Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 97

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

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Levi A. Bertolette was reared upon his father's farm, and attended the schools of the vicinity untill the age of fourteen, when he was sent to Williston Seminary at Easthamp- ton, Mass., where he remained one year, and,

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though the opportunity was offered him to remain and continue a regular course through college, he declined and returned home. Af- ter a few years' stay at home he left for a journey through the western states, extend- ing his trip through the states of Ohio, In- diana, Illinois, and Iowa, traveling the great- er portion of the route by private conveyance, and remaining and engaging in such occupa- tions as the towns of the west at that time afforded, and returned to Pennsylvania in 1855.

Mr. Bertolette then engaged in the mercan- tile business near his home, and at the age of twenty-one, was united in marriage to Miss Rebecca Louisa, daughter of Ezekiel Rhoads of Amity Township, Berks county. He con- tinued in mercantile pursuits until 1865, when he went with an elder brother to the mining regions of Colorado on a prospecting and mining trip. Two years were occupied in the gold mines of the Territory, and in in- vestigating and exploring the north and mid- dle parks, and the mountain range extending through the centre of Colorado. During these expeditions the parties engaged varied from two to twelve persons, and were out in the U'te Indian country, as much as three months upon a single trip, and were in daily rommu- nication with bands of that tribe, who were friendly at that time. These explorations afforder an excellent opportunity of learning the vastness of the resources, both mineral and agricultural, of that grand and romantic country.

After two years of mountain life, Mr. Ber- tolette went northward to the line of the pro- jected Union Pacific Railroad, and aided in building up and preparing the new city of Cheyenne, for the reception of the first loco- motive in December, 1867. Railroad commu- nication being now established, he again re- turned to his family, and soon after his re- turn he was appointed an Assessor of Internal Revenue, by Andrew Johnson then President of the United States, and held that position until the close of his administration.

In 1870 he removed with his family to Wilmington. He engaged in various busi- ness connections until 1878, when he was appointed and commissioned a Justice of the Peace and Notary Public, by Gov. John P. Cochran.

JOHN FERRIS was born in Wilmington, September 21, 1801. He was the only child of John Ferris, who fell a sacrifice at the early age of twenty-four, in his devotion to the cause of humanity. When the yellow fever in 1802 was so fatal that few escaped it who were ex- posed to its deadly influence, this young man, on the threshold of a bright, and prosperous career, with a loving wife by his side and dear friends around him, turned away and entered the abodes of the poor, and with untiring and sleepless attention to their wants never left them till death struck him down, we may say, at their very feet. Little did she then know that that child who leaned helpless upon her bosom would one day be a comfort to her so dear. She saw him, year after year, in all the trials, all his vicissitudes of life, a model man, in honor, in affection, in wisdom and in his devotion to her lonely home.

After spending a few years at the common schools he was sent while a mere boy to Phila- delphia to learn a mechanical business, be- cause he had manifested an early fondness and a remarkable skill in the use of tools. But what is a city life to an apprentice boy? It has many roads. The paths of dissipation, of idleness and ruin are open to all. But these had no attractions for him. There are nobler walks that attract the few. These he found and loved and followed. Young Ferris, even in early life, had a massive de- velopment of the intellectual and moral re- gions of the brain. To minds of this cast schools are not essential. The boy educates himself. Access to a good library is all he asks. When his task was finished in the city and he came to his native place to establish himself in business, he was astonished to find that his reputation as a man of high moral worth and stern integrity had reached the town before him.

John Ferris was offered, without solicita- tion all the money he needed to engage in business. Hle succeeded beyond his most san- guine anticipations. He had scarcely passed the prime of life when an ample fortune in duced him to retire from his profession. But not to rest! Then as it ever will be, many widows needed a wise, honest and patient counselor. And wherever they inquired for one they were generally advised to go to John Ferris. And these were his clients that kopt

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him busy even to the last month of his event- ful life. Without compensation, in the storms of winter, and in the heats of sunner, he was ever faithful, ever watchful of their interests and welfare. Ilis extensive learn- ing, his unquestioned ability, and great ex- perience enabled him to answer many ab- struse questions, which perplexed and wor- ried even astute lawyers. He spoke from an intuitive comprehension of what the law should be, and after days of toil among their books, the lawyers to their surprise, general- ly found that he was correct. With a mind capable of moulding into harmony the dis- cordant elements of an empire, he turned from all wordly preferment and in the seclu- sion of a happy home, every moment, not ab- sorbed by business or company, was devoted to the acquisition of knowledge. Scarcely a work of any value escaped him. With a memory seldom equalled by others, he made himself acquainted with the arts and sciences with history, government, biography, travels and general literature. What a lesson his life should be to every fatherless boy.

