USA > Delaware > Historical and biographical encyclopaedia of Delaware. V 1 > Part 47
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ENNIMORE, JOSHUA BISPHAM, miller, of St. Georges hundred, near Middletown, was born in Philadelphia, June 2, 1803. His father, David Fen- nimore, was born at old Derricks Ferry, Bur- lington county, New Jersey He learned in his youth the carpenters' trade, but kept public house most of his life ; first the hotel on Delaware Avenue, between Market and Front streets, Philadelphia ; in 1804 he went to Lumberton, N. J. afterwards to Bordentown, . and finally to Crosswicks, where he died in 1810, at the age of thirty-five years. He married Ruth, daughter of Joshua Bispham, also of Burlington county, N. J., and had four children ; William, who died in 1827; Joshua B., the subject of this sketch; Joseph, who died in November, 1881, aged seventy-seven years, and Margaret Bishpam, who married Benjamin Ridgeway, and is still living, in her seventy-sixth year. After the death of David Fennimore, his widow married Joseph English, and had one child ; she died in 1847. Joseph Fennimore, the great grandfather of Joshua B. Fennimore, emigrated, it is said, from Wales to this country, probably about the year 1700, and settled at Derricks Ferry, which he owned and of which he always had charge, and his son, also named Joseph Fennimore, after him. The last named was born and lived there all his life His child en were Joseph ; Abraham, a farmer; Sarah, who married Timothy Bishop; Isaac, a farmer ; Samuel, a brick-mason ; David, already mentioned ; Richard, a carpenter, and Daniel, who died in early manhood. Joseph, Isaac, David, and Sarah had families. Abra- ham had no children, the others died single. They were a remarkably hardy and energetic family, large, healthy and long-lived, some of them reaching nearly a century in age. After the death of his father, Joshua B. Fennimore went to live with his uncle Abra- ham, about four miles from Camden, N. J., in Gloucester county. He attended the common schools and worked on the farm, and after his uncle died, in 1821, spent one year at the academy in Burlington which afforded supe- rior advantages, for that time. After working
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on a farm by the month, from the age of | February, 1868. The seventh child, Sarah E. M., married Charles T. Stratton and died in November, 1881, leaving three children; Sarah F., Joshua Fennimore, and Margaret Rebecca Stratton. The eighth, Margaret Ridgeway, married Gideon E. Heukill of Middletown, and died May 29. 1874, leaving one child, Jesse M. Heukill. The youngest is Samuel Fennimore who resides on the farm his father first purchased on coming to Delaware. Mrs. Fennimore died May 27, 1876. The family were originally Friends, and those in New Jersey still adhere to that faith, but the sub- ject of our sketch and his family attend the Protestant Episcopal church. It is recorded in the history of the Fennimores that none of them would ever accept office of any kind, though often urged to do so. They have always been thrifty and prosperous, quietly and faithfully pursuing their business life and attain- ing means, years and honors. twenty, he undertook the livery business on his own account at Camden, in iS26, but the following year he bought a farm and returned to an agricultural life, which he has followed most of the time since. His farm in New Jersey he sold March 25, 1847, and bought a large one near Odessa. He brought with him to Delaware three thousand peach trees, and in time had two hundred and fifty acres of his farm covered with this fruit. He was one of the first to engage in peach culture below Delaware City, and was very successful. His farm was like a garden, so highly was it culti- vated. He also bought another farm of one thousand acres, on which his son, Edward C., now lives, and covered one hundred and fifty acres of this with peaches. This he sold to his son some years since. In 1866 he pur- chased property in Middletown, where he re- sided ten years, and did much to improve the place. He bought eighty acres adjoining the village, which he divided into building lots, and to forward the work, kept a lumber yard, and organized a Building and Loan Associa- tion. The impetus which he gave to building and improvement in the place is still felt. He is remarkably energetic and capable, and success has generally attended his efforts. In 1876 he purchased the Willow Grove Grist Mill which he has managed most of of the time since. Though now seventy-nine years old he still attends to business with the freshness and capability of middle life. He is in perfect health and has taken medicine but once in sixteen years. In politics Mr. Fenni- leading member of the Methodist Church, and
more has always been a Union man and a Republican. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Middletown, and was many years a vestryman. He was married in 1825 to Miss Sarah M., daughter of Edward Collins of Gloucester, now Camden county, N. J. They had the following children ; Caroline, wife of John A. Reynolds, retired merchant of Middletown ; Abraham, living with his father ; Edward C., of whom see sketch; William died in infancy ; Rebecca A., married Edward C. Collins of Camden, N. J., and died in Decem- ber, 1880 ; Joshua B. Jr., married Lydia Crowley by whom he had one child, Julia B.Fennimore. His wife died January 10, 1865, and he next married Miss Anna Venable, by whom also he had one child, Ida J. Fennimore. He died in
