Historical and biographical encyclopaedia of Delaware. V 2, Part 45

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Publication date: 1972
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Number of Pages: 776

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RAPER, CAPTAIN THOMAS, Farmer and Vessel Builder, was born May 7, 1815, near Milton, in Sussex county. His father, Thomas Draper, was by trade a brick mason but spent most of his life in farming. He was a licensed exhorter in the Methodist church, and a very excellent man. He was born Dec. 1, 1775, in the above county, in which also he died when in his seventy-eighth year. His wife was Mary, daughter of Myers Clark. They had a large family of children, of whom five sons and one daughter grew to maturity. Captain Thomas Draper attended the public schools till he was nearly grown, and afterward the academy at Milton. On leaving school he continued to study faithfully at night, and was his own instructor in the higher branches. He was brought up on the farm and accustomed to its labors. At the age of fourteen he be- came a clerk in Milton, and remained three years, when he returned home and worked on the farm till his majority. He then rented one of his father's farms at Prime Hook Neck, which he cultivated himself till 1847, when leaving it in good care, he went to Philadel- phia where he was engaged for three years as salesman in a wholesale commission house.

James Maull. She was a year in building, after which he was her captain for three years, when he sold her and in 1852 removed to Kent county where he bought the Cypress Neck farm, near Barker's Landing on which he now resides. He has lived upon it or rent- ed it to others from that time. During the years 1859 and '60 he was a merchant at Mag- nolia, and spent a year in Pennsylvania. On the breaking out of the war he entered the Union army, and in the fall of 1862 was made captain of Company H., Third Regiment Del- aware Volunteers, which joined the army of the Potomac. During 1863 he was on special duty serving as Assistant Provost Marshal in Wilmington, and in November of that year re- turned to his regiment till June 23, 1864, when he was honorably discharged on account of spinal neuralgia. He spent two years, 1866 and '67, in Pennsylvania, having considerable landed property in Marysville, Perry county. Having recovered his health he returned to Delaware in 1868, since which time he has re- sided upon his farm. He owns 623 acres in two farms ; sixty acres are devoted to fruit ; peaches, apples and pears ; and the remainder to corn, wheat and grass. He built in 1875 the schooner, Annie E. Draper, and in 1878 the schooner, Commerce, both of which he still owns. In 1873 he began the manufacture of Draper's Bone Phosphate, for which he has had a large and increasing demand. A man of such activity and enterprise could not fail to be prosperous, and possessing also the es- teem and regards of the community, his suc- cess is a matter of local pride and satisfaction. Captain Draper was formerly an old line Whig and is now a Republican. In 1855 he was elected to the Legislature and served in the session of 1856. He joined the M. E. church, in 1837, in which he has for many years been steward and trustee. He was married in 1843, to Miss Sarah Cirwithien of Sussex county, by whom he had one child, Lydia, now wife of Bevins Morris, farmer, of Chestertown, Md. Captain Draper lost his wife in 1846; May 3, 1855, he married Miss Annie, daughter of John Bailey, of Kent county. By this marriage he has five children ;- Virginia M. E., Thomas Bradford, John Bailey, Charles Frederick and Irene Clark Draper.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.

ALL, COLONEL DAVID, who com- manded the celebrated " Delaware Line" in the Revolution, was born in Lewes, Jan. 4, 1752, the second son of David and Mary (Kollock) Hall. This fam- ily, which has become very numerous in its connections, is descended from Nathaniel Hall, who came from Connecticut and settled in or near Lewes, about 1700. He was noted for his feats of bravery and strength, and was called " the Indian fighter." He had two sons, the younger of whom, Peter, left no heirs The elder was David, the father of Colonel David. He was a farmer and had a large dairy, his land extending from Hall's pond to a marsh called Hall's Island. He built the

Academy, now the Wiltbank house.