Honest and sincere charity never appealed to him in vain. And there was scarcely a little child, or horse, or dog in his neigh- borhood, that did not know him well, and did not listen, with evident pleasure, for a plea- sant word from him as he passed them by. This was the result of the harmonious de- velopment af all the noble faculties of his nature. He was certainly a remarkable man. Ilis self government seemed absolute and perfect. The passions and propensities of the mind were held in stern subjection by an in- domitable will.

Ile died in the city of Wilmington on the 2d day of September, 1882.

CAPTAIN DAVID H. PORTER was born in New Castle county, February 19, 1805. He was a nephew of the late Como- dore Porter of the U. S. Navy. Capt. David II. Porter served in the U. S. Navy until he had attained the rank of Lieutenant. Ile en- tered the Mexican Navy while that country was engaged with Spain in her struggle for independence. On the 10th of February, 1828, while commanding a brig of war of

twenty-two guns and one hundred and thirty- six men, he engaged two Spanish brigs of su- perior force, and was victorious over their united strength. On the same day a Spanish frigate, of fifty-four guns, and five hundred men, attacked him while in a crippled condi- tion, and after a desperate action of two hours and twenty minutes, his ammunition being exhausted, Captain Porter surrendered to save his brave crew. The frigate continued her fire. As the colors of the brig had been twice shot away, Captain Porter was in the act of hoisting them, when he was killed by a grape shot passing through his body. He fell in the twenty-third year of his age. His remains rest in the new cemetery of Wilmington, Del.

CHARLES HENRY TREAT, was born in Frankfort, Maine, July 15, 1841, the eld- est son of Hefry and Abby (Treat) Treat. His father was an extensive commission mer- chant at the city of Cardenas, Cuba, and a gentleman widely known and highly respect- ed. Mrs. Abby Treat died in 1843.

The Treat family have always been hardy, enterprising and intelligent, and for genera- tions have exercised much influence in the State. Many of them have filled high official stations.

Charles II. Treat showed, at an extremely early age, a great fondness for books, but it was the desire of his father that he should de- vote himself to a strictly business career. Ifis strong natural bias could not, however, be controlled, and he had decided when very young, that whatever was his business in life he would yet have a good education. He prepared for college at the East Maine C'onfer- once Academy, at Huxford, opposite Fort Knox. In 1862 he entered the Sophomore class of Dartsmouth College and graduated A. B., in 1865. During his vacation he taught with great success. He was now about entering Harvard Law School, it having been his long cherished desire to enter the legal profession, when he yielded to the entreaties of his father to take charge of a large busi- ness enterprise, which was the mannfauture of hogsheads, shooks and boxes, and of lum- ber, exporting them from Maine to Cuba and importing in return cargoes of sugar and mo-

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lasses. In a few years he had over 250 hands under his control, and the business aggregated over $300,000 annually. It was finally made hazardous by the continued rebellion in Cuba, and Mr. Treat turned his attention to the south where he believed enterprises could be started that would be attended with less risk.

He had proceeded as far as Delaware when he found there the material he desired in such abundance, and the people so cordial, that he finally decided to remain and estab- lish, in Frankford, the factory of Huxford & Company.

The kindness and cordiality of the Dela- wareans thus led the stranger to cast his lot among them, and to open up in their midst a prosperous business. He was trained in the Congregational church, and has been largely identified with the temperance movement, and as an able and fluent speaker, has done much effective work in the cause. Charles H. Treat was married, in 1866, to Miss Frances E., daughter of Harry and Margaret Hux- ford, of Brooks, Maine, a near relative of the late ex-Senator, James W. Nesmith.

ALLEN VOORHEES LESLEY, M. D., late State Senator, was a native of Phila- delphia. Both his parents were natives of the same city. His father, Peter Lesley, of Scotch lineage, was a cabinet maker by trade, and in later years the secretary and treasurer of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Com- pany. He married Elizabeth O. Allen, a lady of English descent.

Allen V. Lesley was from very early life an enthusiastic student, and gained a great proficiency in the classics. He was gradu- ated with distinguished honors from the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, after which he resid- ed for a short time on a farm belonging to his father, near Delaware City.