OE, SAMUEL DEWEES, farmer, was born at Roesville, Kent county, Sep- tember 1, 1833. His father, William Roe, was born in Caroline county, Mary- land, but came to Kent county, Delaware in childhood, with his father, who was a farmer in comfortable circumstances. He followed the business of manufacturing agri- cultural implements. but later in life he pur- chased extensive tracts of land in that locality, and became a practical farmer. He was a a gentlemen greatly respected for his intelli- gence, strength of character, and upright life. He died in May, 1856, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, leaving a large landed and personal estate. He married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Dewees. Of their ten children, six grew to maturity ; viz : Sallie A., widow of Joseph George, of Philadelphia ; Elizabeth, who married Stephen Postles,of Camden, Dela- ware, and died in 1848; Rachel D., wife of Rev. William E. England ; Mary, wife of Wm. M. Satterfield of Felton, Del ; Amor J., who married Henry Harrington, and died in 1865, leaving three children ; and Samuel D., the subject of this sketch. After attending the common schools till fourteen years of age, Mr. Roe was sent to the academy at Frederica
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for several terms, and for one term to the | business and in the care of his valuable farms, academy at Newark. In the fall of 1852 he entered the middle class at Delaware college, graduating Bachelor of Philosophy with the class of 1854. After teaching one year he was engaged in settling up his father's estate till 1858, when he went to St. Louis, where for a time he engaged in mercantile business. He afterwards resided in the central part of Missouri till 1860, when he returned home and settled on the farm which he inherited from his father, and where he now resides. His farm contains 334 acres of good land mostly devoted to grain, and under a high state of cultivation. Besides the home farm he owns about one hundred acres, in two tracts. He has a peach orchard of 2,000 trees, and an apple orchard. In 1866 he rented his farm, and for three years engaged in the manufacture of Agricultural implements in partnership with P. L. Bonwill. Not meet- ing with the success he expected, he resumed farming, in which vocation he now occupies the front rank. Formerly Mr. Roe was a member of the Whig party, but has acted with the Democratic party since 1862. In 1864 he was elected a member of the Levy court of Kent county which office he filled acceptably for four years. In 1878 he was appointed tax collector for South Murderkill hundred,serving for two years. Mr. Roe has been a member of the Independent order of Odd Fellows since 1861. He was married in 1861 to Miss Kate, daughter of Samuel and Sallie A. (Moore) Harrington. They had one child Imogene Roe. His wife died, July 27, 1869. In 1872 he was again married to Miss Zella M., daughter of Dr. S. P. Briggs of Millville N. J. He also has one child by this marriage, William Stan- ton Roe. Mr. Roe is one of the leading and substantial men of Kent county, and highly respected as a man and a citizen.
OLK, CHARLES TATMAN, merchant and agriculturist, of Odessa, New Castle county, was born in that county, Novem- ber 18, 1818, being the youngest son of
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Polk, of whom an account is preserved
in this volume. During the childhood of Charles Tatman Polk, his father removed to Odessa. On leaving school he assisted his father in
of which he had a number. About the year 1837, he went into business with his uncle who had a store in Delaware City, and continued with him several years, after which he re- turned home and superintended his father's farms. A large share of this landed property became his own on the death of his father, in 1852, and in the same year he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Eliza White, daugh- ter of George White, a wealthy farmer near Milford. He continued his interest in agri- culture during the remainder of his life, mak- ing of the pursuit a study and an art, and de- voting to it the resources of his fine mind and energetic nature. All the new and improved methods, as they successively appeared, he was one of the first to appreciate and under- stand, and make use of, whenever practicable. His judgment was rarely at fault, and being a man of great enterprise and ability, his suc- cess in any undertaking seemed assured from its commencement. He was strictly honorable and conscientious in all his dealings, and en- joyed the fullest esteem and confidence of all with whom he came in contact. Throughout the State he was known and honored as one of its most prominent and useful citizens. The name of Polk, so wide-spread in the United States, suffered no dishonor in this repre- sentative of the family. Mr. Polk was a Director in the Bank at Odessa, and one of the incorporators. In early life he was an old line Whig in politics, and was several times a member of the State Legislature. He was a strong union man during the war, and in his later years a member of the Republican party. For many years he was a trustee of Drawyers Presbyterian church, and one of its most devoted and useful members. His four childred are, Cyrus, born in Odessa, June 15, 1853, a successful farmer in the vicinity of Middletown ; George White, born September 23, 1854, in the Phosphate business in Odessa ; Charles T., born March 27, 1856, in the Commission business in Philadelphia ; and William, born November 19, 1857, also a farmer near Middletown. Most exemplary in all the relations of life, the character of Mr. Polk never appeared to greater advantage than in the home circle. He died in the triumphs of the christian faith on Saturday, March 21, 1863.
