USA > Delaware > Historical and biographical encyclopaedia of Delaware. V 1 > Part 39
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RAME ROBERT, late Secretary of State and Attorney General of Dela-
ware, was born in Sussex county in --
the year 1800. His parents were Robert and Mary (Vaughan) Frame. His father was a large land owner in the above county. His mother was from an old Virginia family, for many years resident on the Eastern Shore. The Frame family is numerous in Sussex county and highly respectable. The subject of our sketch graduated at an early age from Princeton College, New Jersey, after which he studied law in Dover with Hon. John M. Clayton, and was admitted to the bar in 1821. He practiced law in Dover with great success and became one of the most eminent men in his profession in the State. John M. Clayton said of him that his was one of the soundest and ablest legal minds of the State. He was Secretary of State under Governor Polk, and was afterward Attorney General of the State for one term. He removed to Wilmington in 1846, where, after having practiced his pro- fession one year, he died, and was interred in the church yard of the First Presbyterian Church. His wife, whom he married in 1827, was Jeannette Macomb Clayton, daughter of Chief Justice Thomas Clayton. She survived her husband only three months. They left three children ; Robert, a physician, practicing in Milford, Thomas C., also a physician, prac- ticing at Wyoming, Kent county, and Julia, living in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Mr. Frame was for many years a member of the Presby- terian Church. His wife was an Episcopalian.
ATTERSON, JOHN CUNNINGHAM, Attorney-at-Law, and United States District Attorney, Wilmington, was born in that city, October 24, 1815, being the eldest child of John and Elizabeth (Jefferies) Patterson. His father and grand- father, Robert Patterson, emigrated from New- ton Stewart, county Tyrone, Ireland, to Wil- mington, in 1793. Robert Patterson died in that city in October, 1798, in his sixty-sixth year, and his wife, Mary, October 28, 1816, in her eightieth year. They are buried, with all the older members of the family, in the grounds of the First Presbyterian Church of
Wilmington. John Patterson became a dry goods merchant in that city several years before the war of 1812, and continued this occupation to the period of his death, in 1836, He was a man of high character and an elder in the church mentioned above. He married first, Margaret, daughter of John Ross, of Chester county, Pennsylvania, by whom he had two children, Robert and Ross. His wife died March 31, 1813, in her twenty-ninth year. His second wife was Elizabeth, a descendant of the Jefferies of Chester county, Pennsylvania. By this marriage he had seven children : John C., Mary Y., Margaret R., Samuel G., Henry G., Amelia R., and Thomas L. The subject of this sketch received his early education at the old Academy, in Wilmington, and was pre- pared for college at the Academy at New London, Chester county, Pennsylvania. In 1831, when in his sixteenth year,he entered the Freshman class at Nassau Hall, from which he graduated A. B., in 1835, receiving the third honor, and standing the fifth in scholar- ship in a class of forty-eight. Three years later he received from the same college the degree of A. M. During the six months fol- lowing, and until the death of his father, he was a student in the Theological Seminary at Princeton. The next six months he spent as an assistant in the academy in that place, and was afterwards, for more than a year, a private tutor in the family of Mrs. Conover, in Mon- mouth county, New Jersey ; his pupils being her two sons, William and Charles. This part of his life he regards as one of his most pleas- ant experiences. He was next, for three years, teller and book-keeper in the old Bank of Wil- mington and Brandywine. He commenced during this time, the study of law with Edward W. Gilpin, Esq., then Attorney-General of the State, and afterwards Chief Justice. After the usual term of study, he was admitted to the bar in Georgetown, Sussex county, to which place he had accompanied his preceptor. Soon after he was examined at New Castle and admitted to practice as a Solicitor in the Courts of Chancery. He has also been admit- ted to, and has been a practitioner in, the various United States courts for the District of Delaware. From the time of his admission to the bar, in 1842, to the present, Mr. Patter- . son has been actively engaged in the business of his profession in the city of Wilmington,
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and the State Reports show his name con-| nected, as counsel and attorney, with a large proportion of the civil cases tried or heard in the county, and several in the Court of Errors and Appeals. From 1865 to 1870, he was City Solicitor for the city of Wilmington. During the Legislative session of 1847 he was Clerk of the State Senate. He was appointed United States District Attorney, by President Hayes, March 27, 1880. Mr. Patterson is an elder in the Hanover Street Presbyterian Church. He was first married to Miss Helen L. Sherron, of New Jersey, by whom he had two children ; Wilfred, now attorney-at-law in Leadville, Colorado, and James, who is in business in Philadelphia. In 1861, Mr. Patter- son was married to Miss Laura A., daughter of Captain John A. Webster, of Harford county, Maryland., Their children are Webster, John C., Jr., Malcolm and Mabel. Mr. Patterson is highly esteemed as a citizen ; is an able, safc and learned lawyer ; effective as an advocate, and enjoys a reputation for honor and legal attainments, which rank him among the fore- most members of the Delaware bar.
