Historical and biographical encyclopaedia of Delaware. V 2, Part 11

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Publication date: 1972
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 776

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OUGLASS, COL. HENRY CLAY, Grain Dealer of Clayton and Smyrna, was born at Federalsburg, Md. in 1830. His father was Joseph H. Douglass, who was in early life a farmer, and later, a justice of the peace. He was several times

died in 1831, aged nearly fifty years. His mother was Charlotte, daughter of James Wil- son of Dorchester connty. Her ancestors were among the earliest settlers and land owners in that county. She died in 1861 in the 66th year of her age. Mr. Douglass at- tended a district school until the age of four- teen, when he became a clerk in the store of Hon. Jacob Charles, a well known and greatly respected citizen of Federalsburg. After reaching the age of twenty-one he was for three years a clerk in Seaford. He was next a clerk for Governor William Cannon and was in his family for two years. During the time Mr. Cannon was State Treasurer he had charge of his mercantile business to a great extent. In 1856 he was appointed by Governor Causey an aid on his staff with the rank of Colonel, and the same year was nominated by the American party as a candidate for the State Legislature. The entire ticket was defeated, yet Colonel Douglass led his ticket by three hundred voies. January 1, 1857. he was ap- pointed ticket and freight agent for Smyrna station, now Clayton, on the Delaware rail- road. In 1863 he was elected on the Demo- cratic ticket to the House of Representatives, when he resigned his position as agent. At the expiration of the session he returned to Clayton and established himself as a grain merchant, commencing in 1866 and continuing to the present time. He has been by far the largest buyer of grain on the extended line of the Delaware railroad ; his business steadily increasing in all these years and now aggre- gates many thousand bushels per annum. It is a business which is beset with peculiar hazards on account of the frequent fluctuations in the market,and requires great judgment and watch- fulness to be safely conducted. These qualities are possessed by Colonel Douglass in an emi- nent degree, as shown by his experience of nearly twenty years, in which he has not only enjoyed financial prosperity, but won the con . fidence and friendship of his thousands of pa- trons in Delaware and Maryland. It was mainly through the agency of Col. Douglass that the telegraph facilities now enjoyed by Smyrna were secured to that town, in 1874. He took a large interest in the building of the branch railroad from Clayton to Smyrna, which was placed in running order in 1865.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.

He was one of the incorporators of the Fruit | where he now resides, containing one hundred Growers National Bank of Smyrna and is at present one of its directors. He was united in marriage on the 24th of August, 1859, to Miss Kate Hanson, daughter of Colonel David Lockwood of Smyrna. Two children survive of this marriage: Henry Lockwood and Kate Russell Douglass.

OORE, JOHN, Farmer, was born Oct. 22, 1826, on the old homestead farm, "Fairview," in Kent county, where he now resides. His father, Thomas Moore, was also a farmer. His first wife was Sarah, daughter of William Maffett, of Kent county, by whom he had four children, all now living ; John, the subject of this sketch; William H .; Andrew H., and Susan, now Mrs. David Boggs, of Kent. Mrs. Moore died .in 1849, at the age of forty-nine. Mr. Moore next married Mary Farrow, by whom he had also three sons and one daughter, their names being Francis A .. Thomas F., Daniel G. and Rebecca C. The father of Mr. Thomas Moore was John Moore, also a farmer, in the same locality. He married Susan Green, and raised a family of six sons and one daughter. As far back as the family can be traced they have been resi- dents of Kent county, and were undoubtedly among the early colonial settlers. Mr. Moore attended the public schools of the neighbor- hood in the winter season only, after reaching the age of twelve years, from which time he worked regularly on the farm, plowing and doing much other work quite beyond his strength ; but he has always been exceedingly fond of reading, and in this way has become one of the best informed men of his locality. On attaining his majority he spent two years in traveling through several of the northern and surrounding states. Returning home he was in 1850 made Collector of Little Creek hundred for one year, after which he was, for the same length of time, clerk in a store in Leipsic. He then commenced mercantile life on his own account at Shawn's Crossroads, since known as Moore's Corners. This busi- ness he continued prosperously till 1862, when he sold it to his brother. He then bought a lot and built a house in Leipsic, where he for a time resided. He had, on coming to Shawn's Crossroads, bought ten acres of land as a be- ginning, and in 1860, purchased "Fairview,"

