Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 64

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

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At the close of the struggle, he was among those who felt that animosity should entirely close.

In 1868, he was active in promoting the elcetion of General Grant to the presidency, and afterward received from him the appoint- ment of consul-general of the United States for France and Algeria, to reside in Paris. He also acted as consul-general of Germany dur- ing the Franco-German war. A historical au- thority, Vaporeau, says: "Upon the decla- ration of the Franco-Prussian war, General Read was charged with the interests of Ger- man subjects in France, and employed him- self usefully during nearly two years in pre- venting the possibility of a renewal of the conflict;" and Gambetta declared that while General Read was shut up in Paris during the two sieges, he employed himself actively in relieving the distress of the French popula- tion. Ilis kindness to the French was also warmly acknowledgeed by the Parisian press of all parties. His unremitting efforts in be- half of his own countrymen were universally recognized in the American press, and his at- tention to persons of other nationalities were warmly praised by the principal organs of the English press. For these various services he received the commendation of the President of the United States, General Grant, in his message to Congress on the 4th of December, 1871.

He also received the repeated thanks both of the French and German governments and the official and personal thanks of Prince Bis- marek. The Emperor himself desired to con- fer upon him an order of knighthood, and to present to him a rare and costly service of Drez- den china. The joint resolution sent to Con- gress for the purpose of allowing the diplo- matie and consular representatives in France to receive these marks of esteem from the Ein- peror of Germany having failed, the Emper- or's intentions could not be carried out. Four years after General Read had ceased to act as consul-general for Germany, Prince Bis- marek sent him his likeness with a compli- mentary autograph dedication. On a later occasion, the German government again took occasion to show its appreciation of General Read's services by directing its representa- tives at Athens to give the American represen- tatives there the precedence. In France, his

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popularity was great, and in 1872 he was in- vited by General de Cissey, French Minister of War, to form and preside over a commi -- sion to examine into the expediency of ex- tending the study of the English language in the French army; and for his successful la- bors in this direction he again received the thanks of the French government. In recoy- nition of his various services, he was appointed on the 7th of November, 1873, United States Minster to Greece. During his mission there, which covered a period of six years, he re- ceived the thanks of his goverment for his ability and energy in securing the release of the American ship Armenia, and for his sue- cess in obtaining from the Greek goverment a revocation of the order prohibiting the sale . and cirenlation of the Bible in Greece. He also received the thanks of the Board of For- cign Missions of the Southern Presbyterian church and of the British and American For- eign Bible Societies. During the great finan- cial crisis in America in 1876-77, while study- ing at Athens the commercial situation, he became possessed of secret and valuable infor- mation from Russia and England, which con- vineed him that America could regain her national prosperity at a bound. Hle accord- ingly addressed a despatch to the secretary of state, pointing out that the Russo-Turkish War had closed every grain port in Russia except one, and that America could actually deliver wheat at that point at a less price than the Russians, owing to the latter's heavy duties and their want of facilities for hand- ling grain. He urged that a grain feet should be immediately despatched from New York in order to peaceably capture the European markets. General Read's suggestion was taken up, and the exports of breadstuffs and provisions from America rose within a twelve- month seventy three millions of dollars, this giving a grain supremacy upon which the sub- sequent prosperity of America was substan- tially based. General Read re-visited his na- tive country in 1874, and was received with the warmest demonstrations of welcome by all political parties.

In England he was the recipient of marked courtesy at the hands of the Queen and the leading members of the royal family. For his literary and scientific services he received the thanks of the state department of the I'nited

