Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 75

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

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Captain Kirkpatrick was a member of the Presbyterian church of Wilmington and of the Society of the Cincinnati. ITis descend- ants are prominent morocco manufacturers in Philadelphia, Pa.

PETER LOWBER LOFLAND, of Kent county, Del., son of James P. and Mary (Low- ber) Lofland, was born in Milford, Del., in the old Loffand home, now the Central Hotel, June 23, 1840.

Mr. Loffand's grandfather, Purnell Loffand, merchant, owned extensive traets of land near Milford, where he spent his whole life. His son, James P. Loffand, M. D., father of Peter Lowber Loffand, was born in Little Creek hun- dred, Kent county, Del. After completing his course in the public schools of Kent county, he matriculated at the University of Pennsyl-

vania, Philadelphia, Pa., where he studied under the celebrated Dr. James Rush, of Phil- adelphia. In 1819, or 1820, shortly after his graduation, Dr. Loffand began the practice of his profession at Milford, Del. He was an emi- ment physician and was highly esteemed. Perhaps no other physician of his time enjoyed a wider or greater reputation in the State. Ilis handsome and commanding presence, his genial and courteous bearing and his great conversational powers won many friends in all parts of the State. He had high regard for the usefulness and dignity of his profession, and his charitable feelings and earnest atten- tion to the poor endeared him to all classes; when he died, he was regretted by all and mourned for as a personal friend. No matter what the circumstances were, in every instance he was prompt to respond to duty, and there are many to-day who cherish his memory as a public benefactor. In those days there were not many clocks, and it is said that his watch hung in more houses of the poor, both white and colored than any other in the county. The same old watch is held as a memento and is now in the hands of a grandson who is pre- paring to follow in the footsteps of his grand- father. Dr. Loffand was an old line Whig, influential in political circles, and was speaker of the Senate of Delaware. He was interested in Masonry, and had great reputation as a lecturer; he filled almost every position from Master of a lodge to Grand Master of the State. James P. Lofland, M. D., was married to Mary, daughter of Peter Lowber. Their children are: I. Hon. James R., attorney at law, Dover, Del., appointed paymaster under President Lincoln and held that position until 1872, when he was elected to congress, died in Mil- ford, Del., in 1894; II. Mark G., M. D., graduate in 1851, from Jefferson Medical Col- lege, Philadelphia, Pa., died in 1881 at Mil- ford, Del; III. Mary (Mrs. George Davis), died in Milford; IV. Peter Lowber. Mr. Lof- land and his family were members of the Epis- copal church. He died in 1857, aged fifty- nine, in Philadelphia, Pa., where he had gone for medical treatment. ITis widow died in Milford, Del., July 15, 1882.

Peter Lowber Loffand, attended public and private schools in Milford, Del., and when he attained his majority began teaching in his native town. After teaching for one year, he

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secured a position as clerk for John W. Ad- kins, dealer in dry goods and general mer- chandise. Two or three years later Mr. Lof- land purchased the store, and after doing a profitable business for twelve years, sold the establishment and engaged in trading in Kent county, Del. In 1882 he began farming on his present property, he has been very suc- cessful and owns several valuable farms. Mr. Lofland is a Republican.

On December 27, 1870, Peter Lowber Lof- land was married to Sarah A., daughter of Joseph F. Lofland, of Kent county, Del. Their children are: I. Mary Lowber; II. Rosalie; III. Elizabeth M; IV. Mabel Laws. Mr. Lowber and his family are members of the P. E. church in Milford, Del.

BRIGADIER GENERAL THOMAS A. SMYTHI, was born December 25, 1832, in Ballyhooly, County Cork, Ireland. His par- ents were Thomas and Margaret Smyth, his father was a farmer in which business the son assisted, after leaving school. The educational advantages of Thomas A. Smyth were limit- ed, but by means of travel through Eng- land and Scotland, and a considerable stay in London and Paris, he gained a knowledge of life, and his habits of close observation, and his faculty of readily comprehending, supplied in great measure, every deficiency.

Mr. Smyth came to America in August, 1854, and settled in Philadelphia, followed the business of wood carving. Soon after, he was influenced to join Walker's forces in Nica- raugna. Little is known of his experiences there. Early in 1858 he made Wilmington his home, and in July of that year was mar- ried to Miss Amanda M. Pounder.

he had sometimes imposed upon him labors that others should have shared. His great powers of physical endurance enabled him to bear, uncomplainingly, fatigue, exposure and privations. His physique was splen- did, indicating vigorous health, and every ac- tion denoted the highest state of vitality. He was military in his bearing, and looked the perfect soldier.

