Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 77

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

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Colonel Samuel Catts was married, in 1829, to Sarah, daughter of John Baily. Mrs. Catts is still living at the age of eighty-one, in the possession of faculties bright and unimpaired. They had eight children, five of whom are still living, viz .: Sarah Elizabeth, married to Dr. John F. Cunningham, of Philadelphia, formerly of Chester county, and now deceased; Samuel; Anna; Evelina, of Smyrna; and Charles W., lawyer, practicing in Philadel- phia.

DR. WILLIAM BALDWIN, son of Thomas Baldwin, a Quaker preacher, was born in Chester county, Pa., March 29, 1779.

William Baldwin was liberally educated and after teaching for some time, read medicine with Dr. William A. Todd, of Downingtown, and in 1805 was appointed surgeon on a mer- chant vessel bound to China. On his return he resumed the study of medicine and graduat- ed at the University of Pennsylvania. He settled at Wilmington and married Miss Hannah M. Webster, of that city. Dr. Bald- win became a fellow of the Delaware State Medical Society, May 14, 1811. His health failing, he removed to Georgia. In 1812 he was appointed surgeon of a gunboat flotilla at Savannah, and in 1817, surgeon on the frigate Congress, bound on a South American mis- sion. This last appointment was due to his scientific acquirements, and while abroad he collected many new botanical specimens, some of which are in the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences. In 1818 he returned to Wihmning- ton. In 1819 he was a delegate to the general medical convention in Philadelphia, and in the same years was appoitned botanist to Long's expedition to the Upper Missouri, but died on the way at Franklin, Missouri, September 1. 1819, at the age of forty-one years, leaving a wife and four children.

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CAPTAIN HENRY GEDDES, one of the conspicuous soldiers of the Revolution from Wilmington, was born in Dublin, Ireland, June 13, 1749.

Henry Geddes was educated at Trinity Col- lege, Dublin, and at nineteen entered the Brit- ish navy as midshipman, and continued in that service several years. In 1775 he came to America, landing at Wilmington. At the outbreak of the Revolution he entered the American army as quartermaster of Colonel Duff's Delaware regiment, and was with that command during 1776-77. In December, 1777, Mr. Geddes returned from the army, took charge of a merchant vessel at Baltimore, and soon after became a captain in the United States navy. He commanded the sloop-of-war Patapsco, and with it rendered important ser- vice to the country. His perilous adventures were numerous. In 1778 his vessel was upset, but he and twelve others escaped in a small boat. For seventeen days they were without water or provisions, except twenty pounds of damaged flour and a dog. Five of their num- ber had perished from hunger and thirst, when the rest were resened by a brig, bound for Alexandria, Virginia. In 1799 his vessel was again wrecked. At the close of the Revolution Captain Geddes returned to the merchant ser- vice. In 1810, when in command of a vessel bound for Dublin, he was driven by a violent storm into the Irish Channel and wrecked near White Haven; he and his crew were saved. After the close of the second war with Great Britain he made two long voyages, and in 1816, was appointed inspector of revenue for the District of Delaware, which office he held to the time of his death, December 1, 1833. In 1776 he married Miss M. Latimer, of Wilmington, with whom he enjoyed fifty- seven years of wedded life. She was a noble and worthy woman. She survived her hns- band to the age of eighty-five years. The re- mains of both lie near the center of the Pres- byterian churchyard, on the west side of Mar- ket street. Their home in Wilmington was on the east side of Market street, a few doors be- low Second.

JOHN J. MILLIGAN was born Decem- ber 10, 1795, at his father's residence, Bohe- mia Manor, Cecil county, Maryland. His

grandfather, George Milligan, came from Ayr- shire, Scotland, toward the middle of the last century, and settled in Maryland. The judge's father, Robert Milligan, was sent to Scotland and educated at the University of St. An- drew's, and read law at the Middle Temple, London. On his return to this country he was admitted to the bar at Annapolis, Md., but re- sided chiefly on his estate, Bohemia. His wife was a daughter of John Jones, Esq., of Dela- ware, whose family estate was situated near Cantwell's Bridge, now Odessa, and whose mother was Lydia Cantwell, direct descendant of the Quaker martyr, Mary Dyer. In Judge Milligan's early childhood his father purchased the house on the southwest corner of Seventh and Market streets, in Wilmington, in which the Judge's family so long resided. It was in- tended as a temporary home, for a season when the Bohemia residence was subject to malarial fevers, but the father having died soon after, it was thought best for his family to live in Wilmington, where there were better facili- ties for their education than at their country home. As a child, Judge Milligan attended the old academy in Wilmington, and later went to St. Mary's College, Baltimore. There he remained until he entered Princeton Col- lege.

