Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 74

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

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Dr. Saulsbury, received instruction in the ordinary branches of education in schools sup- ported by private subscription; the free school system of the State then not having been es- tablished. He subsequently went to Delaware College for a brief period, after which, in 1839, he commenced the study of medicine, and was graduated M. D., in 1842, from the University of Pennsylvania. IIe located in Dover the same year, and was a practising physician during the remainder of his life.

Dr. Saulsbury was married, November 1, 1848, to Miss Rosina Jane Smith, of Snow Hill, Md., by whom he had five children. Mrs. Saulsbury, was a woman of exemplary piety; she died April 29, 1875, aged 47 years. Their daughter, Rosa, was a young lady of rare accomplishments, became devotedly pious, and died November 30, 1876, aged 23 years and 4 days. The other children, Mar- garet, the eldest; Olivia Smith, and Grove, Jr., all died in early childhood; William, the younger, survived his father.

Though greatly interested in the affairs of State, and an influential leader of the Demo- cratic party, he resisted all solicitations to hold office until 1862, when he was elected to the State Senate. Of this body he became the Speaker in 1865, and, by virtue of his office, was constituted governor of the state the same year, a vacancy having been occasioned by the death of Governor William Cannon. In 1866 he was elected to the Governorship by the popular vote, and during the whole period of his official life exhibited the rare abilities, qualities and endowments of a good statesman. By many, including members of the party op- posed to him, he has been characterized as one of the ablest governors of the state since the formation of the Federal Union. His State pa- pers were regarded as able productions, being written with clearness, force and great disere- tion. As a political leader he possessed unus- val ability.

In word and action Gove Saulsbury was a friend to the cause of education, seeking ever- i ore to raise the standard higher, and to place the school system of the State on a more com- manding basis. In the interests of the Wil- mington Conference Academy, located at Dover, he labored so constantly that by his untiring energy, wise counsel and practical suggestions, he lived to see it one of the best institutions of learning in the State. He was

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President of its Board of Trustees from its or- ganization until the time of his death, and did all that he could to promote it and place it on a solid basis, and free it from financial embarrassment. He was also a Trustee of the Delaware College, located at Newark.

Mr. Saulsbury united with the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1843. Ile was one of the American delegates to the Ecumenical Council, of Methodist, held in London several years ago. In private life he was a man of stainless integrity. He was open, frank, sin- cere, thoughtful, considerate, warm hearted and generous.

COLONEL GEORGE DAVIS, late of Smyrna, was born in that place, January 1, 1806. He was the fifth son and seventh child of Judge Isaae Davis.

Colonel Davis engaged in business in Smyrna, and was an extensive land owner in this state and in Maryland. Hle was a promi- ment and valued citizen, and was well-known throughout the state. Ile was a democrat, and strongly attached to his party. Kind hearted and generous to an extreme, his wil- lingness to assist and oblige all who applied to him for assistance greatly reduced, in his later years, his once large means. He mar- ried February 6, 1828, Miss Mary J., daugh- ter of Dr. John D. Perkins; they had five daughters. He died April 12, 1877.

PETER ROBINSON, son of Thomas Rob- inson, the Loyalist, was born in Sussex coun- ty, October 14, 1775. lle read law with the Hon. Nicholas Ridgely, Chancellor of the state, and upon his admission to the bar, be- gan the practice of his profession in his native county. He became the leader of the bar in his section of the state, and continued to have a lucrative practice until he was appointed As- sociate Judge of the Superior Court at its or- ganization under the present Constitution in 1832. Before his appointment as judge he took an active part in politics, was the ac- knowledged leader of his party in Sussex, and was appointed three several times Secretary of State, in 1805, by Governor Nathaniel Mitchell, in 1814 by Governor Daniel Rod-

ney, and in 1822 by Governor Caleb Rodney. Peter Robinson married his cousin, Arcada, daughter of his uncle Peter Robinson; died in 1836, and left to survive him three children: Thomas Robinson, Jr., Alfred P. Robinson and Mary, wife of Hon. Edward Wootten. Mr. Robinson was a man of ability, of great integrity, and highly respected by both friends and opponents.

JOIIN WESLEY SHORT, Philadelphia, Pa., son of Alfred and Margaret (Hatton) Short, was born in Cedar Creek hundred, Sus- sex county, Del., September 19, 1847.