In 1841 he removed to Brooklyn, and from there to Feltonville, N. Y., for the practice of medicine and surgery. Allen Voorhees Lesley was married, in 1844, to Miss Jane Lesley Voorhees, and shortly after returned to Delaware, locating in New Castle, where he erected a beautiful residence, surround- ing it with charming grounds, and entered upon a course of medical practice in which he

was eminently successful. He excelled in so- cial intercourse and made many friends; but he had the misfortune to lose his wife to whom he was most fondly attached, and from that time all these pleasures and the honors that were paid him, lost their charm. He sought relief in foreign travel, his acquaint- ance with different languages enabling him to visit many countries with satisfaction and pro- fit. In the course of years he wandered over nearly every part of the globe, his abundant means affording him every opportunity to gratify his highly cultivated tastes.

Allen Voorhees Lesley was at one time State Senator from New Castle county, and was chosen speaker of that body. Early in life he became identified with the Masonic Or- der, and was an enthusiastic and zealous work- er in its behalf. At the grand communication of the Grand Lodge of Delaware, held June 27, 1863, he was unanimously elected Grand Master of the Order, and at the Grand Con- vocation of the II. R. A. Chapter of the State, he was unanimously chosen Grand High Priest. In his pleasant home he was a long time confined, a constant sufferer from com- plicated disorders, from which he was releas- ed by death, November 7, 1881, at the age of fifty-nine.

JOSEPII WEST MARSH, M. D., was born December 6, 1839. His father, Dr. Erasmus D. Marsh, born September 13, 1807, studied medicine with his father, Dr. Joseph Marsh, and upon examination was licensed to practice medicine by the Delaware State Medical Society in 1831. For nearly forty years he was a leading physician of Sussex county, loved and respected as widely as he was known. Besides his large practice he superintended the cultivation of his home- farm of nearly 300 acres.

Dr. J. W. Marsh married, in 1830, Miss Susan B., daughter of Hugh Caldwell and Susanna (Packer) Cox, an oldl and highly re- spectable family of New Jersey. They had eight children, viz: I. Hugh Caldwell; II. Mary Ellen; III. Emily Burton; IV. Dr. Joseph West; V. Thomas Purnell; VI. Theodore Wilson; VII. Erasmus; VIII. William Wolf, M. D., a grandate of Jeffer- son Medical College.

Dr. Erasmus D. Marsh died, September 7,

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1866. The grandfather of Dr. Joseph Marsh, owned the old homestead, and lived there the later years of his life. He was the leading physician in that section of the country for many years. Dr. Joseph Marsh was born, January 15, 1871, and died March 17, 1532. His first wife was Mary, daughter of Joseph and Eleanor West, by whom he had six chil- dren: 1. Naomi; II. Hetty Ann; III. Dr. Erasmus D .; IV. David Gray; V. Lydia Eleanor; VI. Joseph.

After the death of his wife Mary, June 17, 1816, Dr. Joseph Marsh married Naomi Lank, by whom he had two children, Peter and Mary. Mary married Hammond J. Lin- go. Becoming again a widower, Dr. Marsh married Mrs. Annie Way (nee Shankland) widow of John Burton, by whom he had three children: I. James P. Wilson; II. John Alfred; III. Sarah Ann May.

The parents of Dr. Joseph Marsh were Peter and Polly Marsh.

Peter Marsh was the son of Capt. Peter Marsh, who came from England with two or three brothers and settled in Rehoboth. Capt. Peter Marsh, his wife, Mary, and many of their descendants rest in the old family burial place at Rehoboth city. Of seventy of the graves the names are known, and there are also some old graves not known. Two family Bibles that he brought with him from Eng- land are in existence, and also a powder horn, marked " P. M. 1716."

Dr. Joseph W. Marsh acquired a good Eng- lish education at the academies of Lewes and Georgetown, and read medicine one year with his father. Entering Jefferson Medical Col- lege in 1859, he was graduated with the class of 1861, and commenced practice in partner- ship with his father, which continued till the death of the latter.

Dr. J. W. Marsh, by his skill and high character, acquired an enviable reputation as one of the most reliable and successful phy- sicians of the State.

WINFIELD SCOTT WAY was born near Port Deposit, Cecil county, Md., No- vember 14, 1847. His father, Samuel F. Way, was in early life a farmer, and after- wards, as a daguerrian, traveled through the middle and southern State.

He was prominent in the Whig party in Cecil county, but after its dissolution took little interest in politics. In 1863 he removed to Town Point, second election district of that county, and resumed farming; in 1868 and '69 he was engaged in mercantile busi- ness.

He married Lizzie Nesbit, of Scotch-Irish descent, who died when her only child was nine months old.