RAY, ANDREW C., Lawyer and Presi- dent of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and President of the Farmers' Bank at New Castle, was born in Kent county, May 25, 1804. His parents were Andrew and Rebecca (Rodgers) Gray, and their home was one of the most cultivated and refined, as well as one of the happiest in the state. His father ranked with the first men of his time in the state, and his mother worthily represented one of the most noted historic families of the country. . Every advan- tage of education and culture was bestowed upon their son, who through all his long life has reflected the highest credit on the training he received. He pursued his preparatory studies at the Newark (Delaware) Academy and en- tered the Junior class of Princeton College in 1819, graduating A. B. in 1821, at the age of seventeen. His law studies he pursued with the late Judge James R. Black, then at the bar, and was admitted to practice in 1826. Mr. Gray settled for the practice of his profession
in New Castle, where he has since resided. He soon rose to eminence in his profession and has always been one of the leading members of the Delaware bar. Notwithstanding the claims of his large and lucrative practice, he has still found time for the faithful performance of every duty as a citizen, and has taken a deep interest in the advancement and pros- perity of the State. He was for a long time Counsel of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, and has from 1853 been its President ; elected every year by the Board of Directors. Mr. Gray was also one of the orig- inal projectors of the Delaware Railroad, and walked repeatedly over every foot of the pro- posed route, which he was principally instru- mental in locating. He has been a Director ever since the organization of the Company, and was offered but declined the Presidency. He was actively interested in its construction, and all monies for the land and for the mak- ing of the Road passed through his hands : He was President of the Frenchtown and New Castle Railroad, and effected its junction with the Wilmington Road. Since 1838 Mr. Gray has been connected with the Farmers' Bank of New Castle as a Director, and has been its - President since 1849. Although so much in- terested in public affairs he has never allowed his name to be presented as a candidate for office. He has several times been urged to accept the nomination for Congress but has steadily declined.
Mr. Gray is large in stature, and his whole appearance, as will be judged by the accom- panying portrait, is at once striking and handsome. He enjoys excellent health, is in fullest possession of all his faculties, and bears the promise of much longer continuance of his useful and happy life. He possesses a re- markable memory and is a most entertaining conversationalist. As a man he enjoys the highest respect and regard wherever known. Mr. Gray was married in 1833 to Miss Elisa- beth M. Schofield of Connecticut, daughter of Frederick Schofield, Esq., and granddaughter of Major Starr of the same State, famous in the annals of the Revolution. They have had five children ; Maria, now Mrs. Samuel Marsh, of New York city. George Gray, a leading mem- ber of the Delaware bar, and Attorney Gen- eral of the State. Annie, wife of Major Hamil- ton Hawkins, of the United States Army,
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whose father was a distinguished surgeon in, the Army ; Emily S. Gray, who died December 26, 1863, Andrew Gray, the youngest child of the family.
AYMOND, JACOB, 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 advantages 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 disolved in 1835, when Mr. Raymond went into business upon his own account. He largely engaged in buying grain, staves, etc., which he shipped to Philadelphia, New York, and Boston upon his own vessels. He was a systematic 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 became largely interested in agricultural pur- suits, possessing a large estate of 600 acres in Md. 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. He departed this life August 6, 1852, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. He was united 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 marriage, seven of whom were boys and two girls. Three only survived their father : Susan H., who died September 13, 1876, in her sixtieth year, un- married ; Martha A., widow of Daniel Cum- mins, Esq., of Smyrna, and George Henry Raymond, President of the Fruit growers' National Bank of Smyrna, Del.