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citizen and a physician. In 1876, his health having become much impaired by long and close application to his professional duties, he spent four months in Europe, traveling through England, Ireland, Scotland, France Switzerland and Italy. In politics he is not a partisan, and votes for those whom he con- siders the best men in either party. His sympathies, however, incline him to the Democratic side, and he was elected by that party, in February, 1878, a school director for eight years for the Twenty-fourth ward, in which he lives. He was married, November 5. 1850, to Miss Susan A., daughter of J. Vesey and Ann (Knowland) Price, of Cecil county, Md. They have had no children.
ERKINS, WILLIAM CHARLES, M. D., of West Philadelphia, was born in Smyrna, Delaware, May 24, 1826. His parents were Dr. John D. and Elizabeth (Bradshaw) Perkins. A sketch of his father will be found in this volume. Dr. Perkins re- ceived his primary education at the public schools and the academy at Smyrna, and was prepared for college at the grammar school attached to Dickinson College, Carlisle, Penn- sylvania, then in charge of Rev. Levi Scott, D.D., afterwards Bishop of the M. E. Church. In October, 1841, he entered Dickinson Col- lege, where he remained two years, after which he commenced reading medicine in his father's office, in Smyrna. He matriculated at the Jefferson Medical College, November 1, 1844, and graduated M. D. with the class of 1847. Dr. Perkins commenced the practice of his AYMOND, GEORGE HENRY, Presi- dent of the Fruit Growers' National Bank of Smyrna, was born in that town, November 22, 1833. A sketch of his father, Jacob Raymond, late president of the Bank of Smyrna, precedes this. Mr. Raymond attended the public schools of his native place till 1846, when he was sent for four years to the excellent boarding and classical school of Rev. Z. H. Mansfield, in Wilmington. At the age of seventeen he returned to Smyrna, and, till he attained his majority, was a clerk in the store of James L. Bewley, where he re- ceived a thorough business training. He then embarked in mercantile life in which he con- tinued till March, 1861, since which time he has not been in business. He became admin- profession in Smyrna, where be remained three years, and in 1850, removed to Sassafras, Kent county, Maryland. Here he continued for seventeen years, and was very successful as a physician, while he at the same time superin- tended the culture of his large farm in that vicinity. In December, 1867; he removed to West Philadelphia, where he has since resided, becoming one of the leading physicians and surgeons of that city. During his residence there he has witnessed the growth of the city from a few scattered houses to a compact city, extending more than a mile west of his house. This fine property, which he purchased in 1877, is No. 58 North 38th street. Dr. Perkins had a desire to hold a diploma from the time-hon- ored institution from whichi his father graduated istrator of several estates, which occupied his and accordingly, in 1869, he also graduated time for some years, and has also been much occupied in the care of his own landed estate, and that of his sister. In 1867 he was elected to the House of Delegates of Delaware on the Democratic ticket, and was one of the most prominent and efficient members. He has been for twelve years a member of the Board of school commmissioners of the united dis- tricts, Nos. 5 and 107, and was president of the board for five years, resigning, July 1, 1881. In the duties of this important office, he has taken a deep interest, and devoted to them a from the University of Pennsylvania. He has since that time devoted himself most assidu- ously to his calling, never turning aside for the allurements of political honors, or for the promise of wealth in other paths. The skill to which he attained,and his devotion to, and conscientious discharge of his duties were soon recognized and appreciated, and gained him a large practice. It has been of a general char- acter, but many cases of special interest to the profession have come under his treatment, and he has published the history of a number large share of his time. To him is chiefly due of these in the leading medical journals of the the efficient and advanced condition of the country. Dr. Perkins is a man of high charac- public schools of Smyrna, which will compare ter and enjoys a wide popularity, both as a favorably with any schools in the State. He
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was, in 1874, elected a Director, and in 1875, | Delaware College at Newark and graduated was elected President of the Bank of Smyrna, holding the position one year. In 1876, he became one of the incorporators of the Fruit Growers' National Bank, which was then or- ganized with eighty thousand dollars capital, and of which he was made President, holding this office to the present time. Mr. Raymond was, from 1865 to 1870, a member of the Board of Commissioners of the town of Smyrna, and from 1866, was Secretary of the Board. It was during that period that the Town Hall was erected, and he was made chairman of the building committee. Mr. Raymond has been a prominent member of the Protestant Epis- copal Church for many years, and was for eight years a member of the Diocesan Con- vention. In 1874, he was elected one of the lay delegates to the General Convention of the Church, which sat in New York city, and in 1877, was again elected to the General Con- vention, which met that year in Boston. He was married, April 23, 1860, to Miss Caroline J., daughter of the late Hon. D. A. j. Upham, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They have had four children ; Alonzo Schutzenbach ; Mary Blackiston, who died in infancy ; Laurence Bewley, who died, April 14, 1880, and Clarence Blackiston Raymond.