After his graduation at Princeton in 1814 he studied law in the office of his brother-in- law, the HIon. Louis MeLane, and was admit- ted to the bar in New Castle county, in De- cember, 1818. After his admission to the bar his health became so delicate that he was un- able to engage closely in the practice of his pro- fession. He was elected to Congress in 1832, and served three consecutive terms; his nomi- nation for the fourth term indicated that dur- ing that time he had by no means impaired the attachment and confidence of his party. Within a year after the close of his congres- sional career he was appointed by Governor Comegys as associate judge of the Superior Court for New Castle county to succeed Judge Black, who was then just deceased. His com- mission bears date the 19th day of September, 1839. This office he continued to hold until his resignation, September 16, 1864, a period within three days of twenty-five years.

As a general rule a judicial life is unevent- ful, and Judge Milligan's life afforded no ex- ception. That he conducted himself wisely,

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prudently and usefully in his honorable and responsible station was the judgment of those members of the bar who practiced before him. On the bench he was always patiently and thoughtfully attentive to the business before his court, and in the exercise of his judgment was deliberate, dispassionate and never con- sciously influenced by partiality or prejudice. While not insensible to popular favor or ap- proval, he would not win popular applause by endorsing or advocating what his sense of jus- tice condemned. An illustration of his judi- cial and manly independence occurred some years ago. The legislature had recently passed an act rigidly limiting the freedom of the col- ored people and restricting their privileges of traveling to and from the state to a very nar- row compass and made it the duty of the courts to the grand jury special charge of this law at the spring term of the court in each county. This Judge Milligan did, but at the same time took occasion to denounce the statute as un- necessarily harsh and unjust, and recommend- ed its speedy and unconditional repeal.

On the formation of Mr. Fillmore's cabinet, Judge Milligan was offered the position of Secretary of the Interior, but declined it, not feeling his health equal to the discharge of its onerous duties. On the occasion of his resig- nation of the office of associate judge, the re- gret of the people of the state was very gener- ally and warmly expressed. It was voiced by the governor of the state, who, through the Secretary of State, addressed to Judge Milli- gan a letter accepting his resignation and ex- pressing his profound regret that the state was to lose the public services of one who had "performed the duties of his office with fidel- ity, dignity and ability."

In personal intercourse, in the daily life of citizen, neighbor and friend, Judge Milligan's work and conversation were beyond reproach. ITis presence was commanding and engaging, and his address perfect. His manners were natural and unstudied, the outcome of an amiable disposition and a kind heart. Though sensitive to anything which might be supposed to touch his character, he was not quick to give or take offense, as he knew when and how to assert himself without being oversensitive, of expecting wrong where none had been in- tended. To the younger members of the bar his kindliness was constant; and at the time

of his death many of them recalled instances in which it had been strikingly exhibited.

After Judge Milligan's retirement from the bench, he removed to Philadelphia, where he died April 20, 1875.

WOOLSEY C. HOPKINS, of Sussex county, Del., son of William and Nancy (Carey) Hopkins, was born near Angola, Sus- sex county, Del., June 27, 1855.

Mr. Hopkins' father, William Hopkins, was born in 1822, near Cool Spring, Del. He was educated in the schools of Sussex county, and remained at home assisting his father on the farm until he attained his majority. After cultivating rented land for some time, Mr. Hopkins purchased a homestead, but after- wards removed to the Walls farm. He was a Republican, and was highly esteemed. Wil- liam Hopkins was married to Nancy, daugh- ter of Woolsey B. and Susan Carey. Their children were: I. Joseph II., died aged twen- ty-eight years; II. Margaret (Mrs. B. T. Pet- tyjohn); III. Mary (Mrs. John Warrington), of Long Neck; IV. Lydia (Mrs. John Steets), of Long Neck; V. Woolsey C .; VI. Ida Susan (Mrs. Erasmus W. Marsh); VII. Clara (Mrs. Robert Burton), of Long Neck; VIII. George, farming on part of the homestead; IX. Amanda (Mrs. Charles Fisher), of Nassau, Del. William Hopkins was a member of the M. E. church. He died on the Walls farm, in December, 1895; his widow resides on the homestead.