AUDAIN, REV. ARNOLD S., a local preacher of the Methodist Church, and an extensive agriculturist, was born in New Castle, in 1776. His father, Elias Naudain, born in the same place in 1750, is sup- posed to have a been a farmer, and also his grandfather, Arnold Naudain, born in New Castle county in 1723. The last named was buried at Drawyer's Church Cemetery. United States Senator, Arnold Naudain, was the first cousin of the subject of our sketch. The lat- ter was a man of much force and native superi- ority of character, a conscientious christian, and left a decided impress on the minds of his day and generation. He was also successful in business, and his landed estate at his death was large; each of his children being appor- tioned a valuable farm. He married Miss McComb, and their eleven children all grew to maturity. The eldest, Elias S., married a daughter of Christopher Brooks, of Newark, and had seven children. Dr. Christopher Brooks Naudain of Jennerville, Pennsylvania; Arnold S. and Joseph C. Naudain of New Cas- tle county ; Alexina, Laura, Estella and Mary.
The second son, Jacob V., married Miss Van Horn of New Castle county, and had four children ;- Rebecca, L., Annie, Henry C. and Mary. Rachel married William Wilson of the "Levels," of whom see sketch ; Ann married Mr. Short of Sussex county, by whom she had one son. Mr. Short dying, she married Benja- min M. Crawford of Cecil county, Maryland, and had by him seven sons, five of whom are living ;- Benjamin, Samuel, Dr. Edward, Ab- raham and Harry. The next daughter, Re- becca, died young ; Emeline M. lives with her sister Mary, near Middletown : John M. mar- ried Mary R. Lockwood, of Middletown, and had four children ;- Richard, Mary, John M. and Louise. Abraham died young and unmar- ried ; Mary E. married Rev. Mr. Norwood of Baltimore, who died the next year. She was afterwards married to John McCrone, Junior, of New Castle county, and had six children : Louise, John, George, William, Mollie and Eugene. Lawrence M., who died at the age of twenty-eight, unmarried, and Lydia who died in her youth, were the remaining children of Arnold S. Naudain. He died in 1846, and is buried in the family burial ground on the old
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homestead, two miles south of Middletown, [cept and example. He retired from business now the residence of his grandson, Richard L. in 1864, and engaged in managing his estate Naudain.
OWNSEND, WILLIAM, a retired merchant of Frederica, was born July 28, 1809. His father was James Town- send, a farmer and merchant of Kent county, who bore the reputation of an upright Christian gentleman, and was a member of the Methodist church. He died in 1812. He married Miss Mary, daughter of William Townsend, a farmer of Sussex county. She was an active member of the Methodist Epis- copal church and died in 1817. The grand- fathers of the subject of this sketch, on both sides, were named William Townsend and both died comparatively aged. William was only permitted attendance on the public schools of the village of Frederica until he was sixteen years of age, when he entered the wholesale and retail house of Hugh Macurdy of Philadelphia, where he remained four years. He then returned to Delaware and engaged in general mercantile business.
He was prosperous in this business, and for ten years continued the same at Fork Landing, Kent county. This was the happiest part of his business life. With a very limited capital and scarcely any money in the county, specie payment suspended, and business confidence de- stroyed, 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 times" of our history. On the Ist of January, 1840, Mr. Townsend came to Frederica where he again went into business and began to speculate in corn, wheat, staves, wood,etc., which he shipped to the Philadel- phia 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 observer of the great improvement on the farms around him.
He was one of the pioneers in pear culture in his vicinity. In this part of the state the people are largely engaged in fruit culture, and Mr. Townsend has encouraged it both by pre-
of three hundred acres, and looking after his numerous investments. He has always been a liberal supporter of the educational and religious institutions of his county and state. He connected himself with the M. E. Church in 1831, and has been an official member most of the time, being teacher in the Sunday School, a Steward and Trustee of the church, and has been faithful in the discharge of his duties in these several relations. Mr. Townsend has been a democrat from his earliest manhood. He was a firm and outspoken supporter of the Union cause in the last war, and was opposed to secession, believing it revolutionary and suicidal of the best interests of the south. He was one of the State Commissioners during the war to relieve drafted men, and distribute the aid of the state for their relief, about one mil- lion dollars being distributed for this purpose by the three gentlemen of that commission. He has been opposed to having his name used for any political purpose, and though al- most everything which the state could give has been offered him, he has always refused office.