Until he reached his twenty-fourth year, John Wesley Short remained on the home- . stead, and assisted in its cultivation. He left home to try a sailor's life, but at the end of four years, returned to the homestead in Ce- dar Creek hundred. For the past twelve years, Mr. Short has lived in Philadelphia. Hle is a stanch Republican, and a member of Passayunk Tribe, No. 139, I. O. R. M.

On January 8, 1874, John Wesley Short was married, in Cedar Creek hundred, Sussex county, Del., to Mary C., daughter of Joshua and Mary Truitt, of Cedar Creek hundre l. Their children are: I. Ella, born November 1, 1875; II. Mary II., born June 10, 1882; III. George B., born May 10, 1884. Mr. Short and his family attend Richmond M. E. church

ROBERT FRAME, late Secretary of State and Attorney General of Delaware, Was born in Sussex county in the year 1800. Ilis parents were Robert and Mary (Vaughan) Frame. His father was a large land owner in the above county. His mother was from an old Virginia family, for many years resident on the Eastern Shore. The Frame family is numerous in Sussex county and highly respec- table.

Robert Frame was graduated at an early age from Princeton College, New Jersey, at- ter which he studied law in Dover with Hon. John M. Clayton, and was admitted to the bar in 1821. He practiced law in Dover with great success and became one of the most em- inent men in his profession in the State. John

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M. Clayton said of him that his was one of the soundest and ablest legal minds of the State. He was Secretary of State under Governor Polk, and was afterward Attorney General of the State for one term.

Mr. Frame removed to Wihnington in 1546, where, after having practiced his pro- fession one year, he died, and was interred in the churchyard of the First Presbyterian Church. His wife, whom he married in 1827, was Jeannette Macomb Clayton, daugh- ter of Chief Justice Thomas Clayton. She survived her husband only three months. They left three children: Robert, M. D .; Thomas C., M. D .; Julia. Mr. Frame was for many years a member of the Presbyterian Church. His wife was an Episcopalian.

JOHN CUNNINGHAM PATTERSON was born in Wilmington, October 24, 1515, Leing the oldest child of John and Elizabeth (Jefferies) Patterson. His father and grand- father, Robert Patterson, emigrated from Newton Stewart, county Tyrone, Ireland, to Wilmington, in 1793. Robert Patterson died in that city in October, 1798, in his sixty- sixth year, and his wife, Mary, October 28, 1516, in her eightieth year. They are buried, with all the older members of the family, in the grounds of the First Presbyterian Church of Wilmington.

John Patterson became a dry goods mer- chant in Wilmington several years before the war of 1812, and continued this occupation to the period of his death, in 1836. He was a man of high character and an elder in the church mentioned above.

John Patterson married first, Margaret, daughter of John Ross, of Chester county, Pennsylvania, by whom he had two children, Robert and Ross. His wife died March 31, 1513, in her twenty-ninth year. His second wife was Elizabeth, a descendant of the Jef- feries of Chester county, Pennsylvania. Bv this marriage he had seven children: John C., Mary Y., Margaret R., Sammel G., Henry ( .. Amelia R., and Thomas L.

John Cunningham Patterson received his early education at the old Academy, in Wil- mington, and was prepared for college at the Academy at New London, Chester county, Pennsylvania. In 1831, when in his six-

teenth year, he entered the Freshman class at Nassau Hall, from which he graduated A. B., in 1835, receiving the third honor, and stand- ing the fifth in scholarship in a class of forty- eight. Three years later he received from the same college the degree of A. M. During the six months following, and until the death of his father, he was a student in the Theolog- ical Seminary at Princeton. The next six months he spent as an assistant in the academy in that place, and was afterwards, for more than a year, a private tutor in the family of Mrs. Conover, in Monmouth county, New Jersey; his pupils being her two sons, William and Charles. This part of his life he regards as one of his most pleasant experiences. Ile was next, for three years, teller and book- keeper in the old Bank of Wilmington and Brandywine.

Mr. Patterson commenced during this time, the study of law with Edward W. Gilpin, Esq., then Attorney General of the State, and afterwards Chief Justice. After the usual term of study, he was admitted to the bar in Georgetown, Sussex county, to which place he had accompanied his preceptor. Soon af- ter he was examined at New Castle and ad- mitted to practice as a solicitor in the courts of chancery. He was also admitted to, and practiced in, the various United States courts for the District of Delaware.