and forty-five acres. To this he added in 1868 one hundred and twenty-two acres, near Moore's Corners. He has put up a good house, commodious barns, and other buildings. His peach trees, five thousand in number, have been very profitable, as well as his apples and pears, grapes, and four acres in small fruits .. The rest of the farm is devoted to wheat, grain and stock. Mr. Moore was formerly an old line Whig, afterwards he became a Republican, and an earnest supporter of that party. He was an ardent patriot and Union man during the war, and is at all times active and inter- ested for his party. By the force of his intel- ligence. and the earnestness of his character, he exerts a wide influence in his locality. He was married, April 27, 1853, to Miss Mary Jane, daughter of Clement and Grace (Wharton) Nowell. They have had nine children, of whom six survive : Thomas Clayton ; Elma Nowell ; Hester Jane ; Lillie May ; Henry Winter Davis and Arabelle Moore.

OTHWELL, GIDEON EMORY, a Farmer of Blackbird hundred, was born the ist of August 1817, in New Castle county. His father was Major William Rothwell, of the "Levels," a large land- holder and an influential citizen of the State. The Rothwells are of English ancestry. His mother was Miss Ann, daughter of Gideon Emory, of Thoroughfare Neck. The subject of this sketch received his education princi- pally at. the schools in Thoroughfare Neck. He went to reside with his grandfather in boy- hood, and remained with him until he was nineteen years of age. He then returned to the "Levels," and resided with his father until he reached his twenty-sixth year, when he engaged in the business of farming on the old homestead farm of Major Rothwell, which contained 500 acres. In 1850 Mr. Rothwell purchased from Governor John Clark the farm known as "New Bristol," situated near the town of Smyrna, where he has resided ever since. He is a large fruit grower, to which he has given his attention since 1860, at which time he planted 4,500 peach trees, which number has been greatly increased. In 1869 he shipped 24,500 baskets of peaches from his farm, which were sent out of the Smyrna Creek to Northern markets. Mr.

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Rothwell has been a large grower of sweet ; potato plants, and has supplied hundreds of thousands of plants to his neighbors and farmers through the county and State, for which he received 25 cents per hundred. He had grown and shipped from his farm in one year 500 bushels of gooseberries, he being among the earliest engaging in this business in New Castle county. Apples and pears have not done well for him, but in the cultivation of other fruits he has been very successful. Mr. Rothwell was reared an old line Whig, and acted with that party while it had an ex- istence. He has never held political office, and has had no desire to do so ; since the war he has acted with the Democratic party. He was united in marriage to Miss Catherine, daughter of George Collins, on the 9th, of January, 1845. There have been nine children of this marriage: George E, a farmer of Black- bird hundred ; Henrietta, now wife of Dr. George C. Borst of Pennsylvania; Anna Emory, Mary Matilda. Kate. William, Benja- min F., Maggie C. and Lydia R., all living.

AUDAIN, MAJ. ELIAS, was of Hugue- not ancestry, being descended from Elias Naudain, who was born in Poitou, France in 1655, and who fled to London in 1680, with his wife, Gahel Armand and three children, on account of the religious persecu- tions preceding the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The records of that city show, under date of March 8, 1682, that he became a Brit- ish subject by naturalization. A son and a daughter were born in London, and these were baptized, in 1686, in the French Church in Threadneedle street, that being the first of the Huguenot congregation in England. This last son Elias, who was born in 1684, emigrated very early in the eighteenth century to the American Plantations. He purchased a large tract of land on Blackbird Creek, in New Cas- tle county, and built there, about 1715, a spa- cious brick mansion, which is in good preser- vation to this day. This property is now owned by the heirs of a great-granddaughter of the builder, a sister of the subject of this sketch. This emigrant appears to have been a man of prominence and high character in the community. His name occurs as one of the subscribers to aid in building Drawyer's Presbyterian Church, near Odessa, in 1711.