States, of the National Academy of Design, of the English East India Company, of the Russia Company, of the Society of Antiqua- ries of London, of the Archaeological Society of Greece, and of the French Academy. He took a deep interest in the foundation of the French Association for the Advancement of Science. He was president of the American Social Science Congress at Albany in 1868, vice-president of the British Social Science Congress at Plymouth in 1870, and an honorary member of a great number of learned societies. He had received the Thirty- second Degree in Masonry in America, and Greece conferred upon him the highest, namely, the Thirty-third. He made a series of rich collections of unpublished his- torical documents in each country which he visited. Among the more remarkable are those upon the Franco-German War, includ- ing the siege and the commune; upon modern and mediaeval Greece; upon the Colonial and Revolutionary War of America, and upon English history and antiquities. During a visit to Switzerland in 1879, he discovered a series of important unpublished letters from many of the most distinguished men in Europe of the eighteenth century, including Voltaire, Reseau, Gibbon, Frederick the Great, and Male-herbes. He is the author of many pub- lie addresses, official reports, learned papers, and an important historical inquiry concern- ing Henry Hudson, originally delivered in the form of the first anniversary discourse before the Historical Society of Delaware, and pub- lished at Albany in 1866, which received the highest commendation from the most eminent scholars in Europe and America. An abridged edition of this work was published at Edin- burg in 1882 by the Clarendon Historical So- ciety. In 1876 his letter upon the death of his friend, the eminent historian, Lord Stan- hope, was published in Athens in Greek and English.

General Road, as United States Minister, received the thanks of his government for his prompt and efficient protection of American persons and interests in the dangerous crisis in Greece in February, 1878. Shortly after- wards, the United States Congress having, from motives of economy, suppressed the ap- propriation for the Legation at Athens, Gen- eral Read, at the suggestion of the state de-

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partment, and at the earnest request of the King and the minister of foreign affairs of Greece, consented to.continue to act, and car- ried on the diplomatie representation at that court at his own expense until the 23d of Sep- tember 1879, when he resigned. On this oe- casion the Secretary of State addressed to him an official di-patch expressing the extreme regret of the United States government at his retirement.

The official organ of the prime minister of Greece expressed its opinion in the highest terms, saying: "The departure of General Read from Greece has called forth universal regrets. He has become one of the most re- markable authorities in all matters relating to the Eastern Question, and there is certainly no foreigner who understands as well as he the character and capabilities of the Greck race. We are certain that his eminent abilities will not fail Greece in the present juncture, when the territorial question is not yet solved. He is so well known throughout Europe, and counts among his friends so many influential persons in England, France and Germany, that his views cannot fail to have the most happy influence." As soon as he was freed from official ties, General Reed set to work with generous ardor to promote the interests of the struggling people who were then plead- ing their cause before Europe, bringing all the resources of his unrivaled acquaintance with Eastern affairs to bear in the highest quarters. Ile journeyed, at his own expense, from one important point to another, arguing and urg- ing the return to Greece of at least a portion of the ancient territories lying beyond her present borders. When the efforts of King George and his minister were crowned with success, the unselfish labors of General Read were not overlooked. The newly-appointed Greek minister to London was directed, while passing through Paris, to convey to him the thanks of his government; and the King, who shortly afterwards visited that metropolis, called upon him to express His Majesty's per- sonal thanks. In 1881, when the territories adjudged to Greece had been finally transfer- red, King George, in recognition of General Read's services since his resignation of the post of United States Minister, created him a Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer, the highest dignity in the gift

of the Greek goverment. For his many emi- nent services to his own country during the War of Secession, Goneral Read was named Honorary Companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion.

When the Historical Society of Delaware was organized in 1864, Chief Justice Read, of Pennsylvania, was chairman of the delegation from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; on the same occasion, his cousin, Mr. William Thompson Read, of New Castle, was chosen first vice-president. General John Meredith Read was invited to deliver the first anniver- sary address before the Society. For this and many other services General Read was elected an honorary member of the Society.

General Meredith Read married at Albany, New York, on the 7th of April, 1859, Del- phine Marie, daughter of Harmon Pumpelly, Esq., an eminent citizen of Albany, whose father, John Pumpelly, born in 1727, on the same day as the celebrated General Wolfe, served with distinction in the early Indian and French Wars, was present at the siege of Louisburg, was at the side of Wolfe when he fell, mortally wounded, on the heights of Abraham, in 1759, and assisted in closing that heroic commander's eyes. John Pumpelly was also an officer of merit during the war of the Revolution, and attained a great age, dying in his ninety-third year, in 1820. Mrs. Read was popular at Paris and at Athens. She gave proof of great courage and humanity, in the most trying moments of the Franco-German war. During the horrors of the siege of the Commune she remained in Paris with her hus- band and calmly faved the terrible dangers of that time.

