Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 95

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

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CHIARLES FLEMING RICHARDS was born in North West Fork hundred, Sussex county, June 15, 1846. ITis father, John Richards, was a farmer in independent cir- cumistances, a man of intelligence, and much esteemed in the community. His mother was the daughter of Dr. John Carey, in his day, a prominent physician of that county. He was the youngest of a large family of chil- dren, and lost his father at the age of seven. Ilis mother then removed into the town of Bridgeville, where he was sent to the best schools. He received his academic educa- tion in New Jersey, and registered as a stu- dent-at-law in Georgetown, in his nineteenth year. After reading for two years he entered Albany University, N. Y., and graduated with the class of 1868. Admitted to the bar in Albany, and also in Georgetown in the fall of that year, he opened an office in the latter place in the beginning of 1869. IIere he re- mained.

In the time of the war, although too young for service, he enlisted in the Sixth Delaware Regiment, which was organized as state guards, but was ordered to the front during the second invasion of Pennsylvania by Gen- eral Lee. He accompanied his regiment, and was mustered out with his comrades.

Always a pronounced Republican, after his admission to the bar, Mr. Richards was act- ive in politics, and from 1870 to 1876 served as chairman of the Republican Executive Committee of Sussex county, and as a mem- ber of the State Central Committee. In 1876 he declined a re-election as chairman of

the Republican committee, and afterward de- voted his time and attention exclusively to his profession. He became an official member of the Methodist Episcopal church, with which he united in 1863, and in which he al- ways was very active and influential.

Charles Fleming Richards was married in December, 1870, to Miss Mary C., daughter of Dr. John R. Sudler, of Bridgeville, and had four children: I. Robert Haven; II. Sarah Anne; III. Charles Sudler; IV. Laura Richards. Mr. Richards is a gentleman who commands the confidence and respect of the people of his county and state, not less by his courteous demeanor, than by his recog- nized abilities.

HENRY LAWRENCE CHURCHMAN was born in Ridley township, Delaware coun- ty, Pa., March 20, 1821. IIis father, Caleb Churchman, was a farmer and grazier of that county, a birthright member of the Friends' Society, but was dismissed for the offence, it was said, of joining a company of light horse cavalry during the last war with Great Britain. Mr. Chaurehman died in Chester, Pa., in 1863, being in the eighty-first year of his age. His wife was Martha, daughter of John Shelly, a farmer of New Castle county. She died in 1827. Mr. Churchman was sent to the Friends' School at West Chester, and also that at Burlington, New Jersey. After his return he assisted his father until he reached his twenty-second year, when he com- menced farming and grazing upon his own account, on his father's farm in Philadelphia county, Pa. On December 1, 1842, he came to New Castle county and purchased "Spring Garden," a farm which he greatly improved, residing thereon until 1852, when he returned to the old homestead known as the "Marsh farm," in Philadelphia county. Here Mr. Churchman built a commodious residence and outbuildings, and continued to improve it until 1856. In June, 1859, he purchased what was known as the "Cripple farm," situ- ated in White Clay Creek hundred. Mr. Churchman was always interested in public affairs, and served as school commissioner for his district, and in Pennsylvania. Reared in the old Whig party, he continued to act with it while it continued to exist, and at the ad-

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vent of the Republican party he identified himself with its purposes, aims and measures.

As the president of the National Bank of Newport, and in other financial positions, his discharge of the duties imposed on him was eminently satisfactory. Ilis industry, econ- omy, and habits, rendered him successful in the several pursuits which engaged his atten- tion. Henry Lawrence Churchman was mar- ried on the first day of December, 1842, by Rev. Albert Barnes, to Miss Sarah, daughter of Alexander Reed, Esq., of Philadelphia. His eldest daughter became the wife of Mr. John Cranston, of Newport; his eldest son died in Chicago; and his second son, a soldier of the Twentieth Pennsylvania Cavalry, was killed in the action at Ashby's Gap, Va.