On the 2nd of January, 1831, he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of John Barrett, son of Judge Barrett who built the historic Barrett's Chapel. Six children have been born to them of whom three survive, viz : John, born November, 1831, died in 1853 ; John West, who now resides in New York ; Mrs. Mary S., widow of Joseph Smithers, who died in 1870 She married Hon. N. B. Smithers of Dover in 1882. Her son William T. is a student of Law with Mr. Smithers. The youngest living is Mrs. Anna T., wife of Rev. J. S. Wil- lis of Milford, see sketch and plate in this vol- ume. The other two died in infancy.
AUDAIN, HON. ARNOLD, M. D., was prominent in all the public affairs of Delaware fifty years ago. It is proper, therefore, that some account of his family, of so much American antiquity, should accompany a brief sketch of its best known descendant. For nearly two hundred years, its numerous offshoots have been residents of this State ; respected for intelligence, enter-
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prize and integrity. The broad acres of many of them show that the rural tastes of its founder liave not been lost in those who at present inherit the name, or are of its con- nection.
The common ancestor of the Naudains was a native of Nantes, Brittany, in France. In · religion, a Huguenot, a follower of Condé and Coligny ; by occupation, a mariner. In the latter months of the year, 1681, Elias Naudain, his wife, Gahel Arnand, with three children, were forced to flee their native land by re- ligious persecution. They found refuge in England. The official record informs us that after a few months' residence in London, he and his family were naturalized. In the gen- eral form of a patent, dated "The XXII year of "Charles II., viz; on the 8th of March 1682, "Elias, father, Arnauld, (son,) Mary and Elizabeth, (daughters,") were made citizens of Great Britain. A daughter, Francoise, and a son, Elias, were born in London, and "baptized 1686-87, in the French Church in Thread- needle street." This son, the second Elias Naudain, came to America early in the reign of Queen Anne, making permanent settlement in New Castle county, Delaware. The farm he owned and the mansion he erected in 1711, is at present the property of a lady whose mother was a sister of the subject of this sketch. In 1715-16, this Elias was an Elder in the Presbyteriam Church at Drawyer's. In 1717 sat in the first synod of that religious de- nomination, from which its present influential General Assembly descends. Elias married and had five sons : Elias, Cornelius, Samuel, Andrew, Arnold. All married and had families. The second Elias (emigrant) is buried where he originally located. His son Arnold was born 1723 ; died 1796; buried at Drawyers. His children were Elias, Arnold, John, Andrew, and several daughters. Andrew was born 1758, died 1819. His wife was Rebecca Snow, whose ancestry came to Maryland in 1635. He is buried at "Naudain's Landing." His sons were Arnold, Elias, and Andrew ; daugh ters, Lydia, who married John Eddowes ; Anne married Alexander V. Murphey ; Mary married Daniel Cowgill ; Eliza married Daniel Corbit ; all leaving descendants.
Of this family, Arnold is the subject of this brief biography. He was born January 6, 1790, at "Snowland,", Kent county, Delaware, the
eldest of his father's children. At an unusu- ally early age he was prepared for and sent to Princeton College,from whence he was gradu- ated in 1808. He studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania ; took his Diploma and established himself at Cantwell's Bridge, (now Odessa). He soon married Mary Schee, only daughter of Hermann Schee, and Mary Naudain, who was the granddaughter of Ar- nauld Naudain.
Dr. Naudain's first public service was given to his country in the war of 1812, when he was surgeon of the Delaware Regiment. In 1822 he was nominated for Congress ; his op- ponent was Louis McLane, who was elected. In 1824 and in 1828, the political race between these distinguished gentleman was run again and with the same result. At each contest the vote was nearly equal. In 1825, Dr. Naudain was elected to the Legislature, a member from New Castle county, sitting with his brother Elias, who represented Kent county. The for- mer was chosen speaker, serving with great ac- ceptability. In 1828, he was commissioned a judge of the Court of Common Pleas by Gov. Charles Polk ; the bench consisting of Thomas Clayton, Arnold Naudain and Jacob Stout.