OFLAND, HON. JAMES RUSH, member of the forty-first Congress from Delaware, was born in Milford, Nov- ember 27, 1823. His father was Dr. James P. Lofland a leading physician of great skill. He was a student of the celebrated Dr. Rush, of the city of Philadelphia. Dr. Lof- land served several terms in the State Senate, and was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Masons of the State of Delaware. He was very successful as a physician, and died greatly respected in August, 1851. He married Miss Mary, daughter of Peter Lowber of Kent county, who is still living, in the seventy-fifth year of her age. James R. Lofland was the first child of his parents and was carefully reared. He attended the Milford Academy taught at that time by Rev. William Backus, who, afterward, was a missionary to China. He continued at this Academy until he was seventeen years of age, when he was sent to
with great credit from that institution in I844. He soon after commenced reading law with Robert Frame of Kent county, who removed to Wilmington before Mr. Lofland had finished his legal studies. He then entered the office of Martin W. Bates of Dover, and was admit- ted to the bar in 1848. In 1849 he was elected Secretary of the Senate of Delaware and served in that position until 1851. He was elected to the State Convention in 1852, called for the purpose of amending the Constitution of the state, serving as a member of the Judi- ciary Committee and taking prominent part in the proceedings of that body. In 1855 he was appointed Secretary of State by the Governor, P. F. Causey, and served in that capacity for four years with great honor to himself and profit to the state. He was a strong supporter of the party which nominated Bell and Everett in 1860, but on the breaking out of the war Mr. Lofland placed himself with all his inter- ests on the side of the Union, supporting the administration of President Lincoln warmly, using all his personal and social influence against secession. He was appointed in 1862 by Mr. Lincoln one of the Board of Visitors to the United States Military Academy at West Point, and though the youngest mem- ber of that body he was made its Secretary. In the autumn of 1862, desirous of serving his country in the field, he became the Major of the first Delaware Cavalry, of which Hon. George P. Fisher was the first Colonel, but in February, 1863, having been tendered by the President the position of Paymaster with the rank of Major of United States troops, he accepted the appointment and reported at once to Paymaster General Andrews, and was im- mediatly ordered on duty at New Orleans. Major Lofland arrived in that city May 3, 1863, and reported to Major Bringham, Paymaster in charge, and served in the Gulf Department until August, 1864. He was then relieved and ordered to report to the Paymaster General at Washington, and after a short leave of absence, was ordered to Columbus, Ohio, for the purpose of assisting in paying off volunteers whose term of enlistment had expired. At the end of a few days he returned to Washington as his headquarters, and served as Paymaster in the army of the James, that of the Potomac and the army of the Shenandoah. In Sep-
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tember 1864 he was again ordered to New | in Cumberland county, near Portland, Maine, Orleans and upon his arrival there was sent by the paymaster in charge to Vicksburg Miss. as Post-paymaster. He remained at Vicks- burg for ten months being engaged in paying off troops who were being mustered out of service. He then returned to New Orleans and was engaged in paying off the troops in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas until 1867. He liad previously been brevetted Lieutenant Colonel for faithful and meritorious service,and his commission signed by President Lincoln. The war now being ended, Colonel Lofland sent in his resignation and returned to Milford. He again resumed the practice of law and de- voted his leisure time to agricultural pursuits. In 1868 he was sent as a delegate to the Na- tional Republican Convention. at Chicago, which nominated General Grant for President. He served as chairman of the Delaware Dele- gates in 1872 which renominated General Grant as a candidate for a second term. In the Autumn of 1872, Colonel Infland was his native town six months of the year until nominated as a candidate for Congress from his State on the Republican ticket. He was elected and served as a member of the forty- first Congress. He was on the committee of the District of Columbia, and was an ac- tive and faithful representative. He was again nominated by liis party for a second term in Congress, but was not elected. He was chair- man of the Republican Delegation to Cincin- nati National Convention in 1876 and voted throughout for James G. Blaine as the Presi - dential nominee. Colonel Lofland was also chairman of the Delegates from Delaware to the Convention at Chicago in 1880, and was chairman of the Republican State Convention the same year. He is a firm adherent of the Republican party, and is at all times in- terested in its success. He was married, May 27, 1852, to Miss Sallie B., daughter of Joseph Brown Esq., of Philadelphia ; his wife, however, being a native of Kent county. One daughter who was born in 1853, survives. She is the wife of Mr. Joseph E. Bruff, a leading mer- chant of Baltimore, Maryland.