The State Reports show his name con- nected, as counsel and attorney, with a large proportion of the civil cases tried or heard in the county, and several in the Court of Errors and Appeals. From 1865 to 1870, he was City Solicitor for the city of Wilmington. During the legislative session of 1847 he was Clerk of the State Sonate. He was appointed United States District Attorney, by President Hayes, March 27, 1580. He was first married 10 Miss Helen L. Sherron, of New Jersey, by whom he had two children: Wilfred, and James. In 1861, Mr. Patterson was married a second time to Miss Laura A., daughter of Captain John A. Webster, of Harford county, Maryland. Their children are Web- -ter, John C .. Jr., Malcolm and Mabel.

DR. JAMES TILTON, M. D., was born in Kent county, Delaware, in 1745. Ilis fa- ther, who died when he was only three years

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of age, left but a small estate, sufficient, how- ever, to enable his mother to afford him the opportunity of a classical education at Not- tingham Academy, Maryland, under the Rev. Samuel Finley afterwards president of Princeton College. On leaving Nottingham, he entered the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, and was grad- uated in the year 1771, six years after the or- ganization of the Medical Department of the U'niversity.

Dr. Tilton immediately entered upon the practice of his profession at Dover, Kent county, Del., and was beginning to achieve a reputation for ability and conscientious de- votion to his duties when the independence of the United States was agitated. In 1775, he addressed a letter to his friend and classmate in the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Jon- athan Elmer, of Bridgeton, New Jersey, upon the critical condition of affairs in this country, and expressed his determination, if the colon- ies should take up arms, to offer his services in their defence. He afterwards proved his sin- cerity by becoming the first lieutenant of a company of light infantry; but after the Declaration of Independence, he was ap- pointed surgeon in the First Delaware Regi- ment. He was with the Continental forces at Long Island and White Plains, and in the subsequent retreat to the Delaware River. In 1777 he was in charge of the General Hospital at Princeton, New Jersey, where there was great neglect, and consequent suffering ex- i-ted among the troops, he himself narrowly escaping death from an attack of fever con- tracted there.

Said he, "It would be shocking to humanity to relate the history of our General Hospital in the years 1777 and 1778, when disease swallowed up at least one-half of the army, owing to a fatal tendency in the system to throw all the sick of the army into a general Hospital, whence crowding, infection and gen- eral mortality resulted, too affecting to men- tion." Convinced that much of this was ow- ing to the union of the Directing and Purvey- ing Departments in the same person, he after- wards wrote as follows: "I mention it with- ont a design to reflect on any man, that in the fatal year, 1777, when the Director-General had the entire direction of the practive in our hospitals as well as the disposal of the stores, he was interested in the increase of sickness

and consequent increase of expense, as far, at least, as he would be profited by a greater amount of money passing through his hands."

In the winter of 1779-80 the sufferings of the sick in the tent hospitals was very great, and although an improved system, free from overcrowding, was recommended by Dr. John Jones, Professor of Surgery in King's College, New York, it had not been adopted. Doctor Tilton was at that time in charge of the Gen- eral Hospital at Trenton, New Jersey, and to him has been ascribed the origination of a new system of hospital construction by the cree- tion of log-huts, righly built, so as to admit of free ventilation through the crevices. The floors of these buildings were hardened clay, and each was intended to accommodate not more than six men. The fire-place was in the centre, and the smoke escaped through a hole at the top. The result reached his highest expectations; the typhus fever patients rapi- dly improved, and the plan was generally adopted.

General Washington, in a letter, Septem- ber 9, 1780, writing of a proposed reorganiza- tion and consequent decrease of the force in the medical department, spoke of Dr. Tilton as a gentleman of great merit, who had a just claim to be retained.

In September, 1781, through the exertion chiefly of Dr. Tilton, an act was passed by Congress providing for promotion by senior- ity in the medical corps. About this time Dr. Tilton was elected a professor in the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, which honor he de- clined, unwilling to desert his situation in the service of his country. After the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, he returned to his native state, and resumed the practice of his ¡ rofession in Dover, in 1782. He was a mem- her of Congress in 1782, and repeatedly served in the legislature of his own state. Finding that the influence of malaria, then so abundant in Kent county, was undermining his health, he removed to Wilmington, New Castle county, and there resumed his profes- sion. Soon afterwards he was appointed by the goverment commissioner of loans, which was a great relief pecuniarily, as he had en- tered and left the army without money. This office, however, he soon relinquished on ac- count of a change of the national administra- tion, with which he did not coincide.

With a reputation well established, his pro-

John & Monaghan,

Bishop of Wilmington.

