USA > Delaware > Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II > Part 71
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Ile is of Irish descent. His grandfather was John Waldron. His father was born in Ireland and came to this country when nine- teen years old. His first home in this west- ern land was in Pottsville, Pa. His next was in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he established him-
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self in the undertaking business and soon de- veloped it to large proportions. After some years, he disposed of his interests in Cincin- nati, and returned to Pottsville, where he en- gaged in the same business that he had made successful in the West. Several years ago he retired from active participation in its man- agement and the establishment is now con- dueted by his son, Robert A. Waldron. Thomas Waldron is a Republican.
Rev. Father Waldron acquired his rudi- mentary education in the public schools of Cincinnati. Of a studious nature, he early manifested a desire to enter the priesthood, and with this object in view, exerted his en- ergy and talents to prepare himself for his great calling. He was graduated from the public schools when he was eighteen years old, and entered Villa Nova College, Phila- delphia, Pa., where he pursued his studies for four years. He afterwards became a student in St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, Md. On July 3, 1892, he was ordained to the priest- hood by Bishop Curtis, and was afterward as- signed as curate to St. Peter's Roman Cath- olie church in Wilmington, Del. After a short time he was appointed pastor of the church at Easton, Md., and remained there five years. On June 17, 1897, he was trans- ferred to his present charge, Holy Cross Ro- man Catholic church, Dover. In addition to his ministry there he is pastor of St. Poly- carp's church, Smyrna, Del., and of four mis- sion churches.
Father Waldron is a fluent speaker, is kind, amiable and charitable, and is beloved by people of all denominations. He is of athletic build, and is a firm advocate of athletic sports, when properly conducted. Politically he is a stanch Republican.
CHARLES ROMMELL, Wilmington, Del., was born in Reading, Pa., April 1, 1827. Was educated in the common schools of Reading, and spent eighteen months in the business college of that city. He learned the trade of machinist in the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad shops of Reading and was employed for four years by the Railroad Com- pany. He then went to the west and worked on different railroads in Indiana and Ken-
tucky. In 1881 he returned to the east and has since that year been in the employ of the Wihnington & Northern railroad. He is at present foreman of the shops of that road in Wilmington and is a valued employee. Mr. Rommell is a member of Lafayette Lodge, No. 14, F. & A. M .; St. John's Chapter, No. 4, R. A. M., of Wilmington, and Encamp- ment, No. 89, P. O. S. of 1., of Reading. In polities he is a Republican.
On December 21, 1882, in Coatesville, Pa., Charles Rommell was married to Ada, daugh- ter of James and Xenia Griffin, born in Coatesville. They have one child, Elizabeth L. born October 12, 1883. Mr. Rommell attends Olivet Presbyterian church, and is secretary of its board of trustees.
WILLIAM ROMMELL, Wilmington, Del., was born in Dayton, Ohio, June 15, 1848.
He was educated in the public schools of Dayton and afterward removed to Reading, Pa., where he learned the trade of machinist in the Philadelphia & Reading railroad shops. When he had acquired his trade he went to Erie, Pa., for a short time, and returning to Reading, obtained a position under the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company, which he re- tained for eighteen months. Then he re- moved to AAltoona, Pa., and secured work in the Pennsylvania railroad shops in that city. A year and a half later, Mr. Rommell re- turned again to Reading but almost imme- diately afterward went south, and found em- ployment in Augusta, Ga., with the Georgia Central Railroad. After spending a short time there, he went back to Reading, where he purchased an interest in the machine bus- iness conducted by an industrial corporation. Two years later he disposed of this interest, and worked at his trade in the Scott mills. In 1877 he came to Wilmington and was em- ployed as a machinist by the Wilmington & Northern Railroad Company, with which he has since been connected. Mr. Rommell is a member of Delaware Lodge, No. 7, Shieldl of Honor, and is a Republican.
On January 21, 1875, in Reading, Pa., William Rommell was married to Harriet, daughter of Daniel and Harriet Siedle, of
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Pennsylvania. Their children are: I. Min- nie Louisa; II. Gustavus D .; III. Harriet May; IV. William S. Mr. Rommell's fam- ily attends both the Baptist and Lutheran churches.
DR. CHARLES EDWARD FERRIS, son of Jacob and Susan (W'hann) Ferris, was born in Pencader hundred, New Castle county, December 23, 1820.