After the muster out of the Regiment, Cap- tain Smyth returned to Wilmington where he organized the First Delaware Volunteers for three years' service, and he was, October 22, chosen major. During the stay of the Regi- ment at Fortress Monroe, embracing most of the time till the following May, he devoted himself with ardor to the drilling of the men, and to the study of military science. In the battle of Antietam he displayed great personal bravery, and laid the foundation for that con- fidence which the First Delaware ever after- wards reposed in him. At Fredericksburg he added materially to this reputation, and special mention was made of the regiment in the offi- cial report. On the 18 of December, at a meeting of the officers of the Regiment, he was unanimously elected lieutenant colonel to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Colonel Oliver Hopkinson, and on the 30th was commissioned by the Governor. On the 7th of February, following, he was commis- sioned as Colonel. At Chancellorsville, also, he displayed his great ability as a commander. For an account of his participation in these bat- tles, the reader must be referred to his pub- lished memoir, by Dr. D. W. Maull, which is written in captivating style and is full of in- terest. It contains, also, the reports of Colonel Smyth, with full details .. To him the First Delaware owed much of the morale which dis- tinguished it in its entire service; he imparted to it zeal and confidence, and inspired it with his own gallantry. He was the idol of his men, and every promotion he received was hailed by them with enthusiastic delight. Shortly after the last mentioned campaign he was assigned to the command of the Second Brigade, Third Division, Second Army Corps. Gettysburg was the first engagement in which he commanded a brigade. There he was con- spicious for bravery, exposing himself at all

In April, 1861, he raised, in Wilmington, a company for three months' service, and im- patient of the delay in these matters in Dela- ware, took it to Philadelphia, where is was ac- cepted as Company H, in the 24th Pennsyl- vania Volunteers. The regiment, much of the time, was encamped in Maryland or Virginia. Ilis commanding officer remarked, long after, that he was always influenced by the bravery and prudence of Captain Smyth, to send him ont on any expedition where danger was like- . points, where he thought his duty called him. ly to be encountered, and that, no doubt, Mr. Smyth seemed rather to court than avoid'

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danger. On the last day of the fight he was wounded on the nose and head by fragments of shell. At the close of December, 1863, he re-enlisted with the regiment as a veteran, and the command returned to Wilmington to en- joy a thirty days' furlough. While there he was the recipient of many marks of favor from his fellow citizens, who were becoming very proud of him. In April, 1864, he was assign- ed to the command of the Irish Brigade, and led it in the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania. In the accounts of the last, he is called "the intrepid, the gallant Colonel Smyth, whose name is already written in let- ters of gold on the seroll of military fame."

The affection he inspired in these men of his own nationality, was unbounded. He was their ideal of a hero. He could sway them as he willed, and some of the poetry they wrote him-transcribed in the work above mention- ed-is fine indeed, and thrills the heart of the reader with sympathetic enthusiasm. No pos- sible justice can be done to the brilliant record of such a man in a brief sketch.

Delaware, otherwise, preserves his fame in fitting form. In front of Petersburg all his en- ergies were called into play; he was ceaseless in his efforts to keep his command up to the highest point of discipline and efficiency. Oc- tober 1, 1864, he was commissioned Brigadier General. The cheering, when the news reach- ed the camp, lasted nearly an hour, and so loud and hearty was it that the enemy inquired the cause. ITe was made the recipient of elegant presents, and officers and men were alike proud of him. In the engagement at Hatcher's Run he "led his command in the most dashing man- ner." On the morning of April 7, 1865, the skirmish began at "High Bridge." The Gen- eral was riding in advance with the skirmish line, with his staff about him, when he was mortally wounded by a rebel sharpshooter. IIe died on the day of Lee's surrender, and was the last General officer on the Union side killed in the war. The sad event marred the general jov over our victories. He died as he had lived -- a hero. Not a groan or complaint escaped him, he talked calmly of his situation, and said: "I am not afraid to die." ITis body was em- balmed and is interred in the cemetery at Wil- mington.

WILLIAM MOINTIRE SHAKESPEAR. Sr., born 1819, in White Clay Creek hundred,

died 1881, a resident of Dover, was the oldest son of Benjamin Shakespear, a landed proprie- tor of the same hundred, and Mary MeIntire, daughter of William and Sarah (Hersey) Me- Intire, of White Clay Creek hundred.

