Historical and biographical encyclopaedia of Delaware. V 2, Part 31

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Publication date: 1972
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Number of Pages: 776

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COLLINS, WILLIAM BISHOP, Hard- ware Merchant, of Smyrna, was born in - Milford, April 5, 1820, son of John Wes- ley and Mary (Cheshire) Collins. His father was a brick mason and builder, a man of eminently upright and blameless life. Five of his eight children by his first wife grew to maturity, and he had two children by his second wife, Mrs. Susan Stradley. The father of John Wesley Collins was Thomas Collins, a native of Still Pond, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He married Sarah Henderson, of Leesburg, N. J., and in early life removed to

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BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT.

Milford, Del. He was also a builder, an ex- | ford for a quarter of a century, and was one of ceilent man, and prominent in the M. E. Church, as was also his son John Wesley. He raised a family of eight children, all of whom became highly respected members of society The progenitors of the family were among the earliest colonial settlers on the Atlantic coast William B. Collins received a common school education in his native town, but was early re- quired to assist in labors for the support of the family. He was large for his years, and at thirteen was apprenticed to learn the tailor's trade. The conditions were that he should re- main till his majority, and.should, before that time, receive six months' schooling. This lat- ter clause was not fulfilled till he was twenty, and strong enough to compel his master to keep the terms of the engagement. In 1836 his master went West, taking his apprentice with him. They visited Springfield, Ill., and St. Louis, and returning in a few months, Mr Collins settled in Smyrna. In 1818 he became a merchant tailor, and followed this business till 1867, when he engaged in the hardware business, in which he still continues. He has for many years been prominent in the public offices of his locality, has served several times on the Grand Jury, and for about thirteen years has been a member of the Board of Town Commissioners. For six years he was Presi- dent of the Board, an office corresponding to that of the Mayor of a city. In November. 1874, he was elected a member of the General Assembly on the Democratic ticket. In this body he served on several important com . mittees, besides being Chairman of the Com- mittee on Revised Statutes. Mr. Collins has been for several years an elder and trustee in the Presbyterian Church. He was married, September 24, 1844, to Mrs. Maria L. Denny, of Smyrna, daughter of Thomas Layton. They have had four children, of whom only two are living : Mary Cheshire, widow of the late James W. Reedy, of Milford, having one child, Florence Reedy ; and Henry Layton Collins, telegraph operator at Smyrna.

ILLIAMS, HON. RYNEAR, Retired Merchant of Milford, was born in that town, January 13, 1840. His parents were Colonel William Collins and Mary Hill (Hudson) Williams. Colonel William C. Williams was a merchant in Mil-

the leading business men of that town. He was distinguished for his integrity and his ex- cellent business and social qualities. He was appointed an aid on the staff of Governor Ben- nett with the rank of Colonel. He was a Democrat in politics, but would never accept office. He was twice married, first to Miss Hettie Burton, by whom he had three chil- dren, two of whom are living ; John H, and William D. Williams. His second wife was Mary H. Hudson, by whom he had three chil- dren, of whom two survive; Reynear and Robert Williams. He died in 1845 at the age of forty-eight years. Mrs. Williams, his second wife, is still living at the age of sixty-one years. This family descended from Reynear Williams, who is supposed to have come to this country during the latter part of the seventeenth cen- tury. Mr. Williams, the subject of this sketch, was sent to the Milford Academy, where he received a good education. He entered a store in Milford as clerk, continuing for three years. In 1860 he went to Wilmington, where he engaged as bookkeeper and salesman. in a large dry goods establishment. After three years' experience he began the business for himself in that city, which he conducted suc- cessfully for three years. In June, 1866, he sold out his store in Wilmington and removed to Philadelphia, where he entered into part- nership with Isaac S. Smith, under the firm name of Smith & Williams. This firm was engaged in the wholesale notion and hosiery business on Market street, in which they were very prosperous. In 1870 he returned to Mil- ford, where he opened a dry goods store, which he continued with uninterrupted prosperity up to the fall of 1880, when he disposed of it, and now devotes his attention to his vessels and real estate. In May, 1876, he was elected and served as one of two managing directors of the office of Discount and Deposit of the Bank of Smyrna, at Milford, which position he held for two years, when the office was discon- tinued. In the fall of 1880 he was elected on the Democratic ticket to the Legislature of Delaware, and served for the session of 1881 as Speaker of the popular branch of that body. This position was entirely unsought and given him by the spontaneous action of the members of that body. His record as Speaker was that of courtesy and fairness

