton, born August 1, 1884.

William Read, first lieutenant of the United States army, son of Hon. George Read, 3, and his wife, Louisa R. (Dorsey) Read, was born April 24, 1823, at the family mansion, New Castle, Delaware, and was baptized April 4, 1524, at Emanuel church, New Castle, died in 1884. He was appointed from Delaware a cadet at West Point July 1, 1840; promoted to be second brevet lieutenant in the Sixth Infantry; served with distinction in the war with Mexico; was made second lieutenant of the Fifth Infantry in 1846, and first heuten- ant of the same regiment in 1847; re-igned July 21, 1850. He was Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy in the Ken- tucky Military Institute from 1851 to 1853; assistant examiner of patents at Washington from 1855 to 1861, and a planter in Mont- gomery county, Maryland, from 1801 until hi- death. Lieutenant William Read married M. E. Beale, granddaughter of Commodore Truxton, U. S. N.

J. Dorsey Read, third son of George Read, 3, and Louisa R. ( Dorsey) Read, born - died in 1855, without issue. He was a lieuten- ant in the U. S. Navy, a graduate of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. J. Dorsey Read married Maria Chapman, of Virginia.

Marian Murray Read, eldest daughter of George Read, 3, and Louisa R. ( Dorsey) Read, was born in 1811, baptized May 6, of that year, when three months old, at Emanuel church, New Castle. She married James G. Martin, of North Carolina, a graduate of West Point, afterwards a major-general in the Con- federate army. Their children were: 1. James Q. Martin, Esq., of Asheville, N. C., married Annie Davis; 2. Elizabeth Stark Murray, married William Bruce, Esq., of Nor- folk, Va .; 3. Annie Hollingsworth, died un- married; 4. Marian, married Samuel Tennent, Esq., planter, Asheville, N. C.

Louise Gertrude Read, second daughter of IIon. George Read, 3, and Louisa R. (Dorsey) Read, Forn - -, died in 1840, married Col. B. K. Pierce, U. S. A., brother of Pre-i- dent Pierre. She left no issue.

Annie Dorsey Read, third daughter of the IIon. George Read, 3, and Louisa Ridgely Dorsey, his wife, born at the family man-ion, New Castle, Delaware, was baptized on the 2d of August, 1818, then aged three weeks, at Emanuel church, New Castle. She mar- ried Major Isaac A. Keiter Reeves, of the United States army, who was born in New York, was appointed a cadet from New York to West Point in 1831, graduated in 1835, served with distinction in the Florida War, and attained the rank of major. He died lo- fore the Rebellion. Mrs. Annie D. (Read) . Reeves resides in one of the old Read man- sions at New Castle, Delaware. She has the following children: Keiter Reeves, only son, an engineer in the United States navy, who married Henrietta Young and has two chil- dren, Keiter Reeves and Marian Reeves; Marian Legere Reeves, a well-known author- ess, has written several novels; Annie Dorsey Reeves, married Hon. John II. Rodney, of New Castle, great-grand-nephew of Hon. Caesar Rodney, "the signer," has issue; Caro- line E. Reeves, married William S. Potter, Eng .. planter of Cecil county, M., has issue. Caroline Read, fourth daughter of Hon. George Read, 3, and Louisa R. ( Dorsey) Read, was born at the family mansion in New Cas-

JOHN HARTMANN.

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tle, baptized at Emanuel church, July 22, 1820, died September 26, 1884, at Blue Ridge Summit, Pa. She married March 31, 1840, Major-general William II. French, U. S. 1., graduate of West Point, distinguished during the war of the Rebellion. He was born Jan- uary 3, 1815, at Baltimore, Md., died May 20, 1881, at Washington, D. C., leaving issue: 1. Lieutenant-colonel Frank Sands French, born in 1841, died September 4, 1865, of wounds received in the battle of Antietam; entered the I'mion army in 1861, as second lieutenant, was promoted to captain and brevet lieutenant- colonel for gallant and meritorious conduct in the field; 2. William Henry, U. S. A., born July 17, 1844, married in 1879, to Emily Ott, has issue; 3. Lieutenant Frederick Halverren French, graduate of West Point, was second lieutenant U. S. A., first lieutenant in 1860, retired in June, 1885; 4. Lieutenant George Ross French, born July 8, 1837, graduated from Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Md., in 1880, midshipman, U. S. N., in 1882, en- sign 1884. ITe married, in 1885, Elizabeth Hollingsworth Findlay, born November 17, 1556, had issue; 5. Annie Read French, born May 24, 1853, at Tampa, Hillsborough conn- ty, Fla., while her father was stationed there; married, May 24, 1875, to Captain John M. Clem, of the United States army. He was horn at Newark, Lieking county, Ohio, in 1853, entered the United States army in 1862 as a drummer-boy, and distinguished hinself in the battle of Chickamauga, and Shiloh, and became famous as the "Drummer-boy of Chickamauga," and for his distinguished ser- vices and gallantry was appointed, when only ten years of age, a sergeant in the United States army; became second lieutenant in 1870, first lieutenant in 1874, and captain and assistant quartermaster in 1882. They have one son, John Clem; 6. Rosalie French, born June 4, 1861, at New Castle, Delaware, married Lieutenant J. Conklin, of the United States army.

