Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 81

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

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William Cooch, son of William Cooch, was a miller and succeeded to his father's business and property. He died in May, 1869.

Thomas Cooch, the father of William Cooch, Sr., who was a miller with his father, also named Thomas Cooch, died young. Thomas Cooch, senior, was the original emi- grant from England, and settled on the prop- erty which has ever since borne his name. IIe purchased the mill and many acres, in that seetion, and was evidently a man of character and enterprise, and became wealthy. Ile married a Welsh lady.

The first mill was burned by the British soldiery at the time of the battle of Cooch's Bridge. The second mill was built by the first William in 1792, just east of the bridge, and used until 1828, when another mill was built also by the elder Mr. William Cooch.

Levi G. Couch had five children: I. Joseph Wilkins; IT. Helen, wife of Rev. George Por- ter; III. William Zebulon Hollingsworth; IV. Mary B., wife of Samuel MeDonald. Joseph

Wilkins Cooch attended the district school, and the Newark academy till 1856, when he entered Delaware college and pursued a three years' course. Returning home he went to farming on the old homestead. The estate contained five hundred acres of land at Cooch's Bridge and in the vicinity. In March, 1879, Mr. Cooch, with his brother William, purchased from the other heirs the mill prop- erty.

Joseph W. Cooch held several local offices, and in 1878 was elected State Senator for New Castle county, for the term of four years. In the session of 1879 he was chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, and served on the Committee of Enrolled bills and Corporations. In 1881 he was chairman of the Committee on Education, and served on several others, proving a faithful and able member of that body, and is highly regarded by his constitu- ents as a popular and conscientious legislator. IIe was made a Mason in 1874, at Newark. Ile served as trustee of the Pencader Presby- terian church at Glasgow, having united with that denomination in 1870. Joseph Wilkins Cooch was married in 1871, to Miss Mary E., daughter of Rev. Edward and Nancy E. (Foote) Webb, of the Presbyterian church.

WILLIAM SINCLAIR McCAULLEY, lawyer, late of Wilmington, was born in New Castle county, December 18, 1832, son of William and Sarah (Sinclair) McCaulley. In 1847, Mr. McCaulley entered St. Mary's Col- lege, graduating with the class of 1850. HIe afterward became a student-at-law in the of- fice of the late Chief Justice Gilpin, and was admitted to the bar in 1854. Mr. MeCaulley at once entered upon the duties of his profes- sion in Wilmington, where he soon acquired an extensive and lucrative practice, and be- came a prominent member of the bar.

In 1855 he was appointed City Solicitor of Wilmington, and faithfully discharged the duties of his positoin for the term of four years. He was appointed Deputy Attorney General in 1862 and continued as such for two years. In politics W. S. MeCanlley was a Democrat. He was a candidate for mayor in 1868, and also in 1870, but his party being in the minority he was not elected. Mr. McCaul- ley continued to practice his profession with success until the close of 1878, when he died suddenly, December 30, after a few hours' ill-

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ness, his ailment being acute pneumonia. Mr. McCaulley was a man of more than ordinary ability. Early in 1878 he was appointed Ad- jutant General of the state, and held that of- fice at the time of his death. William Sinclair McCaulley was married, in 1855, to Miss Caroline F., daughter of Dr. J. B. Brinton, of West Chester, Pa., who survived him. Their only child, Florence F., married G. R. Frost.

HON. ALEX. L. HAYES, LL.D., was the eldest son of Manlove Hayes of York seat, Kent county, Delaware, and Zipporah (Laws) Ilaves.

Richard Hayes, who emigrated from Eng- land in 1698, married Dolly Manlove, and made a settlement in Sussex county near the locality of Milford. He died in 1773, aged 96. Ilis son Nathaniel Hayes married Eliza- beth Carlisle and died 1786, aged 83 years. Richard Hayes, the son of Nathaniel Hayes, married Priscilla Polk, granddaughter of Eph- raim Polk, and died in 1796, aged 53 years, leaving three sons, viz: I. Manlove; II. Alex- ander; III. Charles, and three daughters.

Manlove Hayes, the father of Hon. Alex. L. Hayes, was the only son of Richard who left issue. He died in 1849, aged 80, leaving to survive him a widow, Ann Hayes, since de- ceased, and three sons: I. Alexander; II. Man- love; III. Charles Polk; and two daughters: I. Eliza M., widow of the late IIon. William F. Boone, of Philadelphia; II. Harriet Sykes; one other daughter of his first marriage, Mary Hlayes, married the late Col. William K. Lockwood, formerly register of Kent county, and died in 1818.