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throughout. He is a member of the Masonic order, being made such is 1865. He is a direc- tor of the Milford Building and Loan Associa- tion, and is now its secretary and treasurer. He is largely interested in agriculture, and is the owner of several tracts of land. Mr. Wil- liams owns an interest in four schooners, en- gaged in the coasting trade. He has been very successful as a business man, and is an influential citizen of his town. He was united in marriage in 1871, to Miss Annie P., daugh- ter of H. W. McColley, and granddaughter of Rev. T. P. McColley, of whom see plate and sketch in this volume.

RAZIER, JOSEPH, Farmer of Milford hundred, was born, September 11, 1823, on the farm on which he now resides and which has been in the family over one hundred years. His father, Carey Frazier, was born on the same farm in 1793. He was a leading farmer and citizen of Kent, and held several prominent position. He was County Treasurer, was Trustee of the Poor for twelve years, and for many years a leading member of Laws M. E. Church. He died in 1849. He was twice married ; first to Phoebe Layton, of Milford, by whom he had four children. Two of these survive; Mary, wife of Samuel M. Carter, 'of Greensboro, Md., and Sallie A., wife of John Quillan of Mil- ford hundred. Having lost his wife he married in January 1823, Miss Lydia Draper, of Kent county. Eight of the ten children of this marriage grew to maturity, their names being. Joseph, the subject of this sketch ; Carey ; William ; Rachel ; Caroline, wife of John S. Harrington ; Lydia, wife of Reuben Harrington ; Thomas ; Percy, widow of Jona- than Brown, and John M. C. Frazier. William, the father of Carey Frazier, either purchased or inherited the farm above mentioned. Carey was his only son, and assisted him in clearing much of the land. Some of the logs were over six feet in diameter. William Frazier died about the year 1800, at the age of thirty-three. The maiden name of his wife was Tomlinson. After his death she married Thomas Sipple, and had several children. The Frazier family is known to have been in Delaware for over one hundred years, and according to tradition is of Scottish descent. In his boyhood, Joseph Frazier attended the common schools of his

locality for nine or ten winters, but for many,- days, of even this small portion of the year, he was kept at home to assist in the labors of the farm. He remained with his father till the age of twenty -five, when he married and went to farming on his own account, in Duck Creek hundred. After one season he moved to the Wharton farm, North Murderkill hundred. In January, 1850, just after the death of his father, he returned to the home farm, which became his by inheritance and on which he has ever since resided. He erected, at that time, his large and commodious house, and has since added his extensive outbuildings. The farm contains 178 acres, all under a high state of cultivation and mainly devoted to cereals. Mr. Frazier is devoted to his vocation, is one of the most successful farmers in Kent county, and was one of the first in that county to dis- cern the advantages of combination and co- operation through the order of the Patrons of Husbandry. He is now Master of Grange, No. 8, of Milford hundred He is active, intelligent and enterprising, and highly respected by the community in which he has spent his life. In politics he was an old line Whig, was a strong Union man during the war, and has since been a decided Republican. He joined the M. E. church in 1857, and is one of the Board of Trustees. He was married in 1848, to Miss Susan, daughter of William and Susan (Davis) Mason. They have had twelve children, of whom ten are now living. Their names are : William Mason, Davis Henry, Caroline, wife of Beniah Anderson, of Farmington ; Emma Smithers, Sallie, Joseph and Susan, twins ; and Cora, Ella and Harvey, triplets. Carey Frazier, the eldest son, died in 1870, in his twenty-second year.