From his father, Wm. Shakespear, Sr., in- herited purely English blood. ITis grand- father, Samuel Shakespear, with his three brothers, Thomas, David and Stephen, emi- grated from Coventry, Warwickshire, Eng- land, and settled in Pennsylvania in 1769. Against the rational inference from the fact that the armorial coats and mural monuments of carlier generations of the family to which these Shakespears belonged occupy prominent positions upon the walls of churches of some of the parishes adjoining Coventry, and the fact that this Samuel Shakespear was married, 1765, in St. Michael (Episcopal) church, Cov- entry, to Susanna Mester, of a family whose members had frequently been mayors of the city and magistrates, the emigrant brothers, and the generation immediately preceeding theirs, were undoubtedly Dissenters and ac- tive members of the Baptist Society of that city, and their religious affiliations in Ameri- ca were with the same sect. Arrived in Penn- sylvania at about the beginning of the poli- tieal agitations which culminated in the Decla- ration of Independence in 1776, and, there- fore, naturally not yet fully in sympathy with them, these brothers remained loyal to the crown. Upon the evacuation of New York by the British in 1783, two of them sailed, with other Loyalists, for Nova Scotia, where they received large grants of land as indemnity in part for the losses which they had suffered dur- ing the Revolution. Soon after the declara- tion of peace Samuel Shakespear came to Dela- ware, and settled in White Clay Creek hun- dred, where he raised a numerous family, of which his son Benjamin was the youngest.

William MeIntire's father, Alexander Mc- Antier and grandfather, Samuel Me- Antier, "Scotch-Irish" Presbyterian immi- grants from the north of Ireland, purchased and settled upon extensive tracts of land in White Clay Creek hundred in 1742. A por- tion of this land, following the regular course of entailed estates, descended to the above- mentioned Marv MeIntire. William McIn- tire's mother, Jane, the daughter of Adam Barr. of White Clay Creek hundred, was also of a family of Presbyterian immigrants from

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the north of Ireland, most of whose members settled in Cecil county, Md. Becoming a widow while her son was yet a child, she mar- ried one of the most active and substantial founders of Methodism in that part of Dela- ware, Isaac Ilersey, of Mill Creek hundred, and of this second marriage was born the well- known late Rev. Father John Hersey. Wil- liam MeIntire therefore grew up surrounded by the influences and associations of the early Methodists of Delaware; and when he came to his inheritance, urged by Bishop Asbury, who was not infrequently his guest, as he had been also in former years the guest of his step- father, he led in the movement to found Old Salem Methodist church, giving the land for that purpose in 1807. He was an active and prominent member of the church, and at last became a zealous local preacher and exhorter.

William MeIntire married a niece of his step-father, Sarah Hersey, daughter of Solo- mon Hersey, of Bohemia Manor, Cecil coun- ty, Maryland, who, like his brother in Dela- ware, was a zealous pioneer Methodist, in whose house the first Methodist Society on the Eastern Shore of Maryland was organized in 1771. The father of these two brothers, Isaac Hersey, a French Huguenot exile, married Elizabeth Sluyter, a daughter of Rachel Cres- son (whose grandfather, Pierre Cresson, a Picard Huguenot, fled to Holland about 1638, immigrated with his family to America, 1657, and settled in Harlam, New York), by her first husband, Henry Sluyter, a "tenant in com- mon" with his brother-in- law, Samuel Bayard, who had married his sister Elizabeth, of a large part of the "Labadie tract," on Bohemia Manor, and a nephew of the Labadist Bishop, Dr. Petrus Sluyter, who, with his brothers, na- tives of Wesel, in Germany, and educated at Leyden for the church, immigrated and settled on Bohemia Manor, 1684.

The blood of the French Huguenots, of the German zealots, of the Scotch Covenanters and of the English Dissenters flowed in the veins of William M. Shakespear, and he therefore naturally inherited something of the tenden- cies which characterize the sturdy stock whence he sprung. AAfter receiving a public school education, finished by a term or two at the Newark Academy, he married (1843) Catha- rine, oldest daughter of Edward Haman, a ste- cessful farmer and land-owner of White Clay Creek hundred, by his wife, Rebecca Smith.