Woolsey C. Hopkins was educated at the Rabbits Ferry school, and remained with his father, assisting in the work of the home farm until he was thirty-six. Several years after his marriage, Mr. Hopkins purchased his present home, a farm of 136 acres, in Indian River hundred; he also owns part of the homestead. HIe is a Republican, highly esteemed, and very popular in the hundred in which he has held various minor offices.

On January 21, 1891, Woolsey C. Hopkins was married to Ruth E., daughter of James P. W. and Mary E. (Paynter) Marsh, both de- ceased. The children of Woolsey C. and Ruth E. (Marsh) Hopkins are: I. Florence M .; II. James William; III. Neva May. Mr. Hop- kins and his wife are members of the M. E. church, in which he holds the office of trustee, class-leader and steward.

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NICHOLAS G. WILLIAMSON, the son of Abram Williamson, was a native of Brandy- wine hundred, and was born in 1780. Ile studied law under the direction of Caesar A. Rodney, was admitted to the bar of New Castle county in April, 1809, and practiced in Wil- mington many years. In 1822 he was appoint- ed postmaster of Wilmington, and in 1825 was elected the second mayor of the city. His busi- ness in connection with these offices required so much of his time that he abandoned the law. Ile occupied both positions until his death, which occurred October 15, 1843. He is in- terred in the burial-ground of the Friends on Fourth and West streets, near the burial-place of the Hon. John Dickinson.

ARCHIBALD HAMILTON, who was ad- mitted to the bar of New Castle county in April, 1809, was of an old family in the coun- tv. Hle resided in Wilmington, and practiced his profession thirty-three years, and until his death in 1842. Ile was an earnest advocate for the removal of the county-seat from New Castle to Wilmington, and a caricature of "Archie Hamilton" with the court house on his back was distributed through the county during one of the campaigns for that purpose. Alexander II. Hamilton, brother of Archibald, was also an attorney, and was admitted to the bar of New Castle county, in October, 1827. He settled in Philadelphia, where he practiced his profession. For some reason he was again admitted to the New Castle county bar, in May, 1838, and is then mentioned as of Phila- delphia.

IION. JOIIN WALES was born in New Haven, Conn., July 31, 1783, and died at Wilmington, Delaware, December 3, 1863.

Ilis American ancestors were among the carly settlers of New England. Nathaniel Wales landed in Boston, in 1635. Rev. John Wales, a great-grandson of Nathaniel, gradu- ated at Harvard College in 1728, and for thir- ty-four years was pastor of the First Con- gregational church of Raynham, Mass. Ile married a great-granddaughter of James Leonard, who with his brother Henry, had emigrated from Pontypool, Monmouth coun-

ty, England, a district on the border of Wales, rich in deposits of coal, iron and tin, and in 1652 settled at Raynham, then included in the town of Taunton. Here the Leonard brothers "set up a bloomary work," with license to cut wook and take ore "in any of the commons ap- pertaining to the town where it is not pro. prietary." This was the first iron manufac- tory established on the American continent. It was enlarged from time to time by the ad- ditional furnaces, and continued in the pos- session of the Leonards and their descendants for many years. During the colonial history of Massachusetts, members of the Leonard family filled important positions in the church and magistracy, and to this day their repre- sentatives are to be found among publie and active men in different parts of the United States. One of the family, Daniel Leonard, became conspicuous during the early part of the Revolution as a loyalist, and was obliged to flee the country. He was subsequently ap- pointed chief justice of Bermuda as a reward of his loyalty, and as some compensation, it may be supposed, for his personal sacrifices.

Rev. John Wales died February 23, 1765, having survived his wife. They left two chil- dren, Sanmel and Prudence. The daughter became the wife of Rev. Perey Fobes, who succeeded his father-in-law in the pulpit of the Raynham church. Samuel graduated at Yale in 1767, entered the ministry, and, as recorded by himself, "was ordained over the First Ecclesiastical Society in Milford, Conn., December 19, 1770, in his twenty-third year." Ile was afterwards made a Doctor of Divinity, and at the time of his death, at the compara- tively carly age of forty-seven, was a pro- fessor in the Theological School at New Haven. He had the reputation of being an accomplished scholar and an able and elo- quent preacher. He married Miss Catharine Miles, of Milford, who, with their four chil- dren, three sons and one daughter, survived him.