Judge Alex. L Hayes was born March 7, 1793, and died in Lancaster, Pa., on the 13th of July, 1875, in his 83d year. His prepara- tion for college was conducted at a Friends' school, Smyrna, at Newark Academy, and at Dover Academy, and while at the last was, at nineteen years of age, induced to accept the nomination for Secretary of the State Senate, to which position he was triumphantly elected.

Hle, in company with the late Hon. Robert C. Grier, late justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, entered the Junior class half advanced at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., where he was graduated in the class of

1812, having gained one of the three highest honors. lle entered on the study of the law with IIon. II. M. Ridgley, of Dover, becom- ing a member of the bar, November 15, 1815, was admitted to practice in the Common Pleas, District, and Supreme Court of Phila- delphia, in 1820, after removal to that city, and in 1821 removed to the city of Reading for the practice of his profession. There his successful career continued until June, 1827, when he was appointed by Governor Andrew Shultze, assistant judge of the District Court of Lancaster and York counties. Upon the division of the judicial district in 1833, upon petition of the members of the bar of Lancas- ter, he was appointed President Judge by Governor Wolfe.

Ile performed the duties of this position with high honor until 1849, when he resigned to resume practice at the bar. Ile was one of the originators of the enterprise resulting in the erection of the Conestoga Mills of Lancas- ter, and served as one of a committee to visit and report, after inspection of the cotton mills of New England. Judge Hayes was the writer of the committee's report favoring their immediate erection. At the formation of the company, he at first declined to serve as one of the five managers, but, in 1846, was induced to succeed John N. Lane, and, in 1850, sue- ceeded C. Hager, as president and general agent of the company. The mills employed eight hundred hands and he had full charge of their operations until 1854, when he per- mitted himself to be elected, at the solicitation of his many friends, associate law judge of the courts of Lancaster county.

In 1864 he was re-elected, and served with rare ability and dignity in this honorable posi- tion; and though he had passed his four score years, his mental vigor and physical powers were remarkably preserved. He probably held the oldest commission at the expiration of his last term (1874) of any living judge, having served forty-two years on the bench. Judge Ilayes' efforts were unremitting in the cause of education; for many years he was president of the board of school directors of the city; a trustee of the State Normal School, and one of the vice-presidents of the Franklin Marshall College. The occasion of his death was one of an eventful character in the com- munity in which he lived. To the citizens

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generally, it was a matter of wide condolence and affectionate regret, for all knew and hon- ored Judge Hayes. The meeting of the Lan- caster bar on the 14th of July was in itself a touching scene. Hon. Thomas E. Franklin made the formal announcement of the event calling them together; a committee of which he was the chairman reported resolutions, which, while containing the highest eulogy, were felt to be just, recognizing the purity of his official life, and the benevolence, charity and integrity "which marks the christian gen- tleman" in every relation of life.

Judge llaves had two sons, Edward, a graduate of West Point, who died of yellow fever on the coast of Texas soon after the war with Mexico, and Charles, the second son, was a civil engineer, and died some years before his father.

WILLIAM COOCH was born at Cooch's Bridge, January 6, 1845, second son of Levi G. and Sarah C. (Wilkins) Cooch. Hle at- tended the schools in the vicinity of his home and the academy at Newark. For three years he was at the military academy of Col. Theo- dore Hyatt, at Wilmington; following this a salesman in a mercantile house in Philadel- phia for a year and a half, after which he took a special course in analytical chemistry in Delaware college, where he continued two years.

In 1871 William Cooch became Assistant Professor of Chemistry in the University of Missouri. Two years later he joined his brother, J. Wilkins Cooch, in iron mining on Iron Hill, two miles west of Cooch's Bridge, and a part of the original estate of the elder Thomas Cooch. In this they were successful until the panie of 1875 to 1878. William Cooch joined the P. E. church in 1878. He was married May 14, 1874, to Miss Annie M., daughter of Frederick A. Curtis, of Newark.

HON. CHARLES HENRY MeWHOR- TER was born in St. Georges, December 25, 1838, eldest son of Leontine MeWhorter. Ilis father was married to Jane, daughter of John MeCrone, a native of Ireland. They had nine other children, six of whom are: I. John T .;

II. Leontine; III. Emerson Hopkins; IV. Maggie, wife of Clarence Jamison; V. Caro- line; VI. Mary.

The father of the first Leontine was Thomas Me Whorter, who was born in Vir- ginia and came to Delaware the latter part of the last century, and settled in St. George's hundred where he resided the remainder of his life. He married Mary McCaulley of Delaware, and had three children: I. Leon- tine; II. Thomas; III. Mary.