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fessional services were much sought; and the highest confidence was reposed in him, by his patients and by his professional brethren, as a most honorable man and judicious physi- cian. He continued thus in full practice for several years, after which, having purchased a small farm adjoining the town, he removed thither. On this delightful spot, which com- mands a view of the Delaware, Christiana and Brandywine rivers, with the town and also the intervening country of many miles in breadth, beautifully interspersed with fields and woods, he built his house of the blue granite which underlies the ridge, and there removed, expecting to be permitted to enjoy his remain- ing years, disengaged from the more arduous duties of his profession. Fond of horticulture and pomology, he adorned his grounds with flowers and fruits, and here he administered to the diseased, or entertained his friends at his frugal but hospitable table, upon the products of his own farm.

At this time most of the surgeons who had acquired reputation in the War of the Revo- lution were either superannuated or had died, and the government of the United States, hav- ing declared war with Great Britain, remem- bered his valuable services to the country, and, recalling him to its aid, appointed him surgeon-general of the army of the United States. After much reflection and with much reluctance, on account of his age and im- paired health, he consented to afford his ripe experience and sound judgment to his coun- try, having received assurance that his duties would be chiefly administrative, and his head- quarters generally at Washington.

Having accepted this appointment, Dr. Tilton considered it his duty to visit and in- spect the hospitals on the Northern frontier. At Sackett's Harbor he found that the troops under General Dearborn, which had been concentrated during the winter, had been vis- ited by severe sickness, and the hospitals were filthy and neglected as to their hygienic con- dition. He immediately convened the medi- cal board, broke up the hospital there, and es- tablished it at Watertown, twelve miles dis- tant. Along the Northern frontier he intro- duced his hospital regulations, and the bene- fits were soon visible in the improved health of the army. Of the second visit contem- plated to the North, he was disappointed by

the occurrence of a tumor on his neck, and on the disappearance of this, a formidable tumor attacked his knee, which, after causing much suffering, necessitated the amputation of his thigh. This operation was performed Decem- ber 7, 1815, at his residence, probably by Dr. Physiek, assisted by Dr. Smith, of Winning- ton, and others. Hle bore the amputation with surprising fortitude and calmness, show- ing no sign of suffering, although then just beyond seventy years of age. He survived the operation, but died May 14, 1822, in his seventy-fifth year. About the year 1857 his remains were disinterred, and deposited in the Wilmington and Brandywine cemetery, and the Delaware State Medical Society took measures for erecting a monument to his memory by the appointment of a committee, of which the late Dr. Henry F. Askew was chairman. This memorial now stands in his burial-place, a fitting tribute to a great and good man. Besides the work on military hospitals above mentioned, Dr. Tilton pre- pared and published the following papers: "Observations on the Yellow Fever;" "Let- ters to Dr. Duncan on Several Cases of Rabies Canina;" also a second one on the same sub- ject; "Observations on the Cureulio;" "On the Peach-Tree and its Diseases:" "A letter to Dr. Bush Approving of Bleeding in Yellow Fever;" and oration in 1790 as president of the Delaware Society of the Cincinnati;" "Queries on the Present State of Husbandry in Delaware."

The subject of his thesis for the degree of Bachelor of Medicine was "Respiration," and his inaugural dissertaion for the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1771 was "Hydrops." He also published his observation "On the Beneficial Effects of Sea-air Upon Children Suffering from Cholera Infantum or Chronic Diarrhoea," and recommended the town of Lewes, Delaware, as a proper place of resort in such cases. Some of these papers were read before the Delaware Medical Society, and some were published in the Medical Re- pository.

Dr. Tilton was a member of and constant attendant at the Wilmington Presbyterian church. Miss Montgomery in her reminis- cences describes him as "about six feet tall, had dark hair, keen black eyes, very dark, swarthy complexion, loud and quick voice,

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finished in the art of chewing tobacco, always in a pleasant humor, no misanthrope, an old bachelor of the first order who always loved the society of ladies." In attending the levees in Washington, Dr. Tilton wore plain home- spun clothes, one of the products of his farm.