John Wales was the second son of this mar- riage, and was still in his early boyhood at the time of his father's death; but he was blessed with the watchful care and tender devotion of a good mother, a woman of fine understand- ing and practical senso, who blended firmness with indulgence in the management of her children, and thus won both their love and

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respect. She lived to see her children oda- cated and settled, and, dying at an advanced age, retained to the last their grateful and rey- erent affection. Her son John never omitted an opportunity to praise her virtues and to homer her memory.

As was the enstom in those days, the youth Wa- received into the family of a clergyman to be prepared for college, and in due time entered Yale, where he graduated in 1801. Intending to adopt the law as a profe -- jon, he pursued his legal studies in the office and under the direction of his brother-in-law, Seth P. Staples, and on hi- admission to the bar Legan practice in his native state, but in a short time, not meeting with the success he had hoped for, or, perhaps, stirred by the impulse which prompts so many young men to seek fortime in some place distant from their native home, he first et out for Wash- ington C'ity, taking with him letters of intro- Auction. His friend, the late Charle- Chanu- vov, advised him to pitch his tout in Philadel- phia, then, and for a long time, the El Dorado of the legal fraternity, but after surveying the field there and at Wilmington, he was persuaded to open an office in Baltimore. Here he had remained only a few years when he av. vopted the invitation of James M. Broom, E-q., to form a partnership with that gentle- man in the practice of law in Delaware. In pursuance of this plan, he came to Wilming- ton in 1815, and on the 20th day of October, in that year, in the court of common pleas, at New Castle, on motion of Nicholas Van Dyke, was admitted to the Delaware Far. Ile was not at this time an entire stranger in Dela- ware, having made the acquaintance of several families when traveling through the state on his annual visits to his New England relative -.

The law-firm of Broom and Wales contin- ned in active operation until 1819, when the senior partner removed to Philadelphia. The court dockets show that they had a lucrative buiness. Mr. Broom was a lawyer of con- siderable attainments in his profesion, of scholarly tastes and of attractive conversa- tional power. On the dissolution of the part- nership, Mr. Wales continued the business on his own account, and for nearly thirty years afterward- his presence and voice wore familiar to all who attended the courts at New Castle, or the Court of Appeals at Dover. He had

become almost a veteran lawyer before a regul- lar series of reports was begun in this state, but the carlier volume of the Delaware Re- parts ( Harrington) -how's that he had a large share of business in both the equity and the law courts, and from the character of the vares in which he appeared, and from the brief notes of his arguments, he stood among the foremost of hi- contemporaries at the bar. He had acquired a high reputation as a chancery lawyer, and his practice in that branch of the profession wa- correspondingly extensive. . 1 naturally strong mind, improved and kept alert by the constant exercise of its faculties. combined with a sound and vigorous body. enabled him to perform the most laborious duties without suffering from the exhaustion which so often follows the studions prepar- tion and the protracted trial. He was an ani- mated speaker, and always secured the atten- tion of the court and jury.

Thoroughly identified in interest with the growth and prosperity of his adopted home he was always ready to aid in every measure for the moral or material improvement of his city and state. He was one of the original promoters of Delaware College, and unsucces- fully advocated its location at Wilmington. The president of one of the oldest banks in Wilmington, and a director in the first fire insurance company organized in the state, he also bore a principal part in obtaining the city charter of Wilmington, and in the earliest step- taken to construct the railroad between Philadelphia and Baltimore via Wihnington.

At all times interested in public affairs, his opinions in relation to them were frankly avowed and consistently adhered to. Belong- ing to the Whig school in politics, he was an enthusiastic admirer of Webster and Clay, the distinguished chiefs of that now historie party, and took his share of political campaign- ing, at a time when "stump speeches" were per- haps more necessary and useful than in the e days of abundant documents and ubiquitous newspaper -.