Ilis grandfather was James, son of John Way, a Quaker family of Chester county, Pa. James Way was a plasterer by trade, and came early in life to Cecil county, where, later, he engaged in farming, which he con- tinued till within a few years of his death, in 1875. Ile was the brother of Rebecca Way Taylor, mother of the late Bayard Taylor. The wife of James Way was Rachel Barrett, and they had four children: I. Caleb; II. Samuel F .; III. John; IV. Kate. Caleb and John died leaving no children. Kate married Sanmel Harvey Jack, who held the office of surveyor for Cecil county several terms.

Winfield S. Way was brought up by his grandfather, and worked on the farm, at- tending the district school at Liberty Grove in winter, and in 1862 spent one term at the Newark Academy. He was a close student, improving well his few advantages, and was passionately fond of reading. In 1863 he en- tered, as an apprentice, the office of the Cecil Whig at Elton, but remained only two months. At the age of seventeen he sent his first newspaper contribution to the New York Weekly Mercury. It was accepted, and he contributed regularly to the paper for six or seven years: also contributed to the New York Weekly, and Southern Home Journal.

In 1870 he purchased his father's store in Town Point and conducted it till 1877, and in 1876 was engaged in mercantile business also in Chesapeake City. In May, 1877, he went to Colorado and spent nearly five months, as correspondent of New York and Baltimore papers. In October of that year he purchased of Edward Reynolds the Middletown Tran- script.

Mr. Way served three years as Secretary of the Peninsula Agricultural and Pomological Association of Middletown. He was elected Secretary of the Peninsula Press Association at its re-organization, and served one term of

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four years as President of the board of Town Commissioners. W. S. Way was married, in 1574, to Kate 1., daughter of Christian Pote of Philadelphia.

JACOB RAYMOND, son of James Ray- mond, a farmer of Raymond's Neck, Kent county, was born March 18, 1788. He was reared upon the farm and had but few ad- vantages of early education. He came to Smyrna in boyhood and entered a store to learn merchandizing. When a young man he accepted a position as clerk in the store of John Cummins, which he continued for three years.

At the end of this time he formed a co- partnership with Mr. Cummins which lasted for five years. This partnership was di-solved in 1835, when Mr. Raymond went into busi- ness upon his own account. He largely en- gaged in buying grain, staves, etc., which he shipped to Philadelphia, New York and Bos- ton upon his own vessels. He was a system- atie business man, very conservative and very successful, and from 1830 until 1844 was one of the leading business men of his town.

In 1844 he retired from business and be- came largely interested in agriculaural pur- suits, possessing a large estate of 600 acres in Maryland, and 400 acres in Kent county, Del., besides valuable town property. In 1833 he was elected, on the Democratic ticket, as a member of the House of Representatives, in which capacity he served one session. On the 4th of May, 1843, he was elected a director of the Bank of Smyrna, and was its president at the time of his death, having been elected to that position March 18, 1847. Mr. Raymond was also for many years a director of the Farmers' Bank of Dover.

Ile departed this life August 6, 1852, in the sixty-fifth year of his age.

Jacob Raymond was mited in marriage June 22, 1814, to Miss Eliza, daughter of Ebenezer Blackiston, of Kent county. She died April 28, 1855, in her sixty-third year. There were nine children born of this mar- riage, seven of whom were boys and two girls. Three only survived their father: I. Susan Il., who died September 13, 1876, in her six- tieth year unmarried; IT. Martha A., widow of Daniel Cummins, Esq., of Smyrna: III. George Henry.

WILLIAM TOWNSEND was born July 28, 1809. His father was James Townsend, a farmer and merchant of Kent county, who bore the reputation of an upright Christian gentleman, and was a member of the Metho- dist church. He died in 1812. He married Miss Mary, daughter of William Townsend, a farmer of Sussex county. She was an ar- tive member of the Methodist Episcopal church and died in 1817. The grandfathers of William Townsend, on both sides, were named William Townsend and both died com- paratively aged. William was only permit- ted attendance on the public schools of the vil- lage of Frederica until he was sixteen years of age, when he entered the wholesale and retail house of Hugh Macurdy, of Philadel- phia, where he remained four years. He then returned to Delaware and engaged in general mercantile business.

ITe was prosperous in this business, and for ten years continued the same at Fork Land- ing, Kent county. This was the happiest part of his business life. With a very limited eapi- tal and scarcely any money in the county, specie payment suspended, and business con- fidence destroyed, he was still very successful and happy. Corn was selling from 20 to 25 and 31 cents per bushel. The first corn he bought was on a speculation, in which he lost money. These were the "hard titmes" of our history.