Dr. Ferris was educated at the New Lon- don and Newark Academies, and at Delaware College; attended lectures in the Medical De- partment of Yale College, and obtained his diploma from Jefferson College, Philadel- phia, in 1849. He began practicing at New- ark, and in 1851 was elected Professor of Chemistry in Delaware College, where he re- mained. In 1859 he removed to New Castle, established a drug-store and practiced medi- cine; in 1864 he was appointed surgeon to the military hospitals, Alexandria, and after- wards attached to the Ninth Delaware Regi- ment, at Fort Delaware, as assistant surgeon, and was mustered out of service with that command in January, 1865. Dr. Ferris then returned to New Castle, where he remained until his death, March 30, 1881. He was buried in the Pencader Presbyterian ceme- tery. Ilis wife, Maria Louisa, was the daugh- ter of Samuel Garrett.
DR. ISAIAH LUKENS was born in Montgomery county, Pa., November 4, 1816. Isaiah Lukens was educated in the Friends' schools at Burlington and Hadsborough. HIe read medicine with Dr. G. Y. Jones and grad- nated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1548. IIe succeeded Dr. Jones, and re- mained in Montgomery county six years. He then removed to Cleveland for two years, and in 1855 returned to Philadelphia, where for six years he was professor of oral surgery in the Pennsylvania Medical College. Berom- ing a convert to homocopathy, Dr. Lukens in 1868 removed to Newport, and in 1850 to Wilmington, where he practiced medicine un- til his death, August 9, 1887.
REV. ALFRED LEE, D. D., late bishop of Delaware, and formerly rector of St. An-
drew's Church, Wilmington, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, September 9, 1807.
Bishop Lee studied law and practiced in Norwich from 1531 to 1833. In the latter year he entered the General Theological Sem- inary in New York, and in June, 1837, was ordained deacon, and a year later priest. From September, 1838, to September, 1841, he was pastor of Calvary Church, Rockdale, Pennsylvania, and on October 12, 1841, was consecrated bishop of Delaware. Bishop Lee wrote a "Life of the Apostle Peter," in 1852; "Life of St. John," and "Treatise on Bap- tism," 1854; "Memoir of Miss Susan Alli- bone," Svo., 1856; and "The Harbinger of Christ," 12mo., 1857. He died in April, 1887.
DR. HENRY LATIMER, born at New- port, New Castle county, April, 1752, was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. In July, 1773, he received the degree of Master of Arts. He commenced the study of medicine in Philadelphia, and completed it at the Medical College of Edinburgh. On his return he entered upon the practice of his profession in Wilmington. In 1777 he was appointed surgeon in the Continental army, and served from Brandywine to Yorktown with such acceptance that his name was men- tioned by General Washington for surgeon- general of the Northern Division of the army. Ile was elected a member of the Legislature of Delaware after the State organization; and from 1793 to 1795 was a Representative in Congress. From 1795 to 1797 he was elected to the Senate of the United States; and re- elected in 1797; but resigned his seat in 1801. Ile died in December, 1819, and was buried in the cemetery of the First Presbyterian Church, of Wilmington.
The father of Dr. Henry Latimer, James Latimer, was born in and lived at Newport, and was engaged in the grain and shipping business with Philadelphia. He married Sa- rah Geddes. The grandfather of Dr. Lati- mer came from Ireland, but the family was originally from Normandy. Dr. Latimer's children were Henry; John; Mary; James; Sarah, all deceased; and all, except John, bur- ied with their father and grandfather in the cemetery of the First Presbyterian Church, Wlimington.
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WILLIAM POLK, late of Odessa, was born in 1781, in Nanticoke hundred, Sussex county, second son of John Polk, a farmer, and his wife Amenia, daughter of John Hirst, of the same county.
Ilis father being in moderate cireum- stances, William Polk received only limited school advantages. After attaining his ma- jority, he kept a small grocery on the home farm, of which, also, he took charge, his fa- ther having removed to another place. While there, in 1809, he married Eliza, daughter of Purnell Tatman, and sister of Charles Tat- man, President of the Odessa National Bank. The following year he kept a store in St. George's, and in 1816, at Pigeon Run, where he also rented and worked a mill, and culti- vated a farm till 1816. He then bought a farm and kept a store for one year, at Old- town, near Chesapeake City, Cecil county, Md., and in 1817 removed to Cantwell's bridge, now Odessa, where he remained per- manently. Hle carried on there a large mer- cantile business and became an extensive pur- chaser and shipper of grain and other pro- duets of that section. As he increased in wealth, he purchased vessels for the trans- portation of his products to market, bought extensive tracts of land, and by good judg- ment, enterprise and prudence, amassed a handsome fortune.