Onthe inaugurationof Major Thomas Stock- tom as Governor of Delaware, in 1515, Mr. Wales was appointed secretary of state, and in March, 1819, he was elected by the legislature to the Senate of the United States, to fill the mexpired term of Hon. John M. Clayton, who had entered the cabinet of President Tay-

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lor. Ilis service as senator was of short dura- tion, ending March 4, 1851, the Democrats having in the meantime obtained a majority in the legislature and seleted James 1. Bayard t, succeed him. He had now virtually retired from the active practice of the law, and al- though deeply interested in the momenton-and exciting questions which were hurrying the country into the vortex of civil war, he ab- stained from engaging in publie disenssims- his advancing age, indeed, exempting him from the labors of a political canvass -- being content to have it known that he was opposed, as he always had been, to the extension of -lavery, that he was hostile to secession and every form of disunion, and that he approved the principles and policy of the Republican party. After the war of 1861 had begun, and during its progress, he felt, in common with thousands of his fellow citizens, the deepest anxiety for the future of the country, although he never lost confidence in his opinion that the unhappy conflict would terminate in the preservation of the Union.

Mr. Wales was fortunate in the enjoyment of a serene old age, in the possession of an unclouded mind and of a happy, contented disposition to the end of his life. A regular attendant on public worship, his religious con- vietions were strong and sincere, but not dem- onstrative, appearing more in reverence of manner and charity of judgment than in professions. He died after a short illness, which he was fully conscious from the first would prove fatal.

John Wales was married June 12, 1820, to Miss Ann Patten, only daughter of Major John Patten, and granddaughter of Rev. John Miller, both of Kent county, a woman l'e- markable for her superiority of mind and heart. She died November 10, 1843, in the forty-fourth year of her age. Of this marriage two sons and three daughters survived their parent -: Leonard E., John P .; Catharine B ; Matilda C. and Josephine M.

ELISHA D. CULLEN, one of the leaders of the bar of Sussex county and of the state, and a noted member of Congress, was born in Millsboro, Sussex county, April 23, 1799, and was a son of Charles M. and Elizabeth (Harris) Cullen.

Mr. Cullen's father was an influential mem- ber of the legislature, and his ancestors, who were from Scotland, were among the earliest settlers of Kent county. Eli-ha was educated at Princeton, studied law with Peter Robin- son, afterwards associate judge, and was ad- mitted to the bar in October, 1821, from which time he practiced in Georgetown until his death, in February, 1862. He was cleet- to Congress on the American ticket in 1845, and distinguished himself by his cogent rea- soning and splendid oratory upon the great problems of the period, especially the Kansas and Nebraska question. He was a Democrat. and the leader of this party in Sussex.

Elisha D. Cullen married Margaret, daugh- ter of Rebert West, of Lewes, by whom he had six children, among them Charles MI. C'ullen, a lawyer of Georgetown.

MARTIN WALTHAM BATES was born February 24, 1786, in Salisbury, Conn., It at an carly age his father removed to Berkshire county, Mass. At the age of nine- teen, being disappointed by circumstances of a college carcer, he was obliged to begin his life-work, and came to Delaware, settling first near Warwick, in the state of Maryland, and teaching school in both states. While thus carning his living he studied medicine, and then attended lectures and received the degree of M. D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Upon his graduation, he settled in Smyrna and attained a good measure of success in his profession, but his health failed and he was obliged to abandon the practice of medicine. He therefore moved to Dover and engaged in mercantile pursuits. In the finan- cial stress which followed the last year of the war with England, he became involved in dif- fieulties and was unable to continue busi- ness, abandoning it under what was, for that period, a heavy load of debt. Dr. Wales was very leniently treated by his creditors, and long afterwards, hay- ing entered upon a new calling, he paid all his debts, principal and interest. Prior to his failure in business, he had acquired a repu- tation in Dover as a debator, having taken an active part in a society organized for that purpose, and with great misgivings, having

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then a wife and one child depending upon him, he accepted the advice of some of the leading members of the bar of Kent county, and entered upon the study of the law in the office of the Ilon. Thomas Clayton. He was admitted to the bar October 5, 1822, achieved an early success, and from that time until his retirement from active practice was recognized as one of the leaders of a bar which contained a number of exceptionally able men.

Dr. Bates was very industrious and methodi- cal, alwaysabsorbed in the cause of his client, a fine pleader and thoroughly familiar with the practice of the court. He formed his opinions delberately and then adhered to them tenaciously. He was a judicious coun- selor, a good nisi pruis lawyer, and argued questions of law in the court of errors and appeals with discrimination and foree.

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Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 77

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