He held the position of Elder in that congre- gation, and was selected as a lay member of the first Synod of the Presbyterian Church, which was convened at Philadelphia. Little is known of the circumstances or the precise date of his marriage, except that his wife's name was Lydia. They were the parents of seven children ; of these, Elias was born in 1712, and Arnold in 1723. The latter married, in 1751, Catharine Alfree, who was then aged seventeen ; and both of these died on the 6th of August, 1796. Their children were named Elias, Arnold, John, Andrew, Mary, Lydia, Rachel and Rebecca. Andrew, the fourth son, was born October 27, 1758. He settled in Kent county, at what has since been known as Naudain's Landing. On March 30, 1786, he married Rebecca Snow, whose family is said to have settled in Maryland in 1635. She in- herited an estate of some three hundred acres on which the two spent their lives and were buried. Andrew engaged in farming, and in merchandising also, and by his industry accu- mulated an ample estate. He was careful to give each of his children an education suited to their rank in life, and to the pursuit of a career adapted to their respective talents. His position in the community was one of influence for good. Like his father and grandfather, he was an Elder in the Presbyterian Church. Elias Naudain, the subject of this sketch, was one of the eleven children, and the second son of Andrew and Rebecca Snow Naudain. He was born on January 16, 1795, and died on March 12, 1849. He resided always upon the domain left to him by his father, cherishing to his last hour the associations of his boyhood, and a fondness for agriculture, as is attested by the fact that he left behind him the best improved lands in Kent. He was a man of singular excellence and purity of character. He never sought a public office, yet the gen- eral esteem in which he was held led to his selection at various times to fill posts of trust. He was elected a member of the lower House of Assembly, for the session that opened. at Dover, January 3, 1826 ; and at that same ses- sion · his brother Arnold, who was a deputy from New Castle county, was chosen speaker. March 13, 1827, he was commissioned First Major of the Fourth Regiment of Militia, by Governor Paynter ; and he held that office until the repeal of the Militia law. At the

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.

election held in 1832, for the purpose of choos- ing delegates to the Convention to revise the Constitution of 1792, he was selected from Kent county as a member of that body, and discharged the duties devolving upon him with ability and with an intelligent comprehension of the delicate questions involved. The evi- dence of the value of the work of this Con- vention is found in the fact that, although it was performed nearly fifty years ago, it has never been necessary to amend it except in the matter of holding elections. He was after- wards twice elected to a seat in the General Assembly of the State, the last time to the Senate, where he was in constant attendance. He was here distinguished by his devotion to his duties, and by a wise and constant regard for the public welfare. With him, honesty of purpose and frankness of expression were necessary allies, and this trait was so con- spicuous that it was a common saying "whatever Elias Naudain says you may rely upon." During the period between 1820 and 1830 he filled the office of Justice of the Peace in Leipsic, in Little Creek hundred, and administered its affairs with the probity, and success which his high character justified his friends in expecting. He married in his twenty-fourth year, Lydia, one of the daugh- ters of Dr. James Jones, of Kent county, but originally from the "Welsh Tract " in New Castle county, he being of Welsh descent. Dr. Jones had been a surgeon in the Revolu- tionary army, and served under Washington this farm, but as they have not been profitable,

by two grandsons and a great-grandson. The widow of Major Elias Naudain, is still living (1880). He was a man of most courteous and agreeble manners, the natural outgrowth of a true and manly heart. A christian and an elder, his name should long be cherished as one of the worthiest of the sons of the ancient Delaware State.

ASE, CHARLES CURTIS, farmer of South Murderkill hundred, was born May 10, 1836, in Kent county. His father, William Case, a farmer of that hundred, was a man of integrity and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died March 21, 1877, in his 7Ist year. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Curtis Cordry of Kent county; he died in 1856. His grandfather was Charles Case,a farmer of the lower part of Kent county. The Case family is of Irish origin and were among the early settlers of the State. Mr. Case's early life was spent on the farm, and his education was obtained at the public school at Pratt's Branch. At the age of eighteen he was apprerticed to learn the trade of a house carpenter, after which he followed this business for five years, when he began the pursuit of agriculture, rent- ing farms till 1875, when he removed to the old Harrington farm, which he had purchased in 1874. This estate contains 128 acres, prin- cipally devoted to grain. He has had as many as 1400 Peach trees in bearing at one time on