PAYNTER FRAME was born in Indian hundred, October 21, 1826. Ilis father, George Frame, was a farmer and owned over 1500 acres of land. When a boy he learned cabinet making in Philadelphia, and after a trip to Havana, in 1819, he commenced in- proving the 400 acres of land he inherited. Hle was industrious and accumulated a large estate. Ile was a member of the legislature in 1831; elected sheriff in 1834, and a strong candidate for Governor in 1840. He died, September 13, 1845, being then in his 49th year. His wife was Elizabeth Jefferson, daughter of Joseph and Ann (Jefferson) War- rington. Mrs. Warrington was related to President Thomas Jefferson. Eleven of the twelve children of Mr. and Mrs. George Frame grew to maturity: Robert; Mary Vaughan ( Mrs. Manlove Wilson); Paynter; Am J. ( Mrs. R. H. Davis); Henry Clay; Elizabeth West (Mrs. Nathaniel Williams): George W., deceased; Rev. Clement T., of the Baptist church; Jennie W., and Thalia HI. M. Frame. Mrs. Frame was a most excellent Christian woman, noted for her intelligence, hospitality and executive ability. She read the Bible through thirty times. She died Jan. 5, 1879, in her 77th year.

The first American ancestor of the family was Robert Frame, who came from England and patented several thousand acres of land in Dagsboro and Indian river hundreds. Several of his children were among the ear- liest settlers of Pickaway county, Ohio. His son, George Frame, married Elizabeth Payn- ter, and of Gov. John Paynter. By her he had two sons, Robert and Paynter Frame.

Robert Frame died at the age of thirty- four. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Vaughan, was first married to Mr. West, by whom she had one child, Elizabeth. After his death she married William Burton, by whom she had three children: I. Dr. Wil- liam Burton, late governor of Delaware; II. John Hammond, a noted surveyor; III. Ly-

dia. Mr. Burton also died and she married Robert Frame. Their children were Eliza- beth Paynter, who married James Anderson, many years President of the Farmers bank, at Georgetown; George, the father of Paynter Frame and Robert Frame, who became Attor- ney General of the State. Mrs. Frame died soon after her husband, and these children were brought up by their unele, Paynter Frame, who had no children of his own. Paynter Frame attended the public schools until fourteen years of age, and after that, the academies of Georgtown, Seaford and Mills- boro. His mother chose him to remain with her after the death of his father, and take care of the undivided estate, which he did till her death. Ile devoted his life to farming and fruit growing, paying special attention to the grafting and improving of fruit. In 1876 he was one of the nine commissioners ap- pointed to represent Delaware in the Centen- nial Exhibition, into the interests and success of which he entered heartily. He served ef- fectively as member of the Committee on Agriculture, and as Chairman of the Commit- tee on Horticulture. He was also appointed by Governor Ilall a delegate to represent Sussex county in the National Agricultural Convention, which met in New York city, in December, 1879. At that meeting he assisted in organizing the "AAmerican Agricultural Association." In 1854 he was nominated to the Legislature, but his ticket was defeated. He was elected, however, in 1856, and served with great eredit; and again in 1866 and in 1874. Ile was, with but one exception, a delegate to every convention of his party in the county for over twenty-five years. Mr. Frame was a delegate to the Peninsula Con- vention of all denominations in 1860. He Lecame a strong temperance man when quite young, and a Son of Temperance in 1847. He was made an Odd Fellow in 1850; a Ma- son in 1852; Master of the Lodge in 1854, and a member of the Royal Arch in 1858. He was a delegate to the General Grand Convoca- tion of Royal Arch Masons, in Baltimore, in 1872, and was Past Deputy Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of the State of Delaware. Mr. Frame was a prominent can- didate for Governor in 1870, and again in 1872, when it was the turn of Sussex to furn- ish the candidate.

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CAPTAIN DAVID KIRKPATRICK, one of the last heroes of the Revolution, who lived in Wilmington, entered the army in the Fourth New Jersey Line as a sergeant, but his courage and ability soon attracted atten- tion, and he was made a lieutenant, and then a captain of sappers and miners, under the command of General Duportail. Ile wa- en- gaged in the battles of Momnouth, German- town, Brandywine, Trenton, Cowpens and others. At Brandywine he distinguished himself, and received a sword at the hands of General Lafayette as a testimonial of the estimation in which he was held by that illus- trious commander. Captain Kirkpatrick was much beloved by the soldiers under his com- mand, and often, during his life, they visited him to testify their admiration and love for his courage and kindness. He was twice wounded, and the many hardships and trials which he endured in defense of his country aided materially in impairing his constitution. Late in life a severe fall disabled him, and subjected him to much suffering. Never was old age more beautifully portrayed than in Captain Kirkpatrick. The gentleness of his manners, the quiet tones of his voice, the benign expression of his eye, rendered him an object of deep interest; and filial piety sur- rounded the aged veteran with every comfort. The tender hands of affectionate children had long "rocked the cradle of declining age," and their ministry ended only with his life.

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Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 74

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