Julia Rush Read, fifth daughter of the HIon. George Read, 3, of Delaware, and Louisa Ridgely Dorsey, his wife, was born at the family mansion, New Castle, Delaware. She married General Samuel Jones, of Vir- ginia, who graduated at West Point, and at- tained the rank of captain in the United States army. He became a major-general in the Con-

federate army, and commanded during the Rebellion the Departments of South Caro- lina, Georgia, Alabama and Florida; they have issue, Emily Read Jones.

Emily Read, sixth daughter of the Hon. George Read, 3, and Louisa Ridgely Dor-cy, his wife, was born at the family man-ion, New Castle, Delaware, where she still resides. She has contributed to the Encyclopaedia Brittan- nica, and has producted anonymously Life in New Sweden Two Hundred Years Ago. She is also the authoress, in conjunction with her niece, Miss Marian Reeves, of Old Martin Boscawen's Jest, and Pilot Fortune.

II. William Read, of Philadelphia, consul- general of the Kingdom of Naples, was the second son of George Read, the signer, of Delaware, and his wife, Gertrude (Ross) Read. He was born in the Read mansion, New Castle, Delaware, October 10, 1767, and died in his own mansion, at Philadelphia, Sep- tember 25, 1846. William Read was mar- ried, at Christ church, Philadelphia, on Sep- tember 22, 1796, by Bishop White, to Anne McCall, daughter of Archibald MeCall and Judith Kemble, his wife. Mrs. Read was born July 17, 1845. Mr. William Read, who re- moved to Philadelphia at an early age, was, for many years, consul-general of the King- dom of Naples, and represented several other foreign powers. He was a brother of George Read, 2, of New Castle, and of the Hon. John Read, of Philadelphia. He resided in an ancient and spacious mansion on Second street, then the most fashionable part of Phil- adelphia. The children of William and Anne (MeC'all) Read were: George; William Archibald, planter near New Orleans; John Read, Esq., of Philadelphia; Samuel McCall, planter near New Orleans; Mary, born June 16, 1799, died July 7, 1875, married in 1827 to Coleman Fisher, of Philadelphia, born 1793, died 1857, had issue, Coleman P. Fisher, engineer, died unmarried, William Read Fisher, Esq., of Philadelphia, Elizabeth Rhodes Fisher, wife of Eugene A. Livingston, of New York, died in 1877, leaving one son and two daughters, Sally West Fisher, and Mary Read Fisher. William Read'seldest son, George Read, of Pennsylvania, was born in Philadelphia, June 10, 1797, in the large man- sion on Second street, three doors above Spruce, on the west side. In accordance with

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the ancient family usage, he was taken to New Castle, Delaware, and christened Octo- Jer 29, 1797, in Emanuel church, of which his great-grandfather, the Rev. George Ross, was the first rector in 1703. Mr. Read re- sided nearly forty years in Spain, first going thither on the 10th of October, 1817. He was for a long time United States consul in that Kingdom.

The Hon. John Read, of Pennsylvania, an eminent lawyer, financier and philanthropist, and one of the leaders of the Federal party, was the fourth son of George Read, of Dela- ware, a signer of the Declaration of Inde- pendenec, and a framer and signer of the Con- stitution of the United States. The eldest son, John, named in honor of his grand- father, had died in infancy, and the fourth son received the same name, and consequently seemed to take the place of his elder brother. John Read was born in the Read mansion, New Castle, Delaware, July 17, 1769; he died at Trenton, New Jersey, on the 13th of July, 1854, in the eighty-sixth year of his age, and was buried in the Read vault, Christ church, Philadelphia. He graduated at Princeton in 1787, studied law with his father, was called to the bar and removed to Phila- delphia in 1789. In 1796, he married Martha Meredith, eldest daughter of General Samuel Meredith, member of the Continental Con- gress, first treasurer of the United States, and an intimate friend of General Washington. George Clymer, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a framer of the Con- stitution of the United States, was Mrs. Read's unele. Her mother was the daughter of Dr. Thomas Cadwalader, of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, and the sister of General John Cadwalader.

