USA > Delaware > Historical and biographical encyclopaedia of Delaware. V 1 > Part 45
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child of this marriage, and attended various select schools in Philadelphia, (where his family had removed in 1818 after the death of his father,) until he was eighteen years of age. He received a superior English and classical training and was especially well versed in the higher mathematics. His desire to become a civil engineer led to his being placed on the staff of J. Edgar Thompson, president of the Pennsylvania Central railroad, and at that time a widely known civil engineer. Mr. Dale served upon various canals and railroads, among others the Union and South Schenectady. In 1849 Mr. Dale made a rough survey of the San Juan river, extending from the Atlantic to lake Nicaragua, and on this survey his boat carried the first American flag that ever passed over its inland course, starting from Greytown and terminating at Granada; Fort Collis being the actual termination of the survey. The party then passed through lake Nicaragua to Granada and thence by of the town of Nicaragua to Sun Juan, on the Pacific. In 1849 the party arrived at San Francisco after a five months' voyage in a sloop chartered for that purpose The vessel had only been provisioned for a sixty-days' voyage, and the sufferings of this party and crew can be readily imagined, having been ninety days without eitlier bread or salt. Arriving in San Francisco he visited the Mar- iposa mines. He returned to the east in 1850, and was employed in his profession on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad until 1853. He then had charge of the survey of the contem- plated railroad known as the Wilmington and. Brandywine, and was next employed on the Delaware railroad for some time. He then went to Minnesota where he was employed on the Minnesota and Pacific railroad. In 1857 he returned to his native State and took charge of the survey of the Junction and Breakwater railroad. At the breaking out of the war his health failing him he removed to his farm near Bridgeville and for fourteen years was an in- valid suffering greatly from chronic rheumatism. In 1876 he removed to the town of Bridgeville where his health has gradually improved. Mr. Dale was elected in 1840 on the Whig ticket a member of the State Legislature, serving one session. He was the youngest member of the House and served with much credit on several important committees. He has frequently been solicited to serve as a candidate for office by
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.
the Democratic party with which he has acted | ness. He was here engaged for a number of since 1842. He was united in marriage in Philadelphia, October 18, 1837, to Miss Ellen Francis, daughter of Copeland Boyd of Beth- lehem, Pa. Eleven children have been born to them, viz. James Wilkinson, a Lieutenant in the Confederate service, and was killed at the battle of Winchester; Richard, the railroad agent at Harrington ; John, who died in 1869; Gerald and Horace of the Reading Hardware works; Eliza, wife of John Dilworth, Berlin, Md .; Letitia, wife of Col. Manuel Eyre, attor- ney at law, San Francisco, California ; Mary and Margie Fitzgerald, at home with their parents.
UNCAN, JOHN A, late President of the National Bank of Wilmington and Brandywine, was born in Wilmington, April 10, 1805. He was the second son of John and Elizabeth (Woolston) Duncan. John Duncan was by vocation a farmer. After the birth of John A., he removed to Baltimore and engaged in the carriage business. He was afterwards a successful agriculturist in Harford county for many years. In the latter part of his life he returned to Wilmington, where he died, September 30, 1852, aged seventy-six years. His father, also named John Duncan, was a native of Glasgow, Scotland, and came to America prior to the Revolutionary war. He married a Miss Corner of Baltimore, and was a prosperous farmer on the eastern shore of Maryland, leaving at his death quite a large family. Several of his descendants now reside at Cincinnati, Ohio. The subject of this sketch was the second son in a family of five children, the eldest of whom was Benjamin, a farmer of Mill Creek hundred, near Brandy- wine Springs. He died in March, 1870, leav- ing one son, B. Frank Duncan. After John A., the younger children of the family were, Jeremiah W., Elizabeth M. and Hannah. John A. Duncan received a good English edu- cation. His parents were members of the Society of Friends and he was brought up in that faith. He was naturally very active and enterprising, and early sought a thorough ac- quaintance with business as a clerk in the hardware store of Newlin and Woolston, who occupied the same building, 214 Market street, in which his nephews now continue the busi-
years till, in 1830, in partnership with his brother, Jeremiah W. Duncan, he purchased the business of the above firm. The brothers were successful and continued together several years, when Jeremiah W. withdrew, and Mr. John A. Duncan continued the business till 1860, when he retired. But full of public spirit he was actively interested, also, during all these years, in many enterprises for the gen- eral good. He was for many years a director in the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Balti- more Railroad, and also in the Delaware Rail- road. He was a director in the New Castle county Mutual Fire Insurance Company ; in the Wilmington Savings Fund ; and also in the National Bank of Wilmington and Bran- dywine, of which he was President at the time of his death and for a number of years pre- vious. He was one of the founders of the Wilmington Coal Gas Company, in 1851, and was its first Secretary, holding this office dur- ing the remainder of his life, and also that of Treasurer from 1852. He was one of the orig- inal incorporators of the Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery, and was a member and Treasurer of a whaling company, besides being connected with many other enterprises. In all these multitudinous duties his consum- mate ability shone conspicuously, while his character commanded the entire respect and confidence of all his associates. He was regarded with affection and admiration by all who came within his circle of acquaintance, and his death was an occasion of the profound- est sorrow. In politics he was a member of the Republican party, and was twice a mem. ber of the Legislature on that ticket, serving his constituents in the very able and thorough- ly business-like manner that characterized him in whatever he undertook. He was never married. His death occurred August 5, 1868.