had six children ; Dr. Joseph Hall, the father of Dr. Henry Fisher Hall and grandfather of Dr. David Hall of Lewes ; Simon, the third son, died unmarried ; Peter, who left a family ; Jane, who married three times but died without issue, and Mary who married the distinguished Rev. J. P. Wilson, whose sketch is in this volume. Col. David Hall was edu- cated to the profession of the law and was practicing in Lewes when the Continental Con- gress called upon Delaware for troops. He was one of the first to espouse the cause of American Independence and by his social position, ability and ardent patriotism, did much to counterbalance the tory influence in Sussex. He enlisted, first, as a private, and in

the spring of 1776 raised a company of which he was commissioned captain and which be- came a part of Col. Haslet's regiment. On the first of August they left for New York where they joined Washington. Captain Hall commanded his company with conspicuous bravery in the battles of Long Island and White Plains, and was one of the fighting officers who in those engagements gained for the Delaware troops laurels of imperishable renown. In November he commenced re- cruiting the Delaware battalion of 800 men called for by Congress, Sept. 16, 1776, to serve during the war. The first company to join it, Capt. John Patten's, was mustered in Nov. 30, and the second company, Capt. Robert Kirkwood's, Dec. 1, 1776. This regiment gradnally absorbed most of Col. Haslet's regi- ment, which, at the battle of Princeton, where

the gallant Haslet fell, consisted of less than one hundred men. Col. Hall appears to have been a natural military leader and organizer, drawing men around him by the magnetic force of his genius and ability, firing them with his own ardor, and keeping them in the ranks: The men he trained were the bravest in the revolution, and all but a small portion laid down their lives for their country. David Hall's regiment of continentals was filled by the following spring, and he was commissioned its colonel, April 5, 1777. The records are meagre of details during the next three years, but it is known that they took part in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth, shared the sufferings and priva- tions of Washington at Valley Forge, and all the campaigns of '77, '78 and '79, and gained a national reputation as the "Delaware line," and the "flower of the revolutionary army." Colonel Hall and his regiment were selected by Washington and sent to Green Run, Worcester county, Md., from which place they brought to Wilmington, in wagons, the gold sent over by France, and loaned to the United States. In the battle of Brandywine they covered the retreat of Washington's army, and at that time Colonel Hall was severely wounded. Brave, unflinching, he en- dured everything for his country. His grand- children can well remember the weeping of their mothers and aunts, as they recalled the sufferings of their father in the revolution. Sleeping on the ground at night, he would find in the morning his hair frozen to the earth, and would be obliged to cut it away with his sword before he could raise his head from his icy pillow. At one time the men sat on their horses six nights in succession wait- ing an expected attack. Hunger, insuffi- cient clothing and consequent sickness added to their distress. When the regi- ment was ordered, April 13, 1780, to South Carolina, where the theater of war had been transferred by the British generals, Col. Hall was at home sick with camp fever. After the war he resumed the practice of his profession in Lewes. In 1802 he was elected Governor on the Democratic ticket, even car- rying Sussex which was strongly Federal. He filled the office with great credit and honor till 1805: Soon after, he was made one of the

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BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT.

Judges of Delaware under the constitution of educated at the acedemies of Georgetown and 1792, which position he adorned by his learn- ! Lewes, and though still very young, served ing, ability and integrity. He was a friend his country, for a time, in the war of 1812. He and counselor of Rodney, Read, McKean and was engaged in mercantile business till about other leading patriots. When in the army he slept in the same tent with Washington, and

1820, when he purchased the estate called Oak Hall, three miles southeast of Georgetown, corresponded with him afterwards. The pict- | where he resided the remainder of his life. It ure of Washington, which has ever since hung in the State House at Dover, was presented to the State by Gov. Hall. He married Catherine Tingley of New York and had one son, Joseph, who died just as he commenced the practice of law ; and six daughters ; Eliz-

contained about 1000 acres, and he owned other farms in Sussex county, the whole amounting to about 4000 acres of land. About 1830, Mr. Anderson was elected President of the Farmers' Bank of Delaware at George- town, which position he retained for years, abeth, who married Dr. John White, and had till Mr. Isaac Tunnell, having resigned

four sons and four daughters ; Mary, who married,first, Dr. Robert Houston, and had one daughter and two sons, and, secondly, David Walker, by whom she had two daughters and four sons, (one of these being Mr. J. W. Wal- ker of Wilmington, who has generously borne the expense of the accompanying plate of his grandfather) ; Jane, the third daughter, mar- ried ex Governor John Collins, and had three sons and three daughters ; Catherine, married David Paynter, and had three daughters and two sons, one of whom, John Paynter, was captain of a company of Pennsylvania troops in the late war and guarded DuPont's powder works when threatened by the confederates. Lydia, the fifth daughter, married Dr. Edward Huffington of Middleford, and had one son and two daughters, and Martha married James Tull of Milton ; she died in 1864. Governor Hall died September 18, 1817, in Lewes, in his sixty-sixth year. He was a member of the Order of Cincinnati,of the Masonic Fraternity, and many years a ruling elder in the Presby- terian church. History places his character, ability and patriotism very high ; he was a man of great strength of character, force of will, and uncompromising loyalty to country and duty.