Charles II. MeWhorter attended the schools of his locality, and in 1852 the Newark Academy, remaining four years. Returning from school, he remained on the farm till 1860, when he removed to another, owned by his father, near Dover, which he cultivated for three years. In 1863 he left farming and in company with his brother, engaged success- fully in mercantile business in St. Georges, under the fimin name of C. II. and J. T. Me- Whorter. In 1866 he sold his stock and real estate to J. P. Belville and retired from the business. Hle then furnished the capital for, and took an interest in a tobacco manufactory in the same town, turning out about one thousand pounds of manufactured goods per day, and in this also was very successful, ex- porting largely to Europe. This business he continued till 1870 when he sold it, and in partnership with his brother engaged in the manufacture of agricultural machinery, un- der the firm name of J. T. MeWhorter & Company, which they continued till the spring of 1881, when they established them- selves in the agricultural implement business in Wilmington.

Mr. MeWhorter allied himself to the Democratic party, but was always opposed to slavery. He was elected to the State Senate in 1878 for four years and supported the bill to move the court house to Wilmington. He was a municipal officer for several years in St. Georges. Charles Henry MeWhorter was married, in 1865, to Miss Agnes, daughter of Thomas Jamison of St. George's hundred.

CAPT. JOIIN WHITE WALKER was born at Lowes, January 16, 1816. His father, David Walker, was a man of irreproachable character, quiet in manner and greatly es-

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teemed; he held several local offices and was an elder in the Presbyterian church. He died at the age of seventy-four. The wife of David Walker was Mary, second daughter of Gov. David Hall, and widow of Dr. Robert Hous- ton, unele of Judge John W. Houston.

John W. Walker was educated at the acad- emy at Lowes, and at sixteen commenced to learn the trade of carpenter. He was ap- pointed wreck master by Governor Tharp in 1846, and held the position four years, after which he was successfully engaged many years in the wrecking business, and in com- mand of his own vessel acquired the title of captain. Mr. Walker also superinteneded the construction of the government wharf at Lewes till near its completion, under the ap- pointment of Col. Kurtz, in which position he gave great satisfaction to all concerned, by his skill and knowledge of all the kinds of work to be done.

A Democrat in politics, Capt. Walker was many times judge of the election in Lewes. In 1859 he served in the Legislature as a rep- resentative from Sussex, proving an able and popular officer. He removed in that year to Wilmington. In 1872 he was elected a mem- ber of the city council, and served with credit for two years. He became a member of the Masonic Fraternity, and since early life a member of the Presbyterian church.

John White Walker was married in 1855 to Miss Eliza Ann Herdman, daughter of the late William Herdman, at one time sheriff of New Castle county.

HENRY HI. LOCKWOOD, son of Wil- liam K. and Mary (Have-) Lockwood, was born August 17, 1814, in Kent county. He entered West Point in June, 1832, was gradu- ated and appointed a lieutenant in the Second Regiment of Artillery, U. S. A., in June, 1836. He served under Major General Jes- sup through the Florida campaign of 1836- 1837, and resigned his commission in October of the latter year. In 1841, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics in the Navy, and in that capacity, was assigned in November, 1841, to the frigate United States on her three years' cruise in the Pacific. Mr. Lockwood was adjutant of the land forees under Com. T.

A. Jones, her commander, in the capture of Monterey on the coast of and the capital of California in October, 1842.

On his return, in 1844, Mr. Lockwood was stationed at the Naval Asylum in Philadel- phia. Ile assisted in the organization of the United States Naval School at Annapolis, hav- ing on the requisition of the Government fin- ished a plan for the same, and was appointed among the first of its professors.

Having, in 1845, married the eldest daugh- ter of Chief Justice Booth of Delaware, Henry II. Lockwood established his residence in one of the dwellings belonging to the Gov- ernment on the beautiful esplanade of Fort Severn, where he continued to reside, filling successively the professorships of Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, Gunnerv and In- fantry and Artillery tactics, until the Naval Academy was transferred by orders from Washington to Newport, R. I.