cCOMB, HON. ELEAZER was a dele- gate to the Continental Congress from Delaware, from 1782 to 1784. In the period of struggle and calamity, when the destiny of the nation took the current that led to the freedom and greatness now ours, he was among the foremost to advocate and vote for the measures making up our early history.
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TOCKLY, AYRES, Ex-Cashier and President of the Bank of Smyrna, was born in Accomac county, Virginia, March 2, 1800. The family are of Eng- glish descent, several parishes bearing the name still existing in the northern counties of England. Their origin in Virginia, tradition preserves, as follows : About the year 1608, a party of emigrants, originally from England, who had settled at Jamestown, made, with Captain Smith at their head, a voyage of ex- ploration up the Chesapeake Bay, and one of the party of the name of Stockly, attracted by the beauty and fertility of the soil of the peninsula, settled on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. He is supposed to have been the progenitor of the family in America, and his son Charles is said to have been one of the first Anglo Saxons born on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. From the latter descended a son, Nehemiah, and a grandson, Colonel Charles Stockly, horn in 1757 or 58, an officer in the revolutionary war and father of the subject of this sketch. He was a Lieu- tenant of the 9th regiment of the Virginia line, acting as paymaster of the regiment, with the rank of captain. Being taken prisoner at the battle of Germantown, he was confined on Long Island and elsewhere, until peace was declared in 1782. Returning, he married in 1784, Margaret, daughter of Edmund Allen, of Accomac county, who died soon after the birth of her first child; and in 1788 he married Anne Taylor, also of Accomac county. She died in 1802, leaving six children, of whom Ayres was the youngest. Soon after, in 1805, Colonel Charles died of an illness contracted in the performance of his duty as Magistrate ยท of the county, and, at the age of five, Ayres was left an orphan, in the care, first, of his grandmother, the widow of Nehemiah Stockly, and afterwards of his brother-in-law, Doctor Thompson Holmes, of Accomac county, who had married his eldest sister, Eliza. His op- portunities for education were not large, but he was for two summers at Snow Hill Academy. Dr. Holmes was possessed of a good library, and young Stockly had great fond- ness for books. At 18 years of age he went to Philadelphia to learn merchandizing with John B. Cowell, and after remaining five years, remov- ed to the town of Smyrna, Delaware, where
he has ever since resided. Mr. Stockly here entered into business in 1823, the firm being Stockly & Rowland, which continued for three years. He then entered on the same business on his own account, and continued ten years, when he closed it out, and was ap- pointed to the post of cashier of the Bank of Smyrna in 1836. The institution, which was then in its infancy, with a paid up capital of little more than $50,000, became, during his cashiership, a wealthy and extensively useful corporation, whose aid was fully given, and whose influence was strongly felt, in all efforts where its means could be made effective to advance the welfare of the community ; and its capital was the reliance of the people of a large part of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, as well as of the entire lower portion of New Castle county, and of lower Kent and upper Sussex counties, for there was then no other bank south of Wilmington, except the Farm- ers' bink and its branches. In the develop- ment of its business and usefulness, Mr. Stockly was untiring, and when, in 1856, after twenty years service as cashier, he resigned that post, he became President, retaining that position until his resignation in 1876. He was, also, during this period, much interested in agriculture. During the first half of the pres- ent century, the land in parts of the State became so poor and exhausted, as almost to produce famine, and depopulate whole sections by emigration West. The success which at- tended the first experiments with lime as a fertilizer inspired the farmers with new hope, and Mr. Stockly was the first man to bring lime to Duck Creek for this purpose. At that early day the State was also suffering from want of convenient communication with the commercial centers. A stage line carrying the mail three times a week from Wilmington to Eastville, Virginia, furnished the only mode of travel except private conveyances and the sloops trading out of the creek. Seeing this difficulty in the way of prosperity, he took an active and most efficient interest in the forma- tion and subsequent management of the com- pany, which, in 1838 or 39, built and ran be- tween Smyrna and Philadelphia, the steam- boat Kent, the first venture of the kind made in this State, south of Delaware City. This was a most useful and successful enterprise. The same company afterwards substituted for