NDERSON, JAMES, late President and Cashier of the Farmers' Bank o Delaware, at Georgetown, was born near that place, April 8, 1793. His mother, Leah (Windsor) Anderson, was also born in Sussex county, but his father. James Anderson, Sr., was a native of Ireland, and came to this country soon after the revo- lution. He was a merchant at Georgetown, and had five other sons. James Anderson was

the office of cashier, he accepted it and filled it in the most capable and satisfactory manner till within a few weeks of his death. He was always a man of great prominence in the community ; was, at one time, Clerk of the Court, also Register of Wills, and was, for many years, County Treasurer for the Poor, and of great service to the indigent and suf- fering of his locality. In politics he was always a Democrat, and, for many years, was a Mason. He attended the Episcopal Church, of which his family were members. He closed his long and useful life, Jan. 23, 1875, at the age of eighty-one.

ORBIT, JOHN COWGILL, Farmer of Odessa, eldest son of Daniel and Eliza (Naudain) Corbit was born Jan. 14, 1834. A sketch of his father has al- ready been given. He was educated at the Westtown Friends' Boarding School and at the Haverford Friends' College. On reaching manhood he devoted himself to agri- culture in which he has since been engaged with great success. His large tracts of land in the vicinity of Odessa are all under a high state of cultivation, and among the most val- uable in that rich and productive region. By his intelligent and liberal management of his lands he has done much to make farming a science, and by his example and influence to improve the methods of agriculture in the state. He was at one time extensively and profitably engaged in peach culture, but now though he still has several thousand trees, his farms are chiefly devoted to grain. Mr. Corbit is also interested in various local enterprises. He is a man of ability and culture, 'of spotless repu- tation, and in every way one of the foremost

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.

men of that part of the State. He is a Repub- lican from conviction, and reared in the school of anti-slavery principles, he takes high moral ground in reference to the rights of men, and on all public questions. He was married, Nov. 30, 1859, to Miss Emily, daughter of Alexan- der Peterson of Philadelphia, but formerly of Smyrna, Del. Their children are Alexander P., Daniel and John C. Corbit, Jr.

AYARD, HON. JAMES A., JR., son of Hon. James Asheton Bayard. of whom see sketch in this volume on page 216, late U. S. Senator from Delaware, was born in the city of Wilmington, Nov. 15,

1799. He studied at Princeton and Union, graduating from the latter college at 19 years of age, and in 1821 was admitted to the bar. He early began to take an interest in pub- lic affairs ; was nominated and ran for Con- gress, in 1828, as a Jackson Democrat, and again in 1832, but his party was in a minori- ty in the State, and he was not elected in either instance. His reputation at the bar caused his selection as counsel for the Chesa- peake & Delaware canal, in the celebrated case of Randall against the company for breach of contract in its construction. The amount involved in this suit was very large, nearly $227,000, and Jno. M. Clayton, Jas. Rodgers, Geo. Read, Jr., and Chas. J. Ingersoll represented the plantiff, and Attorney-Gen- eral Robert Frame, Jas. A. Bayard and Walter Jones of Washington, were counsel for the company. It was, for Delaware soil, a battle of the giants of that day, and lasted for two months. From this time he was employed in nearly all the leading and important cases before the courts of the State up to 1843, when, for three years he was engaged in practice in the city of New York. He resumed his place at the head of the Delaware bar on his return in 1846. But it is his history as a statesman which we are concerned to notice in this brief outline sketch. In the memorable national contest of 1824, when John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson and W. H. Crawford, of Georgia, were before the peo- ple for their suffrages, he was a strong ad- vocate of Crawford. Jackson received the popular vote, but the election went to the House of Representatives, and John Q. Adams was declared President. Upon this honors. Here his public life fittingly closed,