The eller son of Gen. John Meredith and Delphine Marie (Pumpelly) Read, Major Harmon P. Read, was born at Albany, N. Y., July 30, 1860; educated at Paris and Athens, at a military school and at Trinity College, be- came a member of the Historical Societies of Pennsylvania and New York, a follow of the Royal Geographical Society, of London, and of the Geographical Society of Paris. He has been active and influential as a Republican; has served as inspector of rifle-practice, with the rank of major, in the New York State National Guard; an eminent Mason: John Meredith Read, Jr., second son of General John Meredith and Delphine Marie ( Pum-

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pelly) Read, was born at Albany, New York, June 27, 1869, is a member of the Historical Societies of Pennsylvania and New York.

Emily Meredith Read, elder daughter of General John Meredith and Delphine Marie (Pumpelly) Read, married at her father's resi- dence, Newport, Rhode Island, August 21, 1884, Francis Aquila Stout, Esq., of New York, son of the late A. G. Stout, Esq., and his wife Louise Morris, of Morrisiania, grand- daughter of the Hon. Louis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and grandniece of Hon. Gouverneur Morris, one of the framers of the Constitution, afterwards U. S. Minister to France.

Marie Delphine Meredith Read, second daughter of General John Meredith and Del- phine Marie (Pumpelly) Read, was born at Paris, during her father's residence there as consul-general and baptized in the American Episcopal church in that city.

THIE COCHRAN FAMILY .- About the vear 1570, John Cochran crossed over from Paisley, in Scotland, to the North of Ireland. He was a clansman of the powerful house of Dundonald, and of kin with its noble head. For several generations his descendants were born, tilled the land, married and died in the home of their adoption. Many were of the gentry, most were yeomen, but all led sober, upright, righteous lives, feared God and kept Ilis commandments. The family names were carefully perpetuated. James, the son of Jolm, was succeeded by John, who, in turn, was father of another James. Then came Robert, called "honest," to distinguish him from others of the same name. His sons were James, Stephen and David, and these latter crossed the sea and settled in Pennsylvania, where ummolested they might continue to wor- ship in the faith of their fathers.

James married his kinswoman, Isabella, the daughter of "deaf" Robert. Their children were Ann, Robert, James, John, Stephen, Jane and George. Ann married the Rev. John Roan, or Rohan, as it was indifferently spelled; Jane became the wife of Rev. Alexander Mitchell; Robert died, leaving a daughter Isabella; James died in April, 1768, preced- ed in his departure out of this world by his father, James, who died in the autumn of 1766.

James, Stephen and David Cochran settle.1 in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and laid out their farms near the rippling currents of Oc- torara. As appears from the records, James first resided in Sadsbury, in the same county and state. In 1742 he purchased one hundredl and thirty-five aeres additional in the same township, but it was not until the year 1745 that a large tract in Fallowfield, owned in common by the three brothers, was divided, and a patent was issued by John, Thomas and Richard Penn to James, for three contiguons lots, aggregating four hundred and thirty acres.

This tract lay to the south of Stephen's and David's shares. Through the northern por- tion, and near to the northwestern boundary, dividing it from the land of Stephen, ran the New Castle road, to-day called the Gap and Newport turnpike. There the little village of Cochranville, by its name perpetuates the tra- ditions of the elan, whose pibroch and whose slogan have long ceased to sound on Scottish hills. These facts may be found in an article contributed by Walter L. C. Biddle to the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biog- raphy, Vol. III., No. 3, 1879, pp. 241, 242, and also in Judge J. Smith Futhey's History of Chester County. One of the scions of the original Cochran stock settled in New Castle county, Delaware, near Summit Bridge, and had a son, James, who also lived there and had the following children, viz .: William, Fran- cis, Robert A., and James.