In 1852, Professor Lockwood published a work on "small arms and other Military Exer- cises adapted to the Naval service,' and also a pamphlet "On the Manual of Naval Bat- teries" which have contributed to the uni- formity of drill, and the admirable system existing in our Navy in the practice of arms. Before the publication of this Manual no two latteries, it is believed, were drilled alike.

When the State of Delaware, in the spring of 1861, raised her first Regiment of Volun- teers, Professor Lockwood was solicited to ac- cept the command as colonel. Believing it his duty to do so, he applied himself, upon as- suming command, diligently, to instruct and train his men for the field. On the 8th of August he was made Brigadier General, and was assigned to the Army of the Potomac. On the occasion of his promotion he received from the officers of the regiment he had com- manded an elegant sword and sash, in token of their esteem.

It being rumored that the counties of Ac- comac and Northampton, Va., were swarming with armed rebels, who threatened the lower counties of Maryland, the Union men in those counties anxiously sought aid from the Gov- ernment of the United States. Gen. Lock- wood was therefore directed, in September, 1861, to establish a camp at Cambridge, Md., and organize a force to protect the peninsula, between the Chesapeake and Delaware. Here

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he remained until the November elections were over, when he assembled his forces, in- cluding Nemin's famous battery, the N. Y. Fifth (Zouaves), and a regiment from each of the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Delaware, with a company of cavalry from Reading, Pa., the whole numbering five thousand five hundred men. These he assembled at Newtown, on the Pocomoke, near the Virginia line. Sin- ultaneously with this movement Major Gen. Dix's celebrated proclamation was sent forth. The insurgents were soon brought to terms and compelled to lay down their arms.

A civil government under the United States authority and the Legislature of Wheeling was established, which General Lockwood protected till January, 1863, though constant- ly seeking more active duty. Then he was put in command of the defense of the Lower Potomac, with headquarters at Point Lookout, where extensive hospitals, corrals, contraband camps and rebel prisons had been established. Here he remained till called to lead such troops as were in and about Baltimore, in June, 1863, to Gettysburg. With three Maryland regiments and one from New York, he aided in that memorable conflict, justly re- garded as the decisive battle of the war. His comnand was known as an independent bri- gade, but acted with the Twelfth corps.

After this battle and the subsequent at- tempt to crush Lee's army at Williamsport, he was left in command of the important post of Harper's Ferry, with its garrison of 15,000 men.

During the following autumn Mr. Lock- wood was relieved, and soon after, on the with- drawal of Gen. Schenck from the Middle De- partment, succeeded that commander in com- mand of the Middle Department, with head- quarters in Baltimore. After the disastrous battles in the wilderness, Va., in the spring of 1864, Gen. Lockwood gathered together all the available troops in and around Baltimore and Washington-some 6,000 men-and led them as an acceptable reinforcement to the depleted Army of the Potomac. He was as- signed to the command of the Second Division of the Sixth Corps, and as such took part in the actions of May 30th and June 1st, near Hanover Court House, Va.

Afterwards he returned to Baltimore, and

remained inactive until July, 1864, when in the absence of the Department Commander, he, at the instance of the Governor of Mary- land, and the mayor of Baltimore, assumed command of such provisional forces as could be gathered together for the defense of that city against the rebel raid of General Early, in July, 1864, whose cavalry seriously threat- ened the city.

Confirmed in his course by the Secretary of War, he remained for some weeks in com- mand of a large foree near that city, and after- wards and until his muster out in August, 1865, commanded a brigade in the Middle De- partment. The war ended, General Lockwood resumed his duties as a naval officer at the Naval Academy, being professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy.

In July, 1871, he was transferred to the Naval Observatory, Washington, D. C., where he remained until August 14, 1876; under the provisions of an act of Congress, providing for such officers as may reach the age of 62 years, he was retired from active duty on three-fourths pay.

THOMAS OLIVER CULBRETHI was born in Caroline county, Md., January 20, 1828; son of Durden and Susan (Crawford) Culbreth. His grandfather, Samuel Cul- breth, was once a member of the Legislature. Ile was married three times. First to Miss Smithers, by whom he had three children: I. John; II. Durden; III. Margaret; second to Miss Smith, and had four children: I. Sallie; II. Thomas B .; III. Richard S .; IV. Samuel. His third wife was Annie Baynard, and his children by her were six: I. Robert B .; II. William F .; III. Charles; IV. Susan, after- wards Mrs. Solomon Truitt; V. Rebecca, who died a young woman; VI. Henry C. Culbreth.