A little before his marriage Mr. Shakespear had purchased a property in Pencader hun- dred, consisting of a farm, grist and saw-mills, and was already prosecuting a successful and increasing business. In 1854 the water-power of these mills being no longer equal to the con- stantly-growing demand on the part of his purchasers for larger production, he sold this property, purchased the Dover Mills and re- moved to the town, where he spent the rest of his life, prosecuting his affairs with sneh en- ergy and success that he soon became one of the largest and widest-known ship-timber manufactures of the Atlantic seaboard. Be- sides other large customers, he constantly sup- plied the navy vards of the Atlantic coast, and during the War of the Rebellion his annual output amounted to several millions of feet of the heaviest ship-timber. The profits of his business were usually invested in farms in the near vicinity of Dover; and these he took great pride in bringing up to a high standard of productiveness and attractiveness. He also now became one of the largest peach-growers of the county.

Great as they were, the activity in business and the numerous claims upon the time of Mr. Shakespear did not prevent him from taking a prominent part in matters of religion, charity and public interests.

Beforeremoving from New Castle county in 1854, he had united in active membership with the Old Salem Methodist church, which his maternal grandfather had founded, and to which his parents belonged. Immediately after this removal his membership was trans- ferred to the Methodist Episcopal church in Dover, in whose official boards he, in turn, fill- ed the position of steward and trustee, and for many years before his death he continuously presided over the latter board. Among other important positions of trust and confidence he was called upon to fill was that of trustee of Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pa., and of the Wilmington Conference Academy, at. Dover.

It was his habit to give with a free hand to all public charities worthy of support, and his private benefactions, of which few but the re- cipients over knew, were numerous, for a more tender-hearted, sympathetic man, or one who more keenly felt and responded to the prompt- ings of human kindness, never lived.

The latter trait in Mr. Shakespear's char- deter, together with others equally prominent.

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namely, his sterling integrity, judicious fair- mindedness, the courage of strong convictions, caused him to be widely esteemed and respect- ed, and not infrequently to be named for im- portant public trusts. Although highly appre- ciative of such tokens of the regard of his fel- low citizens, he never would consent to allow his name to go before the people for their suff- rages until he accepted the nomination to re- present his county in the State Senate from 1573 to 1877.

Ilis political sentiments were those of an un- comprising Jeffersonian Democrat; yet, al- although his convictions were strong, neither his opinions nor his course concerning matters of public policy were those of an unreasoning partisan.

Ile was elected, and on the organization of that body received at the last session of his term nearly a majority of the votes cast for president of the Senate. During both sessions he was chairman of the most important of the standing committees, viz., that on corporations, and after the adjournment of his last session he filled the responsible position of president of the commission appointed by the Legislature to reconstruct and furnish throughout the Capitol building. In these positions, as in others, he was conspicuous for the zeal and ability with which he watched over the inter- ests of his constituents and of the publie at large.

The paralysis of maritime interests after the war and the failure of many of the ship-build- ers who were the customers and heavy debtors of Mr. Shakespear, together with the shrinkage in values of real estate, in which he was great- ly interested about the same period, caused his financial failure. This misfortune did not, however, break his spirit or paralyze his en- ergy or indomitable courage. He started again in a brave struggle to retrieve his lost fortune. But the physical frame which had stood the wear and tear of near three-score years of rest- less energetic life was unequal to the strain and broke down under the heavy weight put upon it. In the death of William MeIntire Shakespear, Sr., May 1, 1881, it was felt and expressed that the commonwealth had lost one of her most esteemed and valued citizens.

Mr. Shakespear left, as his survivors, his willow and six sons, in the order of their birth as follows:

I. Dr. Edward Oram Shakespear, M. D., born in Peneader hundred 1846, prepared for college at the Dover Classical Institute, enter- ed the sophomore class at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., 1864, graduated A. B. 1867 and received the degree of A. M. 1870. Dur- ing his last year at college he commenced the study of medicine, and later in the same year entered the Medical Department of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, from which celebrat- ed medical school he received his diploma of Doctor of Medicine 1869. He at once began the successful practice of his profession at Dover. During the session of 1873 he was secertary of the Senate of Delaware. The next year he removed to Philadelphia and imme- diately became connected with the Eve De- partinent of the University of Pennsylvania, and gradually drifted into the exclusive prac- tive of opthahnie surgery as a specialty. Ilis first publication was the announcement and description of a new and igenious instru- ment for the accurate measurement during life of the interior and exterior of the eye. It attracted wide notice, letters of inquiry and congratulation concerning it being received from distinguished eye surgeons in London and Paris as well as from distant parts of his own country, and won for him the honor of men- tion in the late Professor Gross' centennial history of "A Century of American Medicine and Surgery," as having made the last not- able contribution of the century. The early limitaiton of his professional services exclu- sively to the specialty of ophthalmic surgery allowed Dr. Shakespear considerable time for other work. He chose as a pastime and re- creation the study of pathology and medical miserophy. The publication of the results of his first studies in this line in 1877 secured for him the Warren Triennial Prize of four hun- dred dollars in a competition open to the world, the subject of his researches having been "The Nature of Reparatory Inflammation in Arter- ies." Among the most important of his lohors in this line is the translation and annotation of a large French work on Pathological His- tology, which became the text-book of many of the medical colleges of America. ITis ac- quirements in this department of science had become such that in 1885 many of the promi- nent physicians of the country so strongly re- commended his selection by the Government