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the old Kent, the fast and excellent steamer Zephyr, and extended her trips, below Smyrna, to Dona Creek. To connect with this steamer at Dona Landing, a railroad was projected, but the plan soon enlarged into a railroad through the entire length of the State, and thus the Smyrna Steamboat Company became the nucleus of the Delaware railroad. Mr. Stockly was one of the incorporators of the Smyrna and Delaware Bay railroad, and sec- retary for several years. Though interested in public affairs, he usually declined office, but consented to serve one term in the Leglsla- ture, in 1830-31, being elected by the Adams party. He has held all the local offices he would accept, and several times been Presi- dential elector. His life is one of the few re- maining links between the early period of primitive habits, undeveloped resources, unim- proved land, and almost impracticable com- mercial intercourse, and the present ; and these wonderful changes and improvements he has aided to the extent of his ability. In 1832 he was married to Margaret, only child of John Offley, a descendant of Michael Offley, who, in 1680, came to this country with Wm. Penn, and settled in New Castle county, where he took up land, the original patents from Wm. Penn and the Duke of York, being still preserved by the family. Her mother, Jane Clarke, was the sister of Governor John Clark, and daughter of Captain William Clark, of the revolutionary army. The death of Mrs. Stockly occured March 23, 1875, in her 80th year. They had two sons, John Clark now a res- ident of Smyrna, and Ayres Holmes Stockly, who died April 20, 1879, at the age of forty-one.
ARTIN, LUTHER, manufacturer, Philadelphia, was born in Seaford, Sussex county, Del., Oct. 30, 1824. His father was Captain Hugh Martin, a well known and influential citizen of the State, residing at Seaford, who in the earlier part of his life, was a sea captain, and of whom see sketch in this volume.
when he was sent to the well known school of John Bullock, at Wilmington. He was an or- thodox Friend, a successful teacher, and Mr. Martin retains a sense of great obligation to him for the pains he took in his moral and mental training during the five years he was under his care. After this he attended for one year the academy near St. Michaels, Talbot county, Marlyand. He then entered as clerk in the general merchandizing business with the firm of William L. Hearn & Co., Laurel, Del., and continued in their employment until 1841, when he went to Philadelphia, where he has continued to reside ever since with the exception of the short period he spent in Cal- ifornia. On going to the Quaker City he en- gaged as bookkeeper, and followed this em- ployment until the year 1849, when he joined the " Argonauts" for the newly discovered land of gold on the Pacific coast. Having be- come a member of the William Penn mining company, he with that company left New York, Febuary 5, 1849, on the steamer Crescent city. This vessel arrived at Chagres on the 14th of that month, and thence the company crossed the isthmus from Gorgona to Panama. They were compelled to cross the isthmus ten times, making five several trips in the transportation of their effects. He remained on the isthmus until the first day of May, when he left with his company on the whale ship, Niantic, Cap- tain Cleaveland. There were 350 passengers, and two hundred dollars was paid by each for the trip to San Francisco. The passage took sixty-five days, arriving at the Golden Gate, July 5, 1849. During his journey to California, and after his arrival, Mr. Martin was the author of letters published in the "Methodist Protes- tant" of Baltimore. These were full of striking incidents, the narration of which, in his style, made them exceedingly popular and enjoyable. Indeed Mr. Martin from early life has been pos- sessed of literary abilities of a high order, and though his life has been a busy one, he has found leisure to make large acquaintance with the best authors, and has acquired an exten- sive knowledge of most subjects connected with science, art and theology. His well se- lected library, and his tastes, fit him for most
Luther Martin, so named for the great Mary- land lawyer, was the second son and third child intelligent and agreeable companionship. On of his parents. His mother was Sophia Willis, the arrival of the company at San Francisco their of an old Delaware family. He attended tents were pitched in a spot they called Happy the academy at Seaford until ten years of age, Valley, and it is still recognized by the name
Very Respectfully Hours further Martin
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BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT.