Robert A. Cochran was born November 11, 1805, on what is known as the Levels, about three miles southwest of Middletown, New Castle county, Delaware, on the farm now owned and occupied by Joseph Roberts. Soon after his birth, his father, James Cochran, who was born near Summit Bridge, New Castle county, bought and removed to a farm on Bo- hemia Manor, Cecil county, Maryland, near what is now Murphy's Mill, about five miles from Middletown. Up to about the time he was sixteen years of age, he worked hard on the farm for nine months in the year, and dur- ing a part of the winter months he attended a poor publie school in Middletown, many times walking the five miles each way morning and night.

When abont sixteen years old, he went to Turner's Creek, in Kent county, Md., as clerk in a store, where he stayed about two years,

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He then went on horseback to Alabama with an unele, who was a large cotton planter, to superintend for him a portion of his business. Being very frugal, he had saved a little money during this time, and when about twenty years of age he paid his own tuition at a seminary for about a year, shortly after which he enlisted in General Scott's army to fight the Indians in Florida, in what is known as the Seminole War. He stayed until the war was over, and thrilling indeed it was to hear him relate the many hair-breadth escapes he made from the savages and from the dreadful fevers that prevailed in the swamps of that wild re- gion around Tampa Bay and the Everglades. After the war he spent several years more in different parts of the South, chiefly in Ala- bama and Georgia, during which time he man- aged to save a few thousand dollars. Mean- while he made several trips to his old home in Maryland on horseback, and finally conchid- ed to leave the South and settle permanently near his old home. On his way back he stopped to rest at Joppa Cross-Roads, in Har- ford county, Md., which lies immediately on the turnpike then known as the Philadelphia and Baltimore turnpike and stage-route, and where now stands a station on the new Balti- more and Philadelphia Railroad, called Foppa. Sojourning with his friends and relatives, Jolin Ronse and family, he there and then first met the bright and beautiful girl, Mary L. Rouse, then seventeen years of age, whom he married, in little more than a year from that time. Sarah Rouse, the mother of Mary L., whose maiden-name was Sarah Cochran, had removed from Delaware to Harford county some years before, and was a relative of Robert A. Cochran, and closely connected with the numerous Cochran family of Baltimore City and Harford county, Md.

The marriage took place at Joppa, Septem- ler 21, 1537. The bride and groom went soon after to Middletown, Del., and spent the following winter with ex-Governor Jolm P. and R. T. Cochran. In the spring following they took board at the Middletown Hotel, and Mr. Cochran engaged in the lumber lasiness. In about a year afterwards he bought the ho- tel and about -eventy acres of land, living con- tignous thereto, on which a good part of the town now stands.

In 1844 he bought, on the levels near Mid-

dletown, a farm, lying adjacent to the one on which he was born, which he proceeded vigor- ously to improve. In 1549 he built upon it a large brick house and commodious ont- Imildings, removed thereto in the summer of 1850, and by his untiring industry and good management in a few years converted it from a barren common to a rich and fertile farm.

In 1861 Mr. Cochran was elected on the Democratie ticket to the State Legislature, and served through the regular term. Ile also served in the extra session of 1862. Be- fore the war he had acted with the oldl Whig party., In 1866 he left the farm, went again to Middletown, devoted himself to building up the town and managing his seven farms, all of which he had, by his industry, economy and good management, succeeded in buying and paying for in a few years entirely by his own exertion and unaided by any one to the extent of five hundred dollars. He had often been heard to say that when he started South he had just ten cents in his pocket, and he never received a cent from his father's small estate.

There never lived a more industrious and economical and honest man than Robert 1. Cochran. Many people say that the town of Middletown would never have been what it is to-day had it not been for him, and the many buildings he erected there stand as mon- ments to commemorate his enterprise, quite as signifieent as the granite shaft that marks his tomb in the Forest Hill Presbyterian Church Cemetery.

He died November 2, 1582, being within nine days of seventy-seven years of age. His wife had died January 24, 1877. He left an estate valued at two hundred thousand dollars. The children born to Robert A. and Mary I .. Cochran were as follows: Edwin R., married to Ada C., daughter of Charles Beasten, of Odessa, Del .: two sons bore the name of Wil- liam II. Cochran, the first was born June 16, 1840, the second August 20, 1841, both do- ceased; James F., born August 22, 1943; Sa- rah O., born May 17, 1815; R. Alvin, born February 21. 1849; Christopher C., born April 27, 1551: Mary L., born April 17. 1858: Florence E., born March 30, 1861 ; and Amanda S., born April 16, 1555; all, with the exception of R. Alvin, died before their father. Frances E .. born May 10, 1817, was married

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to William A. Comegys, a relative of Chief Justice Comegys. Josephine R., born No- vember 30, 1857, married Frank Conrey, of Chesapeake City.