event Mr. Bayard became an ardent Jack- son Democrat, and supported his claims in the contest of 1828, running for Congress on that ticket, but was defeated by Kensey Johns. There had been a general breaking up of old party lines in 1825, and the Fed- eralists, many of them, had ranged them- selves with the Whig party, and when in 1838 he was a candidate for the U. S. Sen- ate, the State Senate, then under the con- trol of the Whigs, refused to go into joint ballot, and as a result, Delaware had but one Senator from 1839 to 1841. In 1840, the Democratic party suffered overwhelm- ing defeat and Harrison was elected Presi- dent. The State Legislature was strong- ly Whig, and Richard H. Bayard, the eldest brother of James A., who was a whig as pro- nounced as his brother was a Democrat, was elected to the U. S. Senate. When, in 1850, the party to which he belonged carried the State, he was elected for the full term of six years to a seat in the Senate after the six- teenth ballot ; his competitor being Hon. M. W. Bates. In 1857 he was returned for an- other term and also in 1863. The test oath, much against his views as a constitutional measure, was passed by the Senate, and he vehemently opposed its passage, but when it had received the sanction of that body, he took the oath to manifest his loyalty as a citi- zen, but immediately resigned his seat upon the ground that it was an injustice to require a Senator whose loyalty was unimpeached, to subscribe to such an oath unprovided for in the Constitution, and, as he believed, in violation as well of its spirit as of its provisions. George Read Riddle was elected as his successor, but he dying in 1866, Gov. Gove Saulsbury ap- pointed Mr. Bayard to fill the vacancy, and upon the assembling of the legislature he was again elected by that body to fill the remain- der of the original term. His son, the Hon. T. F. Bayard, was elected by the same body at the same session, for the full term of six years, and on the same day ; which has given rise to the statement of their serving together ; whereas the term of Jas. A. Bayard expired at midday, March 4, 1869, and that of his son be- gan at the same moment ; thus introducing a representative in three successive generations of the Bayard family to senatorial duties and

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and if fidelity to his principles, and scrupulous | little game ; but they found gold, and the and unswerving rectitude in the performance place became an important point on the over- of his duty in his high position, be that for | land route. Within thirty days the population which we should do honor to a statesman, then the name of James A. Bayard is deserv- ing of our high regard. He came from his last senatorial term, after a lifetime spent in the public eye, without a stain on his public and official life. He died in the city of Wilming- ton, June 13th, 1880, and his remains were in-

had increased to five thousand. Dr. Marshall divided his time between mining and practic- ing, and remained in that place two years ; but meeting with indifferent success, he returned home by way of the Isthmus, arriving in New York, in Feb, 1851. In April he settled in Georgetown, where he practiced his profession terred in the family vault of the old Swedes | till Jan., 1862, when he was commissioned Church in that city. In early manhood he married Annie, daughter of Thomas Willing Francis, of Philadelphia, and who died in 1864. Three children survive him ; Hon. Thomas F., U. S. Senator, Mrs. Dr. Kane of Wilmington, and Mrs. B. Lockwood of the city of New York.

ARSHALL, WILLIAM, M. D., Phy- sician and Shipbuilder, of Milford, son of Aaron and Jane (Paynter) Mar- shall, was born in Milton, May 23, 1827. A sketch of his father has been given. He attended the academies in Milton and Georgetown, and assisted his father in the store, and at eighteen commenced the study of medicine in the office of Dr. William W. Wolfe, the leading physician of that county. The same year he entered Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, from which he gradu- ated, receiving his diploma in March, 1847, .

before he was twenty years of age. He, how- ever, in the following winter, attended a full course of lectures at the University of Penn- sylvania, and to fit himself as thorougly as possible for his professional career, entered, in the fall of 1848, upon a further post-graduate course, of half the usual time. He was then residing in Philadelphia, and met his expenses by practicing his profession. In Jan., 1849, he was invited to become the surgeon of the first mining expedition which left the Atlantic coast for California, by sea. The party reached San Francisco the following September. There the company disbanded, and each was thrown upon his own resources. Dr. Marshall, with five others, started for the gold mines, three hundred miles distant, and their little band be- ing joined by others, they located Hangtown, now Placerville, Eldorado county. The dan- gers, toils and sufferings they encountered were great ; food could not be obtained, and State Medical Society of Delaware, and Presi- they lived on acorns, with now and then a