then given. It is worthy of remark also that located in the 29th Ward, Philadelphia, and the Niantic served as a store ship at her an- occupy two whole squares lying between chorage until the wharf was built out to and Columbia Avenue and Oxford, and 28th and beyond it, and her hull is used as a store on the 30th streets. His residence is No. 1522 Girard wharf at San Francisco; the last voyage of the Niantic being that which carried the Wil- liam Penn mining company to California. On leaving San Francisco, Mr. Martin went on the first steamer which ever made the voyage from San Francisco to Sacramento City. This was tlie side wheel steamer, Senator, which had come around Cape Horn. Where the city now stands there stood a number of oak trees, and the inhabitants were dwellers in tents, and under these trees he joined in worship with the first Protestant congregation ever gathered there for worship. The religious services were conducted by Rev. Dr. Deal, of Baltimore city, a well known Methodist preacher of that day. The company with which he was associated began mining opera- tions on the North Fork of the American river, where in consequence of their finding human remains, the locality was named "Dead Man's Bar" by which it still continues to be known.
Avenue, he having built it in 1854, and after living twenty-five years therein, a large gath- ering of two hundred of his friends, celebrated the event at his home with congratulations over his business success, and the health and happiness of his household. Mr. Martin joined the Methodist Protestant church in Laurel, Delaware, in 1839, and on coming to Philadel- phia joined the church then under the pastor- ate of the late eloquent Thomas H. Stockton, IIth and Wood street. He is now a worshipper and attendant at the Baptist church, of which Rev. Dr. Magoon is pastor. In politics Mr. Martin has always been a Democrat, but has had no fondness for political or public life; yet for three years (from 1862 to 1865) he served as one of the Directors of Girard Col- lege, Philadelphia. It must be confessed,how- ever, that his high character and abilities ad- mirably qualify him to serve the public, and he alone of the brothers seems insensible to the calls of party. Hon. Ed. Martin is Congress- man from Delaware, and Dr. Hugh Martin of Seaford, his brothers, are to some considerable extent engaged in furthering the success of their party, but the subject of this sketch has evinced the utmost shrinking from public po- sition, though admirably qualified to render good service to his constituents in any ca- pacity. He was united in marriage on the Ist of May, 1845, to Miss Emma, daughter of Wm. Roderfield, Esq., of Philadelphia, who is of patriotic ancestry ; her father having served in the war of 1812, and her grandfather in that of the Revolution. Six children have grown to maturity of this marriage ; Luther Martin, Jr., and Robert Willis Martin, in business
After two months of hard work, out of the fifteen or twenty persons who at that time formed the company, he was the only one who had not used spirituous liquors, and the only one who had not lost a single day from sick- ness. The company met with success, but in consequence of premonitions of failing health he returned to Sacramento city and engaged for five months in merchandizing. He then left San Francisco, December 9, 1849, in the barque "Paoli", belonging to Captain Jacob Hugg, of Baltimore, which stopped for a few days in Acapulco for provisions. He came home by way of Chagres and the Gulf, to New Orleans, thence up the Mississippi until Cin- cinnati was reached, and arrived at home, March 28, 1850. In May of that year he be- with their father ; Ida, now wife of W. H. gan the business in which he has earned such Williams ; Sophia, now Mrs. R P. Stelwagen, both of Philadelphia; Emma R., and Alice Virginia Martin. a notable triumph, that is, the manufacture of Lamp Black, and in which he has been en- gaged up to the present time. Mr. Martin has the largest manufactory of this article in the world, and his goods are known and appre- ciated in every civilized country. This success EERY, HON. WILLIAM, served as a delegate from Delaware to the conti- nental congress from 1785 to 1786. He was an intelligent and honorable gen- in his business he attributes, under the Divine blessing, to his having made an honest article from the first, and being careful to maintain its standard of excellence. His factories are tleman, greatly respected by his many friends.