MANLOVE HAYES was born in Kent county, May 5, 1817, son of the late Manlove Hayes, farmer and merchant, who died in 1849. In 1832, Manlove Hayes entered the academy at Newark, then at the height of its prosperity, under the management of Rev. A. K. Russell, and continued in the academy and college until the winter of 1836, with the exception of one year spent at school in York, Pa. In December, 1836, he left college to accept a situation as assistant in John C. Trautwine's corps of civil engineers, and was engaged in locating the East Tennessee Rail- road from Knoxville to the Georgia state line near Chattanooga. The surveying for this road was made through the Cherokee country, at the time the government was removing the Indians to the reservation west of the Mis- sissippi river. Mr. Hayes remained in charge of a division of the railroad until 1840, when, by reason of financial troubles, work was sus- pended and the engineer corps disbanded. Returning to Delaware in 1840, Mr. Hayes soon afterwards engaged in farming and con- tinned to live on his farm, "York Seat," until 1864, when he removed to his residence, just outside the town limits of Dover. In 1846, and for several years afterward, he associated with the late Chancellor Harrington and Caleb II. Saple, Esq., of Dover, in establish- in a steamboat line to Philadelphia from Dona Landing, seven miles from Dover, and

superintended the building of the wharf, hotel, and other structures at that place. In 1848 he was chosen clerk of the state senate and was a member of the last Whig legislat- ure, elected in 1852. During the important session of 1833, he was identified with the legislation by which power was granted the Delaware Railroad Company to extend their road north from Dover and connect with the New Castle and Frenchtown, and Philadel- phia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroads, thus securing to the people of the Peninsula a line by rail to Philadelphia and Baltimore. He was elected a director of the Delaware Railroad Company in 1864, and was made secretary and treasurer of the company since 1870. Mr. Hayes became a member of the Historical Society of Delaware and a trustee of Delaware College. He was chosen presi- dent of the projected Bay Shore Railroad, and a member of the boards of several other public enterprises in the state.

Mr. Hayes assisted in the organization of the First National Bank of Dover, in 1865. Always greatly interested in agriculture and in the progress of that industry in Delaware, he participated in every movement in his county for its promotion. He was the corres- pondent from Kent county to the Agricultu- ral department at Washington, and corre- sponding secretary of the State Board of Agri- culture. He was one of the first in his coun- ty to engage largely in the cultivation of fruit, and his agricultural pursuits, which ab- sorbed much of his time, always was to him a great source of pleasure as well as of profit. Since 1861 he acted with the Republican party, and was strong and decided for the Union. Manlove Hayes was married, Febru- ary 17, 1851, to Miss Rebecca Carmalt, daughter of James and Sarah (Perry) How- ell, of Philadelphia. Their children are: I. Mary; II. Edith; III. Anna Belle.

MOSES RASHI, was born December 7, 1810, in West Dover hundred, son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Davis) Rash. IIe died in 1836, at the age of eighty-two years. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Davis, of Kent county. She died in 1844, in the

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seventy-fifth year of her age. Both parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. The father died in 1836, and the mother in 1844.

John Rash, the father of Joseph Rash, was a large owner of real estate, and resided near Wyoming. He married Miss Micah Wilson, and had four sons and four daughters: 1. Daniel, who went to North Carolina, where he died at the advanced age of one hundred and nine years; II. Andrew, who lived to be eighty-seven years of age; III. Joseph; IV. Martin, who also reached his eighty-seventh year; V. Hester, who married William Green; VI. Letitia, who married Isaac Beer; VII. Patuma, who married Eben Walls; VIII. Angela, who married William Whitby. This family is one of the earliest in the state, and deeds are in existence showing their posses- sion of lands in Kent county over two hun- dred years. Moses Rash had few opportuni- ties of early education, a teacher being em- ployed for perhaps two months in the winter for the neighborhood. At the age of twenty- two years he began farming on the lands of his father, at Pierson's Corner, where he re- sided for three years, and in 1836 went to Middletown, where he remained one year. In 1837 he removed to Dover, where he re- sided for six years, being engaged in the liv- ery business. He served as constable of the district for one year, and as deputy sheriff for two years. In 1843 he removed to a farm near Pierson's Corner, which he inherited from his father, and in 1845 purchased a farm of 115 acres of excellent land and re- moved thereon.

Mr. Rash first raised grain, and in 1843 began cultivating fruit for the market. In 1549 he erected his fine residence. In 1879 he built a store and granary at Pierson's Cross Roads. In 1857 he removed to Phila- delphia, but after one year returned to Clay- ton. Hle removed to Wihnington in 1862, and returned to his farm at Pierson's Corner in 1867.