RAWFORD, JAMES V., M. D., Ex- President of the Citizens' National Bank of Middletown, was born in Baltimore in 1824, in which city he was educated, and lived until 1846, when he became a resident of Delaware. He traces his an- cestry back to James Crawford, who came with Sir Robert Carr, as a volunteer on the military expedition sent by the British Government in 1667, to drive out the Dutch, who had taken possession of the Delaware Colony. James Crawford was of Scotch-Irish descent, and a man of means and position. He concluded to,

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cast his lot among the hardy pioneers of the | profession of medicine, graduated from the University of Maryland in 1845. His first object after this was to recover possession of an estate in Delaware which had belonged to his grandfather, James Crawford. In this he incurred much risk and expense, bút after several years of wearisome delays and dis- appointments his efforts were crowned with success. He was also fortunate in selling at an advance in price, just before the late war, a tract of land he had bought in Virginia. His means now enabling him to gratify his tastes, and finding the practice of medicine in the country too laborious for his strength, he concluded to devote himself to farming and the cultivation of his lands. This occupation, though not entirely congenial, was better suited to his health, and permitted him more leisure for his chief pleasures, reading and study. He was a director in the Citizens' National Bank of Middletown during the ten years following 1864, and held the position of President of the Bank for three years, resign- ing in 1874. He is a Roman Catholic in re- ligion. He was educated in the Whig party but has for many years past acted with the Democratic party. During the late war he followed the lead of Mr. Douglass and strenuously supported the war for the Union. He also sympathized with the administra- tion of Andrew Johnson, in his efforts to re- store the friendly relations of the States; and he attended the celebrated National Union Convention of 1866 as one of the Delegates from Delaware. At the election of 1880 he consented to serve as a candidate for the State Legislature on the Democratic ticket in New Castle county, but the ticket was defeated. With these exceptions he has had no active connection with politics, and much prefers literature and the independence of private life. In 1882 he was again nominated as the choice of his party for the General Assembly. Colony and remained at or near the New Castle settlement. He obtained a grant of several tracts of land from the English Governor Nichols, of the New York Province, and some from Edmond Andross, Deputy 'Governor of New York, before the Delaware settlement was sold to William Penn. These "tracts or plantations were improved, and left "to his heirs, at his death, in 1683. His widow, Judith Crawford, married Edward Gibbs, and her children were Edward and Benjamin Gibbs (see sketch of the last named.) One of the sons of the first James Crawford, John, "Was a clergyman of the P. E. Church, in Dela- "ware. His great grandson, George, went "south about 1747, and Elinora, a sister of George, married a gentleman named Porter, "who was the ancestor of Commodore Porter, of the U. S. Navy. Most of the descendants "of James Crawford have resided in what is How the county of New Castle as landed pro- prietors to this day. Like many of the "Scotch-Irish race they have been more noted "for their attention to the education and ad- "Vancement of their families in private life, than solicitous of public honors. Many of them Fare interred in the burial ground attached to "Drawyers' Church, near Odessa and their mames are conspicuous in the annals of that old church. The grandfather of Dr. Craw- "ford, whose name was also James, was unfor- tunate in losing the bulk of a fine estate by securityship for friends. He survived for sseveral years his son Jacob, the father of Dr. {Crawford, who was of a delicate constitution, and died at the early age of thirty-eight years. He married a Miss Dukemin, of "Baltimore, who was a Catholic, and died also "very early in life. Her maternal grandfather "was one of the French Arcadian or Nova "Scotian colonists, who were so cruelly driven :into exile from that once happy province, by orders of the British Government in 1755, and her father, Francis A. Dukemin, was from ONES, HENRY B., late Captain in the United States Revenue Marine Service, was born in Philadelphia, April 3, 1804. His father was Major Benjamin Nones, a liberty loving Frenchman, who came to America previous to the war of the Revolu- tion, and when that struggle came offered his services to his adopted country and was a French mercantile family who had emi- rgrated to St. Domingo, and had established da large shipping business in that island; but zat the time of the insurrection were obliged tto flee, losing the greater part of their pro- "perty, and from that time lived in Baltimore. Dr. Crawford was educated at St. Mary's {College in Baltimore, and having chosen the assigned to the command of the body guard