In 1829 Louis McLane resigned his seat as United States Senator, and in January, 1830, Dr. Naudain was appointed to fill tlie vacancy, taking his seat the day he entered the forty- first year of his age. In 1832, while occupying this eminent position, he was nominated for Governor, although earnestly protesting "against a step so impolitic," he was persuaded to allow the contest to go on. The canvass was a very lively one, and the vote unusually large, resulting however in the choice of Governor Bennet, by a vote of 4220 against 4166. In 1833, so acceptably had Dr. Naudain performed his duty as a Senator, that he was again chosen for the next term. He fully ap- preciated this mark of high confidence, but his private business was suffering from his ab- sence ; and after deliberate consideration he decided to resign his public position, and re- sume his professional avocation. He resigned June 17, 1836. In 1841, he again entered pub- lic life as Collector of the Port of Wilmington, and Superintendent of the Light-houses on the Delaware. His residence had been in Wilmington for some years previously. In 1845 he removed to Philadelphia, resuming and
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continuing the practice of his profession, until, January 30, 1785, and served in the war of .on the approach of old age, he retired to his 1812. In early life he was a merchant in Mil- native State.
As he advanced in life he practiced more thaniel Bowman, a farmer of Milford Neck. and more the duties of a christian. He was He was greatly esteemed for his high moral one of the founders, and the first elder in the character and the good influence he exerted. Green Hill Presbyterian Church in Philadel- His parents were Winlock and Mary Hall. Win phia. In the same capacity his father, his lock Hall was born in Milford Neck, and was grandfather and his great-grandfather, had given their services to the cause of religion. Dr. Naudain was several times a commis- sioner to the General Assembly of the Presby- John, and of his three daughters, are now terian Church. In 1857 he took formal leave of the active affairs of this church, leaving Philadelphia and returned to Delaware. He died in Odessa, January 4, 1872, at the age of 82, and is buried at Drawyers.
A great crowd of friends and relatives was present at his funeral, all his living children and several great-grand children. Addresses upon his life and character were made by Revs. Dr. Crowell and Patton of the Presby- terian church, and Rev. Bishop Scott of the Methodist church.
Dr. Naudain was a most courteous gentle- man, commanding in person, handsome in feature,and neat in attire ; an evenly balanced temperament ; an humble, sincere christian ; a delightful companion, as winsome and inter- esting in old age, as in the hey-day of youth. His intellectual and professional acquirements were of the first order, and as a medical prac- titioner he was eminently successful. This notice would be incomplete without some account of his immediate family. His son James Shee married Anne Elizabeth Blackis- ton of Maryland. Andrew Snow married Mary P. Corbit of Odessa, Delaware. His daughter Rebecca A, married Hugh Alexan- der of Chicago ; Mary H., married Dr. William Newell Hamilton of Delaware; Elizabeth R. married Dr. James E. Ellis of West Chester, New York ; Catharine Louisa married A. Boyd Hamilton, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania ; Lydia F., married Dr. Clayton A. Cowgill, of Dover, Del.
ALL, HON. JOHN WOOD, Governor (1882) of Delaware, was born January 1, 1817, in Frederica, where his father, e John Hall, a successful merchant, passed the greater part of his life. He was born
ford, and married Henrietta, daughter of Na-
one of the largest landholders and most pros- perous farmers in his county. The descen- dants of his three sons, Henry, Winlock and living in Delaware. The ancestors of the family came from England to Delaware, during the early history of the State, and have always ranked among its most worthy citizens. John Hall died January 1, 1826, and his wife, Sept., 17, 1834, in her forty-third year. They had five children, of whom Governor Hall alone survives. Mrs. Hall was a woman of great piety. She trained her children strictly in the paths of virtue and honesty,and to all the ob- servances of religion. Her son, the present Governor, was but nine years of age when he had the misfortune to lose his father, after which he resided with his uncle and guardian, Elias Fleming, who was easy and careless, and the property of lis ward melted away, with his own, till there was nothing left but the land. He would willingly have afforded liis nephew the advantages of a thorough education, had Mr. Hall realized the need sufficiently to ask the privilege ; as it is, it has been a matter of life-long regret that he failed, while yet they had ample means for the purpose, to secure so great a benefit.
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