At the breaking out of the war in 1861 Moses Rash took a decided ground against secession and was a devout supporter of the Union. He offered himself as a soldier for the support of his country's tag, but his age be- ing greater than the service allowed he was compelled to remain at home. He became a

strong Republican and was frequently elected a delegate to state conventions. Ile joined the Methodist Episcopal church in 1845 and held the positions of leader and steward. Moses Rash was twice married; first, July 28, 1831, to Miss Maria, daughter of Meyers and Sally (Barber) Casson, by whom he had eight children. He was again united in mar- riage, August 17, 1834, to Miss Mary C. daughter of John Lawrence; eight children were also born of this marriage: I. Jose- phine; II. William II .; III. Charles W .; IV. George B .; V. Lawrence; VI. Addison; VII. Kate; VIII. Hattie.

·JAMES D. W. TEMPLE, M. D., was born in Templeville, Queen Anne's county, Mary- land, August 10, 1851, son of James and Ann (Graham) Temple. ITis father died in February, 1852, at the age of forty-five years. Ile was married three times. The children by his first wife were: I. John T .; II. Wil- liam E .; III. Lucy, wife of John W. Temple. By his second wife his children were: I. Benjamin L .; II. George C. Anna Graham was his third wife.

The Temples were an old historic family, among the earliest settlers of the Eastern Shore. Templeville derives from them its name; also, Governor Temple, of Delaware, was of that family.

Dr. James D. W. Temple attended the pub- lie schools of his native village until he was six- teen years of age, after which he spent three years at a boarding school in West Notting- ham, Cecil county, Md., where he was pre- pared for the medical college. In 1870 he entered the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1874. Dr. Temple at once settled in Kenton, where he built a large and lucrative practice, and became esteemed in the community. Dr. James D. W. Temple was married, October 24, 1877, to Miss Laura, daughter of John and Margaret (Bailey ) Lee.

JAMES TOMKINS TAYLOR was born July 23, 1836, seventh and youngest child of Isaiah and Catherine (Garvin) Taylor.

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Ilis father was born in Thoroughfare Neck, New Castle county, March 25, 1793. He had but three months' schooling, but was a man of good judgment, great energy and in- dustry, and more than average ability. Ile was for many years a steward and class-loader in the Methodist church. He died July 13, 1870. Ilis marriage took place in 1820. IIis wife, Catherine Garvin, was born in Kent county, but her father, William Garvin, came from the city of Cork. Mr. Garvin was a Presbyterian, and resided on a strip of coun- try known as the "Alley," near Murphy's Mills, Kent county.

The children of Isaiah Taylor and his wife were: I. William, who died at the age of nine years; II. Mary Ann, died at the age of three years; III. Sarah Jane, and IV. John Henry, died in infancy; V. Catherine Maria, who became the wife of Peter S. Deakyne, and died in 1860, her only surviving child being Joseph Fletcher Deakyne; VI. Wil- hehnina, who married George Davis Collins, near Smyrna, and died in 1860, leaving five children; VII. James T.

Kendall Taylor, father of Isaiah Taylor, was born and spent his life in Thoroughfare Neck. He died there in 1796, when Isaiah, who was the only child, was three years of age.

Kendall Taylor was the son of Isaiah Allen Taylor, a farmer, who was also born, lived and died in Thoroughfare Neck, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, a man of intelligence and prominence in his time. Isaiah Allen Taylor married a Miss Francis, of an English family of New Castle county, relatives of the Rothwells. He died in the latter part of the last century, at the age of eighty-five.

James T. Taylor attended the schools of the "Levels," and for about six months the Middletown Academy. At eighteen years of age he went for one year to the Conference Academy at Pennington, New Jersey, and on his return assisted his father in his store, and superintended the farm. The store was given up in 1867, having been carried on ten years. At his father's death, being the only surviv- ing chill, he came in possession of the landed estate, which he kept under excellent cultiva- tion.

The home farm contains 187 aeres of valu- able land. Mr. Taylor always was a Demo-

erat in politics and influential in that party. In 1878 he was elected a member of the Levy Court of New Castle county for four years, and was an efficient member of that body. He served as trustee of the Methodist church in Townsend.

James Tomkins Taylor was married in 1875, to Miss Sarah Rebecca, daughter of Captain John Smith, Centreville, Queen Anne's county, and sister of Rev. John E., once of the Wilmington annual conference.

COL. WILLIAM YARDLEY SWIG- GETT was born in Seaford, March 15, 1841, third son of William Hinds and Henrietta Maria (Hurst) Swiggett.