Mrs. Eliza (Tatman) Polk died in 1816, at Oldtown, Md., leaving three children: Cyrus, Eliza, and Charles Tatman Polk. The daughter married Hon. John P. Cochran, af- terwards Governor of the State. She died in 1859, leaving several children. In Decem- ber, 1825, Mr. Polk married Mrs. Margaret, widow of John T. Cochran and daughter of Samuel Pennington, of Odessa. Only one child of that marriage survived; Julia (Mrs. David J. Cummins). Mr. Polk retired from business in 1839, and died, May 3, 1852. IIe was greatly esteemed as a man and a citizen.
JOSEPH ANDERSON, a prominent member of the Delaware bar, and a dis- tinguished Revolutionary soldier and states- man, was born in New Jersey, November 5, 1757. Ile received a liberal education and studied law, but in 1775 was appointed an en-
sign in the New Jersey Line. He was soon promoted to a captaincy and fought at the battle of Mommouth. In 1779 he was a mem- ber of Sullivan's expedition against the Six Nations, and in the following year, was at Valley Forge. In 1781 he was at the siege of Yorktown. After the close of the Revo- lutionary War, Captain Anderson was brev- cted major, and practiced law in Delaware. In 1791, General Washington appointed him judge of the territory south of the Ohio River, in which position he continued until Tennes- see was formed. Ile assisted in framing the Constitution of Tennessee and represented that State in the United States Senate from 1797 to 1816, during which period he was twice president pro tempore of that body. He was first comptroller of the United States treasury from 1815 to 1836, and died in Washington, April 17, 1837.
ELIJAII B. REGISTER, who died Janu- ary 10th, 1888, in Philadelphia, was one of the very few survivors of the War of 1812 and '15 who lived so long. He was born in Cam- den, Delaware, September 17, 1798, and when a boy of fourteen or fifteen, participated in the defence of Lewistown. During the . bombardment of Lewistown, the enemy sent a boat ashore further up the bay; one of the officers who ventured to one of the cross-road stores was taken prisoner by a party to which Mr. Register belonged. The officer was held on parole until exchanged for an American prisoner of equal rank. During those early days Camden, Delaware, was a town of great- er importance than Dover. The people of the latter place had to go to Camden to get their drugs, as it had the only drug store in the neighborhood.
Mr. Register sbsequently removed to New Castle, Del., then a great centre for travel, as the New Castle & Frenchtown Railroad was the only way of communication between Phil- adelphia and Baltimore. Passengers had to take the stage from Philadelphia to New Cas- tle, thence by rail to Frenchtown, and from there by steamboat to Baltimore. The re- sult was, that the town of New Castle was the stopping-place for a great many people, and the hotel, then owned by Mr. Register's
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brother, was the most important place in the State, and entertained as many travelers as any hotel in Philadelphia. Mr. Register re- tained his good health and memory up to the moment of his death, and died in his ninetieth vear. At the time of his death he was living with his nephew, I. Layton Register, of Phil- adelphia. Another nephew, Dr. Henry C. Register, also resides in Philadelphia, and a third, Dr. John E. Register, in Dover, Del.
DR. JAMES H. WILSON, of Dover, Kent county, Delaware, one of the leading physicians in that section of the State, was born in Kent county, Del., June 3, 1842.
His ancestors, about 1642 went with the Scotch emigration to the northern part of Ire- land. William Wilson, his great-great-grand- father, was born March 8, 1708; married to Ann Niell August 24, 1736; came to this country in 1737, and settled on a tract of land which he purchased in Kent county about eight miles south of Dover, where they reared a family of ten children. James Wilson, eld- est son of William and Ann Neill Wilson, was born on the ocean during an unusually prolonged voyage, June 18, 1737, while they were on their way to America. On May 3, 1782, he married Elizabeth White. William Wilson, born of this marriage May 3, 1783, was the grandfather of Dr. Wilson. James Wilson died August 19, 1786; his wife Eliza- beth survived him until March 18, 1812, when she died at the age of sixty-five years.
Their son William Wilson, married Ruth Cardine, a member of a prominent family of Delaware, of French descent. Their children were: Sarah Ann; Elizabeth White; John C'arden; William Niel] Wilson. Sarah Ann married a well-known citizen of this State, Thomas B. Coursey, candidate for Governor in 1810. Elizabeth White married Mellroy Mellvaine, of Magnolia, Kent county, whose land adjoined the tract upon which William Wilson, the founder, settled in 1737, known for more than a century as the "White House." William, the youngest son, died in 1853, in his twenty-third year.