On the 1st of January, 1840, Mr. Town- send came to Frederica, where he again went into business and began to speculate in corn, wheat, staves, wood, ete., which he shipped to the Philadelphia and New York markets in his own vessel. To this he added an extensive lumber trade. He was one of the earliest to introduce and encourage the use of guano on the lands of Kent county. He soon after became a land owner and was a gratified ob- server of the great improvement on the farms around him.

Ile retired from business in 1864, and en- paged in managing his estate of three hun- dred aeres, and looking after his numerous investments. He had always been a liberal suporter of the educational and religions institutions of his county and state. He con- nected himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1831, and was an official member most of the time, being teacher in the Sunday- school, a steward and trustee of the church.

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Hle was a firm and outspoken supporter of the Union cause in the last war, and was op- posed to secession, believeing it revolutionary and sucidal of the best interests of the south. Ile was one of the State Commissioners dur- ing the war to relieve drafted men, and dis- tribute aid of the state for the relief, about. one million dollars being distributed for this purpose by the three gentlemen of that com- mission. He was opposed to having his name used for any political purpose, and though al- most everything which the state could give had been offered him, he always refused office.

On the 2d of January, 1831, William Town- send was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of John Barrett, son of Judge Bar- rett, who built the historic Barrett's Chapel. Six children were born to them.

COL. DANIEL HAWLEY KENT Was born in Lancaster county, Pa., October 22, 1835, second son of Benjamin Kent.

The devotion of his parents to the then unpopular cause of anti-slavery had been the occasion of many sacrifices, so that when their woolen mill and other property was burned at Andrew's Bridge, such was the influence of that prejudice, that Benjamin Kent failed to get the amount for which he was insured in a local company of that neighborhood. Greatly circunscribed in means, he retired to Chester county, settling on a farm at West Grove. Hlere Daniel grew up, engaged in the employ- ments of the farm in summer and going to school in winter. He was a studious boy; at noon while his team rested, he improved the half hour after dinner in the persual of books. Industry and economy of time, as well as of means, were taught him, and he patiently re- seived the lessons which afterwards made him the successful man of business, and laid the foundation of a sterling character.

At the age of 17 years he was placed in the family of the late venerable Thomas Garrett, of the city of Wilmington, who was an old friend of his father, for the purpose of learn- ing the iron business. For his first year's ser- vices he received the sum of forty dollars and his board, and this amount was increased, an- mally, ten additional dollars, making fifty for the second, sixty for the third, and seventy for the fourth and last year of his minority, "in

consequence of faithful service and general good conduct."

Finding his income insufficient to meet his needs, and enable him to contribute to his lit- tle home and other charities, always dear to liis heart, he began, in the second year of his apprenticeship, to wear second-hand clothing, purchasing from those whom he knew, and thus by self-denial, made the most of his lim- ited income. At the age of nineteen years, bookkeeping was added to his other duties 'in the store. He worked hard, but by studious ceonomy, was able after his four years appren- ticeship, to enter upon life with inexpensive habits.

By much effort and care he succeeded, in 1860, in securing a one-fourth interest in the business of Bye, MeDowell & Co., iron mer- chants, of Wilmington; in 1862, he became the owner of a half interest, and everything hade fair for a prosperous career for young Kent. He had been greatly exercised from the breaking out of the civil war-occasioned, as he believed, in the interest of slavery-in regard to his personal duty. On the one hand, his peace principles, descending to him from the Society of Friends, and on the other, the hatred he bore the system of human bondage, deepened by observations in boyhood of its cruelty in the case of the hunted slave. De- ciding this question in his own mind, he sold his business interests in the firm, and assisted in raising the Fourth Delaware Infantry, Colo- nel Grimshaw. He was mustered as Captain of Co. F. In this service, the energy and ex- centive ability which always characterized him, were conspicuously displayed. He was not only a brave officer, but, also, while shar- ing danger with his men, by his care and devo- tion to their interests, secured all for them which could be had by prompt and full requi- sitions, backed by the energy of personal sup- ervision. In the many actions in which the regiment took part he passed unharmed until nearly the close of the war. He participated in the actions of "Bottoms Bridge," Va., June, 1863; "Bethesda Church," "Cold Harbor," "Chickahominy," "Siege of Petersburg." June 18 to 30th July; "Mine Explosion before Petersburg," "Weldon Railroad," "Peeble's Farm," "Flower's House," "Davis's House," "Movement on Southside Railroad," under Grant and Meade, October and November; "Movement toward Weldon Railroad," De-

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Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware, Vol. II, Part 97

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