Mr. Cochran was an adherent and one of the founders, and from its foundation until his death one of the trustees of the Forest Pre-by- terian Church at Middletown.

JONATHAN JENKINS, a former presi- dent of the Farmers' Bank of Dover, was born in Camden, Delaware, January 20, 1783, son of Jabez and Patience Jenkins, of that place.

Jonathan Jenkins was educated in Smyrna, at a very excellent school of the Society of Friends, and at Westtown, another Friends' school, in Chester county, Pa., which ranks high as an educational establishment. He married in early life Ruth B. Emerson. of Frederica, Delaware, a young lady of wealth and beauty. She was well educated at Smyrna, Chestertown and Westtown.

Mr. Jenkins engaged actively in business in Camden, and was one of the most energetic and successful merchants of his day in the state of Delaware. Outside of his store he dealt largely in grain and the products of the forest, and owned and ran several vessels to the Brandywine Mills, Philadelphia and New York. The year 1816 was noted as the year in which frosts occurred during every month, almost entirely destroying the crops of corn. Hle bought largely of wheat and corn at low prices, and in 1817, when they both advanced to almost fabulous prices, he sold all he held to the Brandywine millers, when the market was at its highest point, and realized large profits from his speculation. Very soon after he sold, grain commenced to shrink in value, and many prominent men were either ruined or greatly embarrassed by holding their grain too long. Mr. Jenkins invested money largely in real estate, and devoted himself to its improvement as well as the limited fertiliz- ers at command in his day would permit.

In polities he was first a Federalist, and af- terwards an old line Whig, and was very prominent in local and public affairs. He was an admirer and fast friend of Hon. John M. Clayton. He declined public office, but inter- ested himself in the school of Camden, and educated at his own expense several of his relatives of small means, sending them to dis- tant schools of high standing.

A leading and consistent member of the So- ciety of Friends, Jonathan Jenkins carried out their doctrines in opposition to slavery at a time when it was ahnost unsafe for a man or a woman to venture any opinion against the trailie in human flesh. He never refused to assist a fugitive slave in his attempt to gain his freedom, and his house was for many years one of the stations of the "underground rail- road" of his day.

Mr. Jenkins was for a long time a director of the Farmers' Bank at Dover, and on the resignation of Henry M. Ridgely, was elected president of that institution. He died on the eleventh day of July, 1848, aged sixty-five years, five months and twenty-one days. He left two daughters. The elder, Ruthanna. married Doctor Isaac Jump: she died young. The second daughter, Virginia E., married Doctor Heury Ridgely of Dover.

ELI AND SAMUEL INILLES for many years conducted a boarding school for young ladies, which was an educational institution of high-standingand excellentreputation. Joshmia Maule, a very worthy member of the Society of Friends, had been conducting a school on King street for a few years. In 1809 Eli Hilles came to Wilmington from Chester county, Pa., and in association with him founded a boarding-school for young ladies, which at first occupied a large mansion erected by Matthew Crips in 1797. Under the intel- ligent and well-directed management of these two gentlemen the school was at once filled with pupils coming from the homes of the bet- ter class of people. It was not a sectarian school, and pupils from different religiou- de- nominations were admitted. Joshua Maule died a few years after the institution was es- tablished, and Samuel Hilles, who had op- ened a school for boys in an octagonal build- ing, near the present site of Central Presbyter- ian Church, discontinued it, and became asso- viated with his brother, Eli Hilles, in conduct- ing the boarding school for girls in the build- ing where it was first started.

The intimate friendship of these two broth- ers, and their superior qualifications as edu- cators gained for the school increased popular- ity. It was at a time when there were few schools in this country for young ladies, and when girls were not generally afforded the same educational advantages as the opposite

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Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 64

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