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to investigate the plague then ravaging Spain that in the autumn of that year he was com- missioned by the President to visit Europe and India for the purpose of studying and report- ing upon the causes, mode of spread and means of prevention of Asiatic cholera. This inves- tigation occupied one year and the discharge of his duties led him to England, Germany, France, Spain, Morocco, Italy, Egypt, Arabia and Hindustan.

II. Benjamin Franklin Shakespear, born in Pencader hundred, 1848, prepared for college at the Dover Classical Institute, entered the elective or scientific course at Dickinson Col- lege 1864, but went into business before tak- ing a degree. He married, 1870, Emma Laws, daughter of James L. and Priscilla (Stytes) Heverin, of Dover, and has four children, viz .; 1. Catharine Haman; 2. Frank Heverin; 3. William MeIntire; 4. Annie Heverin.

III. James Haman Shakespear, an attor- ney-at-law, of Philadelphia, born 1850, pre- pared for college at the Dover Classical Insti- tute, entered Dickinson College 1865, took the degree of A. B. in 1869, and of A. M. in 1872, entered as a student at law in the office of James II. Heverin, of Philadelphia, was ad- mitted to the bar in that city in 1875. In 1881 he married Annie Priscilla, daughter of James L. and Priscilla (Stytes) Heverin, of Dover. Ilis wife died in 1885, without having had issue.

IV. William MeIntire Shakespear, Jr., born 1852, educated at the Dover Classical Insti- tute, married, 1784, Elizabeth Walker, daugh- ter of James L. and Priscilla (Stytes) Heverin, of Dover.

V. George Oscar Shakespear, born 1856, prepared for college at the Dover Classical Institute, entered Dickinson College, but re- mained there only two years; he returned home, and entered as a student of law in the office of Hon. Joseph P. Comegys.

VI. Louis Shakespear, born 1858, educated at the Dover Classical Institute and the Bry- ant & Stratton Business College, of Philadel- phia.

VII. Vietor Arden Shakespear, was born 1865, and died 1869.

GEORGE PLUNKET was born in New York City, February 11, 1836.

He received his education at St. Mary's Col- lege, Wilmington, and then commenced the study of law with the late Daniel M. Bates, afterwards chancellor of the State. He was admitted to the bar in May, 1859, but shortly afterwards removed to St. Paul, Minn., and there connected himself with the law firm of Becker & Hollingstand. He remained at St. Paul until the outbreak of the Rebellion, when he returned to Delaware and entered the Second Delaware Regiment, as quarter- master. Mr. Plunkett had not been in the army more than three months when he was appointed a paymaster in the navy, and or- dered to the United States Steamer Hartford, then commanded by Commodore Farragut; be participated in the most memorable battles before the capture of New Orleans.

At the time of the surrender of New Or- leans, the mayor of the city declined to accept the surrender papers previously drafted, and Mr. Plunkett was designated by Commodore Farragut to put them into proper shape, which he did, and the mayor then accepted them as being legally drawn. Mr. Plunkett was after- wards ordered to duty in front of Charleston under Admiral Du Pont, as paymaster of the squadron, and next reported for duty to Ad- miral Rowan, in the fight before Fort Fisher. After this engagement, Mr. Plunkett was or- Jered to special duty at Washington, but a short time afterwards accepted the position of paymaster to the South American squadron. Upon his return from the ernise, he was sent to New York, and while there resigned from the navy, on account of some misunderstand- ing between himself and the paymaster gen- oral. He was afterwards, by an act of Con- gress, restored to the service, and assumed the duties of disbursing officer at Boston.

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Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 75

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