William II. Swiggett was a man of con- siderable local reputation. He taught school in his youth, and was in public life for many years, holding various positions in the county, He was recorder of deeds for Sussex county, clerk in the register's office for twelve years, and assistant provost marshal. He was a stanch Whig, and one of the first to join the ranks of the new Republican party. He died in 1875 when in his sixty-third year. His wife, Maria Hurst, was an accomplished young lady of Dorchester county, Md. She was a sister of the late John Hurst, of Balti- more, and Bishop Hurst, of the Methodist Episcopal church, was his nephew. Mr. Sig- gett died at the early age of thirty-two years, leaving a family of five children: I. Captain Sammel A .; II. Francis C .; III. Annie E. ( Mrs. Robert HI. Ford); IV. Col. William Y .; V. Ashland B. All these sons served their country in the Union army during the late war: the eldest was captain of the Thirty- sixth Iowa; was a prisoner for eighteen months at Camp Ford, Texas. His brother Ashland, was wounded seven times in the bat- tle of Antietam.

William II. Swiggett was again married, in 1856, to Miss Ellen A. Harris. She died in 1860, leaving him two children: I. Mary B. (Mrs. Clarissa M. Green); II. Cornelia M. ( Mrs. Edwin Goodwin).

Major Aaron Swiggett, grandfather of Col. William Yardley Swiggett, married Miss Nancy Hinds, daughter of William Hinds, of Kent county, and nicce of General Thomas

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BIOGRAPHIICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA

Hinds, of Mississippi. ITe settled in Sea- ford, engaging in the merchant and shipping business, and accumulated a considerable fortune. He was a major in the war of 1812, and was in the battle of Lewes. The coat he wore in that fight was still in the family a few years ago. He died in 1828 when about forty years of age. Ile had two sons, William Hinds and Levin Swiggett; and three daughters: Eliza Ann, who married Major W. Allen, of Seaford, and died in 1873, leaving seven children; Cornelia, who died unmar- ried in 1864; Sarah J., widow of Capt Or- lando R. Martin, who died in 1860, leaving one child, Walter E. Martin.

The father of Aaron Swiggett, and the first American ancestor of the family was William Swiggett, who was born in Sweden about 1750, and coming to America when a young man settled in Caroline county, Md. He married Miss Shaftesbury, and had two sons, Levin and Aaron, and three daughters. Hle was a farmer in good circumstances, and lived to the age of eighty-five years, dying in 1835.

The parents of Col. William Y. Swiggett removed to Georgetown when he was five years of age, and William attended the school and academy at that place until he was seven- teen. He then went to Iowa, where he re- mained one year, and returning in 1859, en- tered the office of the Georgetown Messenger, to learn the printing trade. At this business he continued till the breaking out of the Re- bellion in 1861, when he was one of the first to enroll himself for the defense of his coun- try's flag, and enlisted as a private in Com- pany G, First Delaware Volunteers, for three months.

Ile was soon elected second lieutenant hy that company, in which rank he served dur- ing the term, guarding the railroad from Wilmington to Baltimore. On being mus- tered out he assisted in reorganizing the regi- ment for three years' service and was mus- tered in as first lieutenant of Company C.

Two months he spent at home, in recruit- ing, after which he joined the regiment at Camp Hamilton, Fortress Monroe, and shared its fortunes till the battle of Antietam, in which he was severely wounded in the hip by a musket ball, and was borne from the field. After two months in the hospital he rejoined his regiment, and on the 20th of

January was promoted to the rank of captain, receiving his commission January 23, 1862, the day following his marriage. He was at that time on leave of absence, but afterwards rejoined his regiment at Gettysburg.

He was, however, unable to participate in the battle or to endure the hardships of the field and was transferred to the Veteran Re- serve Corps October 1, 1863, and employed in the lighter duties of the service. Mr. Swig- gett was first commissioned as first lieutenant, and on the 10th of December was promoted to a captainey, and was stationed at Meridian ITill, near Washington, serving in this ca- pacity until April 6, 1864, when he was mus- tered out of service under general orders. He returned, and during the following summer assisted in raising the Ninth Delaware Regi- ment. When it was organized he was com- missioned major, his commission bearing date, September 12, 1864. He was still suffering greatly from his wounds, which had not yet closed, but he went with the regiment to Fort Delaware, guarding rebel prisoners.

On the 4th of January, 1865, he was com- missioned lieutenant colonel of his regiment, and was the same month mustered out of ser- vice by general orders from the War Depart- ment.