Durden Culbreth had three children, two of whom are living: I. Thomas Oliver; II. Crawford; III. died in childhood. The fam- ily is one of the oldest and most respectable on the eastern shore of Maryland; one of its members, Thomas Culbreth, was at the time the only representative ever sent to Congress from Caroline county.

Thomas O. Culbreth attended the schools of his locality in his boyhood and worked on the farm. In 1848 he became a clerk in a dry

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goods house in Philadelphia, where he thor- oughly familiarized himself with the business. Receiving but a small salary, he still contrived to lay aside, regularly, a portion of his earn- ings, which added to the $7,000 he received from his father's estate, enabled him, in 1857, to start a store in Dover in company with his half unele, William T. Culbreth, who took charge of the business in that place, while Thomas O. Culbreth made the necessary pur- chases in Philadelphia, where he still remain- ed as clerk. The following year, however, he became a resident of Dover, and the partner- ship continued until 1867, when his unele · died. He then conducted the business alone till 1878, when he retired and devoted himself to the care of his property.

Having been very successful in business, he invested largely in real estate, and owned in Kent county 377 acres in two farms, in Mary- land 450 acres in two farms, and much valua- ble property in Dover. He joined the Protest- ant Episcopal church, in which he became vestryman. Thomas Oliver Culbreth was married in 1864, to Mary E., daughter of Jonathan Stiles, a farmer of Kent county.

COL. ARTHUR HARPER GRIM- SILAW, M. D., was born in Philadelphia, January 16, 1824. He graduated at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania in the class of 1845, in which year he came to Delaware and en- gaged in the practice of his profession, at Du- Pont's Powder Mills. Before settling in this state, he was resident physician of the Phila- delphia Dispensary, and physician to the Friends' Orphan Asylum for Colored Chil- dren, and also served as resident physician in the Philadelphia Almshouse.

After nearly three years spent at DuPont's, he removed to Wilmington, in January, 1848, and entered on a large and successful practice, in which he continued until 1861, when he was appointed postmaster of the city by Presi- dent Lincoln, and held this position until re- moved by Andrew Johnson.

On June 7, 1862, he was commissioned colonel, and appointed mustering officer to re- cruit the Fourth Delaware Infantry Regi- ment, whose subsequent gallant services in the Army of the Potomac are well known. He

was in command of a brigade during most of the period of service up to January, 1865, and his brigade took the chief part in the action of Chapel House, on the Squirrel Level Road, Va.

Among the most important battles in which he took part, were those of Cold Harbor, and the attack on Petersburg, besides being in many others of less importance. In the at- tack on Petersburg, he was wounded twice: in the shoulder by the fragment of a shell and was shot through the right arm by a minnie ball.

In civil life Dr. Grimshaw served in posi- tions of honor and usefulness, having been for three years a member of the city council; a member of the Board of Education, from the period of its formation up to 1882, and at one time its president. Ile succeeded to Hon. Wil- lard Hall, as superintendent of common schools of New Castle county.

Dr. Grimshaw, by his superior endowments and culture, served the best interests of educa- tion, and his writing's have been widely read, especially his two published prize essays, one on the "Use of Tobacco," and another on "Juvenile Delinquency."

ALBERT CURRY is the son of Thomas and Nancy (Clifton) Curry.

Thomas Curry was born in 1783, in North West Fork hundred, and died in 1836, on his estate near Milford. His father was also named Thomas, who died October 22, 1827; he was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, and served in the famous "Delaware Line," and his son Thomas served under Col. S. Davis, in the War of 1812.

The Currys first were settlers in the pro- vince of Maryland, and emigrated from Eng- land. Thomas, the grandfather of Albert Curry, had two sons, Thomas and James, and moved from Bridgeville, Del., to the farm near Greenwood, where he died. The period of his settlement on this farm antedated the war of the Revolution.

On this farm Thomas, the father of Albert Curry grew un. He had children: I. Daniel, late of Milford, father of Mrs. Gen. A. T. A. Torbert; IT. Albert; III. Ann Elizabeth, wife of Simeon Pennewill, Esq., of Greenwood.

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Albert Curry, after attending the schools of his neighborhood, was sent, at sixteen years of age, to the Academy at Milford, then under the direction of Rev. Mr. Howard, and after four years, because of his father's declining health, was compelled to return home. He devoted his life to agriculture, and became one of the most successful and thorough farmers of the state, owning at one time ten farms in his vicinity, and having had as many as 20,000 peach trees in bearing at one time.

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Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 81

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