at Valley Forge; later in life he became a he has nearly abandoned the culture of fruit. In 1874 Mr. Case began to improve his land which was very poor, but is now in a good state of cultivation. He is a man of intelli- gence and one of the most enterprising and successful farmers of the State. He is a Dem- ocrat in politics, and has inherited his prefer- ences, his father and grandfather having been members of that party. He joined the M. E. church when he was seventeen years of age, superintendent of the Sunday School for five years. He is an active member of his church, and has the confidence of the community in which he resides. He was married, Jan , 19, 1858, to Miss Emily, daughter of James C. Anderson, of Felton. Their children are William C., Virginia E., Henry R., Joseph C., Sarah H., and Bertha E. Case. Baptist preacher. Four children were born of the above marriage : Rebecca, Andrew, James, and Arnold ; but all died in infancy except the first named : she is now the wife of Robert H. Moor, Esq., of Philadelphia. Mrs. Lydia Nau- dain died in 1826; and in 1828 Elias wedded Margaret Pettigrew Millichop, of Milford. They had seven children : James M., Arnold, Matilda, Catharine, Elias, Margaret, and Sarah Green, all of whom, except the third ; is a teacher of the Bible Class, and has been who died in childhood, are living. Catherine married Dr. Alexander Hardcastle, of "Castle Hall," Caroline county, Md, and Margaret wedded M. Laird Simons, Esq., an editor of Philadelphia. Elias the sixth son of the sub- ject of this sketch is the fifth of that name in immediate succession from the French refugee, and it is continued to the seventh generation

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BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT.

ICHARDSON, ALLEN BRADFORD, the firm being A. B. Richardson & Co. They Packer of canned meats, fruits and were the first to send out tin-ware peddlers in vegetables, Dover, was born in South this State. After two years the firm moved to Reading, (now Wakefield,) Massa- Camden, where they continued in the same chusetts, September 27, 1825. He was , business about two years and a half longer, a son of Dr. Nathan Richardson, a distinguished ' when the firm was dissolved, by mutual physician of New England, fifty years ago, | consent; Mr. Stetson remaining in Cam- and who died in 1837, in the 56th year of his | den, and Mr. Richardson going to Dover, age. His mother was a daughter of Mr. Solomon Alden, whose ancestor, John Alden, came over in the Mayflower. She was the second wife of Dr. Richardson, and bore him seven children, the eldest three of whom are now living. She died in 1832. Dr. S. O. Richardson (of the "Sherry-Wine Bitters" fame) was a half brother, and he died in 1873. aged 65. A younger brother was Nathan Richardson, the author of the popular work. "Richardson's New Method for the Piano- Forte." He died in Paris, in 1859, at the age of 32, and is buried at Warren, Mass. His widow is still living. Mr. A. B. Richardson attended the public schools of his native town until his eleventh year, and Phillips' Academy, in Andover, six months, when his father dying his school days ended. After residing two years with George Flint, Esq., of North Read- ing, a gentleman farmer, he went to New Bed- ford and bound himself an apprentice for seven years to a manufacturer of tin-ware goods. While serving in this capacity he developed a taste for machinery and inven- tion, and during his spare hours manufactured a miniature locomotive, tender, and train of cars, all in complete working order, which attracted considerable notice at that time. At the termination of his apprenticeship he remained one year longer, as foreman, and then went into the same business for himself, which he carried on very successfully about three years: At the age of twenty-three he married Miss Lucy M., daughter of Silas Stetson, Esq., of New Bedford, a lineal de- scendant of Elizabeth Penn, sister of William Penn, (see Genealogical Record at the close of this sketch.) One son was born to them, Harry Alden Richardson, now a partner with his father in the business of fruit packing, etc. In 1849 Mr. Richardson left New Bed- ford and went to Wilmington, Delaware, and continued the tin-ware, stove and furnace business, taking into partnership his brother- in-law, Mr. George M. Stetson, the style of

where he became associated in business with Mr. James W. Robbins, formerly of North Granville, Washington county, New York, under the firm name of Richardson and Robbins, which continued twenty-one years, until the death of Mr. Robbins, in 1876. This firm early commenced the Fruit Packing business, an account of which is published in this volume. During their long business connections, Mr. Robbins resided in the family of his partner, and he showed his appreciation of their mu- tual friendship, by leaving Mrs. Richardson a share of his property equal to that given to each of his brothers and sisters. According to his request, the firm name of Richardson and Robbins will never be changed, as he had devoted the best years of his life with Mr. Richardson in making the name of their firm an honorable one, and one of which they are justly proud. At the death of Mr. Robbins, Harry A. Richardson became a partner with his father, he having earned the right to the position by several years' faithful service and efficiency, with a display of good business talents, that served to guarantee the continued success of the firm. The ingenuity early displayed by Mr. Richardson has been of great service to the firm, during the years they were building up their well-earned reputation. Many of the numerous labor-saving machines and con- trivances now in use by Messrs. Richardson and Robbins, and also by other establishments in the same line of business, were invented and patented by Mr. Richardson. In the summer of 1881, the building so. long occupied by the

firm, with its several additions that were nec- essary to meet the increasing requirements of their business, was demolished to give place to the large and elegant hotel, known as ' "Hotel Richardson," which is strictly first class, with all the conveniences possessed by the best houses in the Union. The very great increase of the business of Richardson and Robbins compelled the erection of a factory sufficiently large to accommodate their trade,