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Enjoy Chathar & Son. Bklyn NY
. H. Marvil
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BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT.
ILTON, JAMES, M. D., Surgeon Gen- eral of the United States, was born in Kent county, June 1, 1746. His clas- sical studies were pursued at Notting- ham, Chester county, Pennsylvania, under Samuel Finley, D.D., afterwards President of Dickinson College. Dr. Charles Ridgely of Dover, was his medical preceptor, and he re- ceived his degree at the University of Penn- sylvania, graduating with the first class of that institution. He first began the practice of medicine in Dover, where his nobility of char- acter and great medical skill soon secured him the recognition and eminence they deserved. Being strongly imbued with the prevailing en- thusiasm, he, in 1776, became surgeon of the Delaware regiment, serving with it during the first campaign, but was soon called to the hospital department of the army. Here he was of inestimable service in correcting abuses and instituting necessary reforms. So great was his reputation that he was, in 1781, elected a professor in the University of Pennsylvania, but preferred to remain in the service of his country. In 1782 he submitted in writing, to the Medical Committee of Congress, his obser- vations on the principles to be observed in con- ducting military hospitals, a treatise inspired by the inhumanity and sufferings he had wit - nessed. This paper was placed in the hands of the distinguished Drs., John Jones, Hutch- inson and Clarkson, who coincided with him, and his proposed measures of amelioration were adopted, and have constituted the out- line of hospital arrangements to the present time. In 1782 he was elected to congress, and afterwards was repeatedly a member of the legislature. Finding that the climate of Kent county was making inroads upon his constitu- tion, he removed to Wilmington, where he practiced his profession with great success for some years, when he removed to a small farm in the vicinity. On the outbreak of the war of 1812, he was appointed Surgeon General of the United States, and the following year un- dertook a journey to the northern frontier, examining, as he proceeded, all the hospitals in his route. His administration of the medi- cal service was most beneficial, and the rate of mortality greatly lessened. In 1814, the loss of a limb greatly impeded his usefulness. Dr. Tilton departed this life May 14, 1822,
aged seventy-seven years. As a physician, a patriot, and a man, he was most eminent, and his whole life afforded an example of the effect of sound principles and moral rectitude, in both public and private life.
PPLETON, JOHN, of Odessa, was born in New Castle county, in June, 1804.
His father, Rev. John Appleton, mar- ried a Miss Hackett. He was a local preacher in the M. E. Church. The grand- father of the subject of our sketch, came from England and settled near Smyrna. His two sons, William and Rev. John, went into Dorchester county, Maryland. The latter died in 1832, and his wife in 1836. Mr. John Apple- ton married, in 1824, Rachel, daughter of Daniel Hoffecker, by whom he had three sons and one daughter ; Henry H.,. John M., Cap- tain W. E., and Annie E., wife of John Hof- fecker, of Smyrna. Mr. Appleton lost his wife in 1859, and afterwards married Mrs. Tabitha (Derrickson) McKee, and after her death, he, in 1867, married Eliza Cantrell. By his second and third wife he had no children. Mr. Apple- ton is a man of means, and of high respect- ability. He is one of the solid men of the county, and all his life a Methodist.
AZZARD, JOHN ALEXANDER, Jus- tice of the Peace, Milton, was born in that place July, 1810. He was the old- est son of Governor Hazzard, of whom see sketch in this volume. At eighteen years of age Mr. Hazzard began attending the Milton Academy, and at the same time began the study of the classics with Mr. Wolfe, a cul- tured gentleman of Milton. On reaching his twenty-first year he was made a partner with his father in the general merchandising and shipping business. This business embraced the building of vessels and the dealing in grain, wood and staves. In 1836, upon the withdrawal of Governor Hazzard, a younger son became interested in the business, and the firm name was changed to J. A. Hazzard & Co. This partnership was dissolved five years later, and Mr. Hazzard removed to Milford where he resumed the same business in conjunction with Jno. R. Draper, under the
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