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of the brave Count Pulaski. Major Nones participated in most of the battles of the Rev- olutionary war, and was wounded at Red Bank, Trenton, Brandywine and Germantown. He was present at Yorktown and also fought at Camden and Eutaw Springs, S. C. Baron de Kalb fell in the former of these battles and Major Nones was one of the four masons who buried him with due ceremony. After the close of the war. he settled in Philadelphia where he was appointed sworn interpreter of foreign languages under President Washing- ton. The son, who is the subject of this sketch, was one of eleven children, and he passed his boyhood at school in his native city. When in his fifteenth year he went to sea in the largest ship plying between Philadelphia and Canton, China. His advancement was so rapid that at the early age of nineteen lie comman- ded a vessel trading with South America and other ports. About the year 1830, he was ap- pointed a Lieutenant in the Revenue Marine service by President Jackson, and he was vår- iously employed along our coast until the break- ing out of the Florida War with the Seminole Indians, when he rendered efficient service by co-operating with the army. He was pro- moted to a Captaincy in 1837, and ordered to Eastport, Maine, where, for two years, he per- formed very valuable service in saving many lives and much property belonging to our citizens at that port. His fidelity to duty was acknowledged by votes of thanks from the Chamber of Commerce and Colonial authori- ties at St. John, St. Andrews, New Brunswick and Halifax. By the latter he was tendered a handsome service of silver plate as a testi- monial of their esteem, but being an officer of the United States Government, he could not accept without permission of Congress which was not requested. At the breaking out of the Mexican War, Capt. Nones was ordered to proceed, at once, with his vessel, the U. S. Revenue Cutter, Forward, to Point Isabel, Texas, and there report to Gen. Zachary Tay- lor for duty in connection with the Army. When the naval squadron appeared off Vera Cruz, Gen. Taylor ordered him to report for duty to Commodore Matthew C. Perry, and he participated in the engagements at Alvarado and Tabasco. At the latter place he remained as Naval Officer commanding the port, and afterwards blockaded various Mexican ports.

After articles of peace were signed he carried out in his vessel Governor Robert Letcher, American Minister, and his suite. He was actively employed during the late war; a few days after the firing on Fort Sumpter he took his vessel to the Chesapeake, and later re- ported to General B F. Butler, and guarded the harbor at Annapolis. He performed arduous service along the bay and at Beaufort, N. C., whence he was invalided home; and on his recovery was assigned to the command of the United States Revenue Cutter Seward on the Delaware Station. Captain Nones com- manded Revenue Cutters at most of the At- lantic and Gulf ports. In command of the cutter Fames Lane he sailed through the Straits of Magellan in 1855 and visited Cali- fornia, whence, after a year's absence, he re- turned to Wilmington, where he had resided many years. Captain Nones was well-known and greatly respected, not only in Delaware but in most of our sea ports, for his genial manners and eminent services in rendering assistance to vessels coming on our coast in distress. The winter season has always de- monstrated the arduous and trying duty of the United States Revenue Marine Service, and his zeal and heroism endeared him to many afloat and on shore. He died, Aug. 25, 1868. Several of his sons have served in the Army and Navy of the United States; two sacrificed their lives in the Naval Service, in which one still remains.

OUSTON, HON. JOHN WALLACE, A. M., one of the Judges of the State of Delaware, was born at Concord, Sussex county, May 4, 1814. His father, John Houston, who was a vessel owner and merchant, died in 1838, at the age of forty- eight. He was one of the leading citizens of his locality and of high character. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Cornelius Wiltbank, a farmer on the Broadkill river, whose landed estate had come down to him through suc- cessive generations from his original American ancestor, Helmanus Wiltbank, probably one of the early Swedish settlers. The records show that he was the Schout or Sheriff of the Dutch Court at Hornekill, and was afterwards one of the Justices of the court under the gov- ernment of the Duke of York. He was a large land holder, having obtained patents for sev-

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eral large tracts on the Broadkill and in the | ter of the Judicial Decisions of the Courts of the vicinity of Lewes before the Duke's deed of State, five volumes of which have already been feoffment for the three lower counties to Wil- |published. Judge Houston is one of the most liam Penn, and before the latter had acquired accomplished scholars in the State. Not his letters patent for his province of Pennsyl- long since he prepared a historical paper vania from Charles the Second. Judge Hous- of great merit and research on the question of ton's grandfather, named Robert, the son of : the boundary between this State and Maryland, John Houston, was a distinguished citizen of and also New Jersey. The paper was prepared Delaware in the last century. He was chosen ' at the request of the State Historical Society, and delivered before that body in Wilmington, Feb. 21, 1878. He is a strong and logical thinker, a fluent and graceful speaker, and be - fore his entrance upon his Judicial duties and consequent retirement from political life he exerted a wide and controlling influence in public affairs. Since his elevation to the bench he has never exhibited the least partisanship in his rulings or decisions, and has become eminent for the candor, impartiality and great ability with which he has performed the respon- sible duties of his exalted position for more than a quarter of a century; and the fact that he con- sented to accept the nomination of the Republi- can party for Representative in Congress in 1880 without taking any part whatever in the can- vass, constitutes no exception to this observa- tion.