John Read was appointed by President John Adams, in 1797, Agent General of the United States under Jay's Treaty. He filled this important office with marked ability also under the administration of President Thomas Jefferson, and until its termination in 1809, and published a valuable volume entitled British Debts. He became city solicitor, a member of the Common and Supreme Coun- cils of Philadelphia, and took an active part in the defense of Delaware during the War of 1812. Ile was also a member of the Pennsyl- vania Legislature, and chairman of the Com-

mittee of Seventeen in 1816. Ile was senator from 1816 to 1817; was appointed by the leg- islative body State Director of the Philadel- phia Bank, and on the retirement of his wife's uncle, George Olymer, the signer, in 1-19, Lecame president of that bank, which office he held until 1841. He was also the president of many other important corporations. An active, wise and liberal churchman, he con- stantly figured in the national councils of the Episcopal church, and he was for many years rector's warden of Christ church, St. Peter's and St. James'. His humanity and philan- thropy were largely manifested during the ter- rible outbreak of yellow fever in Philadelphia, in 1793, when he contributed liberally from his purse and exposed his life throughout the entire course of that epidemie in behalf of his suffering fellow-citizens.

IIon. John Read had three sons, Chief Jus- tice John Meredith Read, of Pa .; Edward Read, who died in infancy, and Henry Mere- dith Read, M. A., M. D. The last-named was born at his father's mansion in Chestnut street, Philadelphia, October 31, 1802, gradu- ated at Princeton in 1820, and at the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1823. IIe was a man of brilliant promise, but died prematurely and unmarried on the 16th of March, 1828, in the twenty-sixth year of his age. Mr. Read's daughters were Mar- garet Meredith, born May 6, 1800, and died in 1802, and Margaret Meredith Read, born April 7, 1806, and died March 13, 1854. Mr. Read's children were all taken in infancy to New Castle to be christened at Emanuel church, in accordance with the ancient family usage.

The Hon. John Meredith Read, LL. D., "a great jurist and a wise statesman," son of the HIon. John and Martha ( Meredith) Read, of Pennsylvania, was born in the mansion of his grandfather, General Samuel Meredith, in Chestnut street, two doors above Fifth street, opposite Independence Hall, July 21, 1797; died in Philadelphia, November 29, 1874, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. Ile graduated at the University of Pennsyl- vania at the age of fifteen in 1812; was called to the bar in 1818; elected to the Pennsyl- vania Legislature in 1822 and again in 1823; afterwards became city solicitor and member of the Select Council, and drew up the first

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clear exposition of the finances of Philadel- phia. He was appointed United States district attorney of the eastern district of Pennsyl- vania, in 1837, and held that office eight years. He was also judge advocate on the Court of Enquiry on Commodore Elliot, solicitor- general of the Treasury Department, and at- torney general of Pennsylvania. AAlthough his family were eminent and powerful Fed- eralists, he early became a Democrat and was one of the founders of the Free Soil wing of that party. He was one of the earliest, most ardent and effective upholders of the annex- ation of Texas, and the building of railways to the Pacific. He powerfully assisted An- drew Jackson in his war against the United States Bank, and yet after its downfall, Mr. Nicholas Biddle came to him and begged him to be his counsel. In the celebrated trial of Castner Hanway, for treason, Judge Read was engaged with Thaddeus Stevens, and Judge Joseph J. Lewis, for the defendant, and made such a masterly argument, that Mr. Stevens said he could add nothing, for his colleague's speech had settled the law of treason in this country. This great triumph gave Judge Read an international reputation, and Eng- lish jurists paid the highest compliments to his genius and learning. He showed his re- pugnance for slavery in the Democratic con- vention held in Pittsburg, in 1849, where he offered a resolution against the extension of slavery, which concluded with these remarka- ble words: "Esteeming it a violation of states rights to carry it (slavery) beyond state limits, we deny the power of any citizen to extend the area of bondage beyond the pres- ent dimensions; nor do we consider it a part of the constitution that slavery should forever travel with the advancing column of our ter- ritorial progress."