John Cardine Wilson, eldest son of Wil- liam and Ruth Wilson, was born July 21, 1817, and died November 22, 1876. He was
an enterprising and progressive farmer in Kent county, took an active interest in state and national polities, and as a Whig was frequently nominated a candidate for the State Legisla- ture when that party was in the minority in his county. He was a jovial, affable and pop- ular man and always received more than the party vote. Subsequently, as a candidate of the Democratic party, he was twice elected a member of the Delaware House of Represen- tatives. By his first marriage with Susan Hop- kins, daughter of James and Mary Coomb Hopkins, he had two children, Dr. James HI. Wilson and Samuel Coomb, who died an in- fant. Ilis first wife died in 1845, at twenty- two years of age. He was subsequently mar- ried to Elizabeth Satterfield, by whom he had eight children. The following survive: Wil- liam, S., residing in Dover; Arthur, in Phila- delphia; Charles B. and Ella reside with their mother on the homestead in Kent county.
After leaving the schools in the vicinity of his birth, James HI. Wilson entered the Smyrna Academy, taught by Rufus Sanders. Ile next attended the Fort Edward Institute in Washington county, New York, an institution which has educated many prominent men. Having completed his preliminary education, he returned to his native State and began the study of medicine under the instruction of his uncle, Dr. Benjamin C. Hopkins, at Fel- ton, Delaware. In 1863 he entered the Medi- cal Department of the University of Penn- sylvania, and attended four full courses of lectures, graduating in 1867. Dr. Wilson then began the practice of medicine in Phila- delphia, and in the meantime took a post- graduate course of one year each at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania and Jefferson Medi- cal College. He remained seven years prac- ticing in Philadelphia, during which time he was also physician to the Northern Dispensary and city physician. Health failing, Dr. Wil- son came to his native State to recuperate, and after fully recovering settled in Dover in 1877, and devoted all his time and attention to the duties of an extensive and successful practice in the State Capital and over a large area of surrounding country. While a resident of Philadelphia he was an active member of the Pathalogical Society and Northern Medi- cal Society of that city and was continued as an honorary member after leaving the city.
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In 1872 he became a member of the Delaware State Medical Society.
On December 11, 1867, Dr. Wilson was married to Sarah Emily Mellvaine, daughter of MeElroy and Elizabeth White Mellvaine.
Hugh Wilson, son of Hugh, and great- grandson of William Wilson, the first Ameri- can settler, moved in 1835 to Indiana and set- tled on the present site of Fayetteville, Fay- ette county, which county town is built on land formerly owned by him. He accumulat- ed a large amount of property.
Ebenezer, another great-grandson, and Ann Neill, the great-granddaughter of the first William, moved to Iowa in the same year, where the family is now numerous.
HON EDWARD WOOTTEN, Judge of the Superior Court of Delaware, was born in Laurel, Sussex county, October 2, 1810.
Ilis father, Peter G. Wooten, was a man of ability and great business enterprise. He was a farmer, a merchant, and vessel owner, prosecuting his business with vigor and suc- cess. He was also interested in political af- fairs, and served in the State Legislature. He died in 1824, at about fifty-seven years of age. The father of Peter G. Wootten came to this country from England. Ile settled his four sons on two thousand acres af land in one body, near Laurel. Judge Wootten re- ceived his early education in the Laurel Acad- emy, which at that time enjoyed great celeb- rity, and was considered nearly equal to a college, being provided with all kinds of in- struments and apparatus in the mathematical, astronomical and philosophical departments. At the age of eighteen, Mr. Wootten com- menced the study of law with the distinguish- ed Thomas Cooper, of Georgetown, late mem- ber of Congress, and after his death, with James Rogers, Esq., of New Castle, being admitted to the bar in 1830. Ile at once be- gan the practice of his profession in George- town. He early exhibited great skill in the management of his cases, soon acquired a large clientage, and was recognized as one of the leading members of the bar in Delaware.
In 1845 he received the nomination for Congress by the unanimous vote of the Demo- cratie convention, but this honor he declined,
preferring to devote his whole time and talents to his profession. In the following year a general desire was expressed by the judges and members of the bar, and prominent gen- tleman of both political parties, for his ap- pointment as one of the judges of the Superior Court of the State; but Governor Cooper re- fused to make the appointment. In 1847, however, Governor Tharp, recognizing his fit- ness for the position, appointetd him to the place, which he has since filled with such credit to himself and honor to his native State. No appointment could have been more gratify- ing to the legal profession, or to the people at large. Judge Wootten was unusually well qualified for his responsible position, having a profound knowledge of the law, great de- cision of character, a keen and intuitive sense of justice, and a remarkable memory. His comprehensive and accurate knowledge of law was marked, even before he became Judge, in his pleadings before the high Court of Chancery, where he never lost but two cases, and those were appealed to the Court of Er- rors, and both reversed. Judge Wootten was, for thirty years, a trustee of the Georgetown Academy, and for many years a vestryman and senior warden of the P. E. church. For sixteen years previous to his becoming a Judge, he was a director of the Farmers Bank in Georgetown.