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.

and it is now in successful operation a short ; man of remarkable business enterprise and distance from thier former stand. Mr. Rich- ardson is president of the Dover Gas Light company, and has been a director of the First National Bank of Dover since its organi- zation. He has always shown a lively interest in the welfare and prosperity of the town. His son, Harry A. Richardson, married, May 6, 1874, Priscilla H., daughter of William Walker, of Dover. They have three children : Alden B., William W., and Lucy S. Richardson. The family record of Mrs. A. B. Richardson is as follows : William Hammond, born in London, married Elizabeth Penn, sister of Sir William Penn, an Admiral in the British Navy, and father of William Penn, the Quaker and foun- der of the Pennsylvania colony. William Hammond died leaving his wife with one son and three daughters. Elizabeth Hammond with her children and many other persons who had Mr. John Lathrop for their minister, left England in troublesome times and came over to Boston, in 1634. Elizabeth Hammond was esteemed for her piety. She died in Boston in 1640; Benjamin, her son, removed to Sand- wich, and married Mary Vincent ; had five children ; John, his son, married Mary Arnold, who had ten children, Their son, Rowland, married Anna Winslow, had two sons ; George Hammond, their son, married Lucy Sturte- vant, had six children ; Hannah, their daugh- ter married Ellis Mendall, had nine children ; Mary, Lucy, Seth, George, John, Hannah, Anna, Ellis and Lydia. Mary, their daughter,. married Silas Stetson, had nine children ; George, Henry, Lucy, (deceased,) Silas, Mary, Lucy M., Thomas, Bessie and Hannah. Their daughter, Lucy M., married Alden B. Rich- ardson, the subject of this sketch.

sagacity, who died in 1828, leaving a large landed estate. Dr. Moore was educated in the public schools under good teachers. He early learned industrious habits, and did his share, as a boy, of work in the store and on the farm. After arriving at manhood, he was mainly engaged in teaching and in the charge of his father's store, until, January 1848, when he was appointed by Governor Tharp Clerk of the Orphan's Court and Register in Chancery, for Kent county, for the term of five years. He performed the duties of this office to the satisfaction of the court, the bar, and the community. In addition to his own official duties, he assisted materially in the work of some of the other public offices, par- ticulary in the office of the Secretary of State. When the late Chancellor Bates, then Secre- tary of State,removed from Dover to Wilming- ton, he left that office in his charge, during which time he completed a neat and elaborate index to the executive records, there having been none up to that time. During his term of office, he studied medicine with the late Dr. Gove Saulsbury. In October, 1852, he resigned his office to attend his second course of medical lectures (having already attended the course of 1851-2) at the University of Pennsylvania. Immediately on his gradua- tion in the spring of 1853, he located in Smyrna, where he continued in the successful practice of his profession for nine years. In 1862, on account of failing health and his ap- pointment as administrator of his father's, estate, he removed to Felton. Since that time he has devoted himself principally to agricul- tural pursuits, in which he has been enterpris- ing and successful. In politics he has been a Democrat, and was at one time very active, wielding considerable influence in his party. In 1860 he was elected on the Democratic ticket a member of the House of Representa- tives, and served in those stirring times through the regular and extra sessions of the legisla- ture. His course in that body was conserva- tive, and opposed to all measures of an extreme political, or sectional character. He was from the first opposed to secession, and had the honor of offering the resolution which was his benevolent and christian character. The adopted, condemning that movement in the father of Thomas Jefferson Moore was Vincent Southern States. He also wrote and delivered Moore, also a farmer and merchant, and a the valedictory address of the House of Rep-

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Historical and biographical encyclopaedia of Delaware. V 2, Part 11

Author: Publication date: 1972 Publisher: Number of Pages: 776

Author:
Publication date: 1972
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 776