Colonel Swiggett received eight military commissions beginning with a second lieuten- aney and ascending to that of lieutenant colonel. In September he was appointed mail agent on the Delaware Railroad, and re- moved his residence to Wilmington. He filled the position in an efficient manner till May, 1882, when having been appointed postmaster of that city by President Arthur, he was on the fifteenth of that month con- firmed by the United States senate. Col. Swiggett entered upon the new task assigned him with the same zeal and devotion to duty that characterized him in the different posi- tions he filled in the army. He was always an active Republican, became a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was one of the originators of DuPont Post, No. 2, of Wilmington, in which he held all the chairs of honor. He was assistant quartermaster general of the department of Delaware, and a member of the National Council of Admin- istration. He became a member of the Knights of Pythias, joined the Methodist Episcopal church in February, 1869, and

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served as trustee of St. Paul's church. Col. William Swiggett was married, January 22, 1863, to Miss Charlotte E. D. Cannon, of Georgetown, daughter of Joseph K. and Han- nah (Duming) Cannon. They had one child, Maria.

JONATHAN KNIGHT WILLIAMS was born in Cheltenham township, Montgom- ery county, Pa., May 25, 1828. His father, John Jarrett Williams, a farmer, born in 1782, married Lydia, daughter of Jonathan Knight, and had five children: I. Mary K .; II. Thomas; III. Jonathan K .; IV. John Jay Williams, of St. Augustine, Cecil county, Maryland.

John Jarrett Williams was a Friend, but married out of the Society, and was discip- lined; still he always adhered to that faith. He died in November, 1851, in his sixty-ninth vear. His father, Anthony Williams, was a rigid member of the Society of Friends. The English tried to force him into the ranks of the British army during the Revolutionary war, and the heaviset pressure was brought to bear upon him, but he did not yield. He married Rachel Jarrett, of a numerous and highly respected family in that county. She was also a Friend.

The Williams family were of Welsh de- scent, among the early settlers of Pennsylva- nia, and have been in all their generations, an industrious, thriving and hightly respect- ed people. Jonathan Knight Williams at- tended the common schools till the age of fif- teen, when he was sent for four winters to boarding schools of the Friends' Society at Claremont and at Byberry, and afterwards attended for one session the Friends' Acad- emy at Alexandria, Va., receiving at these schools a good mathematical and English education. He was then engaged on the home farm till the spring of 1852, when he removed to Delaware and settled on a farm containing 300 acres of tillable land.

Mr. Williams also bought, in 1871, the Mapleton estate, and in 1876 the Foard farm, on the road from Middletown to Odessa. He paid considerable attention to stock, raising horses, cattle, etc., and kept all his lands in a good state of cultivation. Politically he was a Republican, and a stanch friend of the

Union during the war. He united with the Methodist church in Odessa in 1868, and served both as trustee and steward.

J. K. Williams was married in September, 1853, to Miss Fannie, daughter of Jacob and Margaret ( Fox) Shalleross, of Philadelphia, and sister of Sevick Shalleross. They had eight children: I. Lydia, who married Mr. Leon- ard Aspril, of Odessa; II. John J., died in 1856, at the age of fifteen months; III. Mar- garet Shalleross; IV. Mary Knight; V. Ada- line Evans, died in 1865, in her fifth year; VI. John Jay, died in 1863, aged one year; VII. Fannie Shalleross; VIII. Bessie C. Williams.

MOSES SIPPLE VAN BURKALOW was born in North Murderkill hundred, Jan- uary 19, 1831. His father, John Van Burk- alow, a farmer, was a most excellent man. He was a patriot, and served his country dur- ing the Revolution, entering the American army at the age of eighteen, and served to the close of the war, a period of four years. Ile was four times married, but had no chil- dren by his first and second marriages. By his third wife, Mary Turley, he had several children, and in 1829 he married Miss Ruth, daughter of Moses Sipple, of Kent county, and sister of the late Caleb HI. Sipple, of Dover. By her he had four children: I. Moses Sipple; IT. Hannah Ann, deceased; III. Hettie S., widow of Joseph Haregrove, of Seaford, and IV. Eliza H., wife of Thomas E. Cottingham.

John Van Burkalow died in 1842, at the age of eighty-four. He had been for sixty years a member of the Methodist church. His father came from the North of England, about the middle of the seventeenth century, and settled in New Castle county.

Moses Van Burkalow attended the good common schools of his neighborhood till he was seventeen years of age, after which he was engaged in farming for ten years. In 1851 he purchased a farm in the suburbs of Camden, which he sold in 1856, and bought "the C'ypress," a farm of 130 acres, two miles from Magnolia, on the Camden road. Here he lived but one year, and in 1858 sold the land and entered into mercantile pursuits in Magnolia. Besides merchandise proper, he

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Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 95

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