in 1824. His father was David Brown, a farmer,an upright man and an a honest citizen, who died at the age of fifty-seven years. He married Miss Dorothy Pierce who died in 1832. Three children were born to them of whom one alone, the subject of this sketch, survives. The grandfather of Mr. Brown was Captain David Brown, who commanded a company in the battle at Concord, April 19, 1775. It is a matter worthy of historical record that the first blood shed in this engagement was on the same day of the month as that shed in Baltimore in the late war, and that in both cases Massachusetts men gave their lives for their country. Mr. Brown has in his posses- sion the musket carried by his ancestor in the battle of Concord. Major Butterick of the Rev- olutionary war, was his maternal grandfather, whose descendants still reside in Concord, Massachusetts. Mr. Brown was reared upon a farm and attended the school of the age of eleven years. After that time only three months of the twelve could be devoted to study. When sixteen years of age he was sent to a private school in Baldwin, Maine, for one term each year, for three years. He then taught in the Public Schools of Maine and Mas- sachusetts, till thirty years of age, when, at the solicitation of Judge Willard Hall, he took charge of the Public School, No. 7, in Wil- mington, Del. In 1856 he was employed by the P., W. & B. Railroad and served as Gen- eral Freight agent of the Delaware Division for fourteen consecutive years. In 1870 Mr. Brown went to New Orleans and served as General Freight agent on the "N. O., Jackson and Great Northern Railroad." This road was then under the management of Col. H. S. McComb, of Wilmington. In the capacity of General agent he served for two years, and in 1875 he assumed the agency of the several railroads named at the head of this sketch. These roads are operated in connection with the Old Dominion Steamship Company. In politics Mr. Brown is a Republican. He is a gentleman of culture and wide information, and an able, conscientious business man. He was united in marriage, October, 1863, to Miss Elizabeth Stewart, of Wilmington. Five chil- dren have been born to them, of whom Marion, Stewart and Herbert, survive.
ROWN, ADOLPHUS, General Freight and Passenger agent of the Junction and Breakwater, the Breakwater and Frank- ford, and Worcester railroads, was born
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OFLAND, DR. MARK GREER, son of Dr. James P. Lofland and Mary his wife, of Milford, was born in Milford, May 17, 1829, and died suddenly of par- alysis at his residence December 4, 1881 leaving a wife, the daughter of Col. Henry B' Fiddeman of the same place, and six children. Dr. Lofland came of a race of doctors and was, so to speak, a natural physician. After a thorough training in the best schools the coun- try possessed, he began his medical studies under his father, the late Dr. James P. Lofland, who, for thirty years, stood at the head of his profession on this Peninsula. After due prep- aration in the office of his father, he entered the Jefferson Medical college in Philadelphia, from which he graduated with high honors after a three years' course. But his father dying on the very eve of his graduation, he, in accordance with an oft expressed wish of his father, continued his studies under the cele- brated Drs. Muter and Pancoast, both of whom bore high testimony to his fitness and equipment for the arduous and responsible profession to which he had devoted himself, and it was the expressed wish of both that the young graduate who had left college with such high honors should remain in Philadel- phia and there develop his rare professional attainments. But the thought that his wid- owed mother and younger brother would need his care and attention, and a laudable ambition to fill his Father's place in the community in which he was born, caused him to disregard the flattering assurances of his friends in Philadelphia and to settle at his birthplace. Soon after he began practicing, by his success he acquired the large and varied practice of his father, and with truth may it be said that the mantle of the father descended upon no unworthy son. He was an enthusiast in his profession and fully appreciated his noble calling. He was singularly quick and accurate in his diagnosis of a case ; prompt to act, almost unlimited in resourses, with a clear judgment and steady nerve, he proved himself eminent in his profession and a valuable citizen in the community in which he lived. Dr. Lofland united to his professional acquire- ments the accomplishment, rare among physi- cians, of being an excellent nurse, and by his kind and genial manner always carried a gleam
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