Holding these strong views he naturally be- came one of the founders of the Republican party. ITis speech at the Chinese Mu- soum, in Philadelphia, at the beginning of the electoral campaign in 1856, upon the "power of Congress over slavery in the territories," struck a key-note which resounded throughout the country, and formed the text of the ora- torical efforts of the Republican party. It was under his lead that the Republican party gained its first victory in Pennsylvania, for he carried that state in the autumn of 1858,

as a candidate for judge of the Supreme Court, by nearly 30,000 majority. This brought him prominently forward as a candi- date for the Presidency of the United States, and Mr. Lincoln's friends proposed to nomi- nate Judge Read for President, with Mr. Lin- coln for Vice-President, an arrangement which was destroyed by the defeat of Judge Read's supporters in the Pennsylvania Repub- lican convention, in February, 1860. Never- theless Judge Read received a number of votes in the Chicago convention, although he had thrown his influence in favor of his friend, Mr. Lincoln. The decisions of Judge Read run through forty-one volumes of reports. In whatever branch of the law a question arose, he met and disposed of it with a like able grasp and learning. He was familiar with civil and criminal law, and their practice, with international and municipal laws, with law and equity, with the titles, limitations, and descents of real and personal estates, with wills, legacies, and intestacies, with the consti- tution, charters, and statutes of the United States, the states and all our cities. He was a man of most marked individuality, and was constantly engaged in originating useful meas- ures for the welfare of the general and state governments; his amendments formed an essential part of the constitution of Pennsyl- vania and New Jersey, and his ideas were formulated in many of the statutes of the United States which owed their existence to him.

Chief Justice Read was Grand Master of Masons of Pennsylvania. His great-grand- father, Dr. Cadwalader, was one of the found- ers of the order when that state was a prov- ince. The Read family have been among its most active and prominent members in Dela- warc.

IIon. John Meredith Read was first mar- ried, March 20, 1828, to Priscilla, daughter of Hon. J. Marshall, of Boston; she was born December 19, 1808, died in Philadelphia, April 18, 1841. There were six daughters, the issue of this marriage, all of whom died in infancy, except Emily Marshall Read, mar- ried, in 1849, to William Henry Hyde, Esq., and died in 1854, leaving an only daughter, Emma H. Hyde, who married George W. Wurts, Esq., First Secretary of Legation and

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Charge d'affaires of the United States, at Rome, and died at Rome without issue.

The only son of Chief Justice Read and his wife, Priscilla (Marshall) Read, was General John Meredith Read, late United States min- ister to Greece.

Chief Justice Read married secondly in 1865, Amelia, daughter of Edward Thom- son, Esq., and sister of Hon. John R. Thomp- son, United States senator from New Jersey, and of Admiral Edward Thomson of the United States navy. Mrs. Amelia Thomson Read survived her illustrious husband twelve years, and died September 14, 1886.

General John Meredith Read, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer of Greece, F. S. A., M. R. I. A., F. R. G. S., son of Chief Justice John M. and Priscilla (Mar- shall) Read, was born February 21, 1837, at his father's residence, Washington Square, Philadelphia, and received his education at a military school. Graduated at Brown Univer- sity, Master of Arts, 1859; at the Albany Law School, LL. B .; studied civil and international law in Europe; was called to the bar in Phila- delphia; and removed to Albany, New York. At the age of eighteen, he commanded a com- pany of national cadets, which afterwards fur- nished many commissioned officers to the United States army during the Rebellion. At the age of twenty, he was appointed aide-de- camp to the Governor of Rhode Island, with the rank of colonel. He engaged actively in the presidential campaign of 1856, and in 1860 organized the Wide-awake movement in New York which carried the state in favor of Mr. Lincoln for the presidency.

Having been offered shortly afterwards a · foreign appointment or the office of adjutant- general of the state of New York, he accept- ed the latter, with the rank of brigadier-gen- eral, at the age of twenty-three. In Febru- ary, 1861, he was chairman of the government commission which welcomed President Lin- coln at Buffalo, and escorted him by a special train to the capital. After the firing upon Fort Sumter, General Read was made chair- man of a committee appointed to draft a bill appropriating $3,000,000 for the purchase of arms and equipments. He received the thanks of the U. S. War Department for his energy and ability in organizing and equipping troops for the war, and in caring for the wounded.

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Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 63

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