Judge Wootten was married, in June, 1833, to Mary, daughter of Judge Peter Robinson. Their only child, Alfred P. R. Wootten, late Attorney General of Delaware, died, August 28, 1864. Mrs. Wootten, a lady of great superiority and noble christian character, died, June 3, 1877.
ROBERT BELL HOUSTON, of Dags- boro hundred, was born December 9, 1802, on the farm where he now resides. His father was Robert Houston, a farmer and land owner, who died in 1821. Ilis mother was Ann, daughter of Paul Thoroughgood, of that county. She died in 1827. Of this marriage there were seven chil- dren. The progenitor of the family in Ameri- ca was Robert Houston, an immigrant from Scotland, who patented the land upon which his posterity have lived for successive genera- tions. The name "Robert" has been sacred-
IL Sehrenbach.
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ly cherished in the Houston family and has always been the name of the son living upon the paternal estate. Robert Bell Houston, the subject of this sketch, attended the private schools in his vicinity until his nineteenth year, when the death of his father made it necessary for him to assume the management of the home farm. In 1827, upon the death of his mother, Mr. Houston became the heir to this estate. In addition, he is owner, also, of 2,608 acres, his total landed possessions amounting to 3,208 acres. Ile was brought up in the faith of the Democratic party, and in 1831 was elected a member of the State C'onstitutional Convention, but has since re- fused public office. He was many years an elder in the Indian River Presbyterian church, which he joined in 1841. He was married July 3, 1831, to Miss Lydia B., daughter of Isaiah and Hetty Wharton, of Sussex county. Mrs. Houston died, April 12, 1876, in her sixty-seventh year, leaving the following children: John Mitchell, a farmer and ex-legislator; Dr. Isaac Howard Houston; Edward Woosley; Robert Isaiah; Charles Bell; Henry Aydelott.
ALFRED P. R. WOOTTEN, Esq., late Attorney General of the state of Delaware, was born in Georgetown, Sussex county, De- cember 12, 1834, only child of Judge Edward Wootten.
HIe early gave promise of unusual talent, and his education was carefully conducted, first in the academy of his native town, then two years in a private school in Philadelphia, after which he spent two years in Delaware College. Mr. Wootten then entered the Soph- omore class of Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., and after a three years' course gradu- ated in his twenty-first year, with the first honors of his class. He was distinguished in college for the precocity of his intellect, while his amiable and social disposition made him many friends. With the President Dr. Eli- phalet Nott, and his family, he was an especial favorite. In answer to inquiries from Judge Wootten whether his son possessed abilities for any profession that would insure him success in life, President Nott replied by letter that
"Alfred would shine in any profession, with ordinary application." Shortly after leaving college, Mr. Wootten entered the law office of ex-President George M. Dallas, in Philadel- phia. Here, also, he was a great favorite with his preceptor, who, on being appointed Minis- ter to the Court of St. James, desired Mr. Wootten to accompany him. But he pre- ferred to prosecute his studies without in- terruption, which he did in the office of Judge Thayer, of the same city, a nephew of Mr. Dallas. Mr. Wootten's intention to open an office in Philadelphia was abandoned by the advice of his friends, and distinguished gen- tlemen of the bench and bar, who thought that a young of his promise and acquirements should not leave his native state. He accord- ingly opened an office in Wilmington. Ilis memory, like that of his father, was very tena- cious; he could remember the testimony in a case without the aid of manuscript. In Sep- tember, 1861, he was appointed Attorney General of Delaware, which high office he filled with distinguished ability till his death, which occurred August 28, 1864.
Alfred P. R. Wootten was married in March, 1859, to Rhoda, daughter of Gover- nor William Burton, M. D. They had but one child, Mary Robinson Wootten.
DR. HENRY FISHER HALL, born in Lewes, September 8, 1789, was the son of Dr. Joseph ITall and Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Fisher. Dr. Hall was educated at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, studied medicine with Dr. John White, and on April 15, 1814, was appointed by President Madison surgeon of the Forty-second Infantry, where he serv- ed for seven years and resigned. In 1820 he was made surgeon's mate in the Third In- fantry and served with credit in the North- west. In 1814 Governor Maull commissioned him brigadier-general in Sussex county, and he was subsequently collector of customs at Lewes. He continued the practice of medi- cine for fifty-four years and died in 1865. His remains were interred in the Presbyterian burial-ground at Lewes.
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