by the Legislature one of the Commissioners | to establish the County seat of Sussex Co., but died of yellow fever contracted in Baltimore in 1791, before the completion of the task. He was a man of exemplary life and highly esteemed. The Houston family are .of Scotch descent. Several brothers early set- tled in New York, and from them one of its well-known streets was named. The family afterwards branched off, some settling in Penn- sylvania, others in Delaware and North Caro- lina, and afterwards in Tennessee and Texas In all these states the descendants have been more or less conspicuous, and some have achieved national reputation. They gave the name to the city of Houston, Texas, and Hon. Samuel Houston, United States Senator from that State, was of this family. The subject of this sketch was carefully prepared for college at Newark Academy, graduating from Yale, in 1834, with distinction. He then entered the office of the late Hon. John M. Clayton as a law student, and after a three years' course was admitted to the bar. He at once settled in Dover where he remained two years. In December, 1839, he removed to Georgetown, where he met with success. In 1841 he was ap- pointed Secretary of State by Governor Cooper for a term of four years. So conspic- uous had Mr. Houston already become, and so great was his reputation throughout the State, that in 1844, he was nominated and elected to Congress by the Whig party. He was returned to Congress in 1846, and again in 1848, making six years of continuous service that was highly creditable to his ability and patriotism. After a successful and even bril- liant career at the bar for eighteen years, he was appointed, May 4, 1855, Associate Judge of the State of Delaware, resident in Kent county, which position he still holds. His opinions in many important cases amount al- most to treatises and are quoted as authority throughout the country. He isex-officio repor-

URTON, CAPTAIN GEORGE HALL, U. S. Infantry, was born in Millsboro, Sussex county, Jan. 12, 1843. A sketch of his father, Benjamin Burton, has been given. He attended Colonel Theodore Hyatt's Military School in Wilmington, leav- ing in 1861, and that year was appointed by Judge Fisher, member of Congress, a cadet at West Point. He graduated in June, 1865, and the same day was promoted to a Second and First Lieutenancy, and served afterwards on the staff of Gen. Stoneman, who was in com- mand of the First District of Virginia. In 1869 when in the Twenty-first U. S. Infantry he was ordered to Arizona, and served as As- sistant Adjutant General of that territory, and as adjutant of the Regiment. In 1871 he was promoted to a captaincy, and accompanied his regiment to Oregon, where he bore a gallant part in the Modoc wars. As a reward for his bravery Gen. Jeff C. Davis recommended him for brevet. Under Gen. Howard he took part in the Nezperces war from the beginning to the end, but came out from all these encoun- ters without a wound. In 1878 he was engaged

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in the Bannock Indian war in Oregon and : dian to minors and an administrator of estates. Idaho, and was afterwards stationed at Co- |He was a conscientious member and office lumbus, Ohio. In the fall of 1880 he returned | bearer in the Presbyterian church, and left a to his regiment at Fort Elamath, Oregon, and fragrant memory of piety and good works. is now in command of that post. In the autumn of 1881 he was ordered, by the War Department at Washington, to put up a tele- graph line to connect with the nearest one, one hundred miles distant, through the wilder- ness and over the mountains. In this under- taking he succeeded, and while thus engaged learned telegraphy so that when his line was established he could send or receive a message. The estimatiou in which Captain Burton is held may be well inferred from the following : Senator Grover of Oregon asked the Secretary of War to detail the Captain to a place in the signal service, urging that he was a good officer and recapitulating the services he had rendered. "Senator," the Secretary replied, it is just such officers as Captain Burton that we can't spare ; if it was some unimportant officer that you wished detailed we could let him go, but we must retain our best officers." Captain Bur- ton was married at Los Angelos, Cal., in 1870, to Miss Minnie, daughter of Judge Charles H. Larribee, a member of Congress from Wiscon- sin, Judge of the District Court for ten years,

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Historical and biographical encyclopaedia of Delaware. V 2, Part 31

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

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