surgeon in the Union army by President Lin- coln, and assigned to the Third Delaware Regiment of Volunteers. In August the rebels made a raid on Front Royal, where he was in charge of the General Hospital, and he was wounded and captured. But after riding six miles, while they were being hotly pursued, he rolled off his horse and succeeded in mak- ing his escape. He followed the fortunes of his regiment till after the battle of Antietam, when in September, being ill and still suffering from his wounds, and unable to obtain leave of absence, he resigned and returned home. On the call of Mr. Lincoln for fresh troops in the latter part of the same month, he recruited two companies in Sussex county, one of which elected him captain, and with that rank, he was mustered in, both companies being incor- porated in the Sixth Delaware, under Colonel Edwin Wilmer. Dr. Marshall received a Ma- jor's commission, and was made surgeon of the Regiment, which did duty along the line of the P. W. & B. R. R., in Maryland, and at Fort Delaware in the July following. In Sep- tember they were mustered out of service, and he returned home, resuming his practice and remaining in Georgetown till Jan., 1866, when he removed to Milford, where he has since re- sided. Dr. Marshall is one of the most promi- nent men in his profession in Delaware. He has made surgery and obstetrics a specialty, and has, probably, performed more surgical operations than any other physician in his section. He is the leading surgeon for the counties of Sussex and Kent. He is Secretary of the State Board of Health, organized in March, 1879 ; a member of the Alumni Asso- ciation of Jefferson Medical College, Philadel- phia, of which, in March, 1880, he was elected Vice-President ; a member of the dent, in 1869 and '70 ; also a delegate of that

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.

Society to the American Medical Association, He remained with his father until nearly since 1872. He has contributed several val- uable papers to the American Journal of Medical Science, and has read a number of articles before the State Medical Society, several of which they have published. He has been a Mason since 1851 and is a Past Master ; he also joined the Odd Fellows about the same time. Since 1865 Dr. Marshall has been engaged in ship building, and is now one of the firm of J. W. Abbott & Co., doing the largest business in that line in Milford. They have launched three vessels in each of the last four years. He has also owned and run a grist mill, and bought and sold lumber, and manufactured bricks, extensively. He has employed his smal- ler vessels in his own business, trading largely on the Hudson river, and bringing car- goes of lime and bricks from Tomkins Cove and Haverstraw, N. Y. Into these outside op- erations he entered to secure means to educate his children. Much of his large practice was among people whose circumstances made him unwilling to press the payment of bills, and his kindness and consideration have had a just reward. He has been successful, and now owns considerable property. Dr. Marshall was married, Nov. 23, 1853, to Miss H. Ange- lina, daughter of Rev. Truston Polk McColley, of Milford. They have four children, having lost one. The eldest is George William Mar- shall, M. D., a graduate of Delaware College, and of Jefferson Medical College, in the class of 1876. He is now practicing in Milford. He married Mary L. Donnell of Newark, and has three children. The remaining children of Dr. William Marshall are Annie Paynter, Sam- uel Everett and H. Angelina.

grown when he left his home and engaged in . the hatting business in Georgetown, but re- moved thence to Milford where he soon began merchandising. As a merchant he was very successful, and accumulated quite a fortune. April 28, 1814, he was married to Miss Hetty Smith, a very beautiful woman. By this mar- riage there were five children. The eldest son, Hiram W. McColley, now resides at the old homestead near Milford ; the second son, James H. McColley, was appointed by Presi- dent Lincoln, U. S. Consul to South America, and there died of yellow fever while in the faithful performance of his duty ; the youngest son resides on his farm near Milford; the eldest daughter married Hon. George P. Fisher, of Dover, and the second daughter married .Dr. William Marshall of Milford. Mr. McColley was sent as a delegate to the Convention that met in Dover in November, 1852, to amend the Constitution of the State, and was elected president of that body. He became a member of the M. E. Church when quite young, and, November 3, 1826, was re- ceived into the Conference as a local preacher, and continued to officiate as a minister of the gospel until his death ; for which service he received no compensation ; but as the Lord prospered him in wordly possessions, he contributed liberally to the support of the ministry, and to all charitable purposes. As a speaker he was fluent and forcible, impressing those who heard him with the conviction that his heart was in the work. It was said of him that he had married more couples, and preached more funeral sermons, than any minister in the State. He was especially zealous in the Bible cause, having been a member from the time the society was first established in Dela- ware, and was president of the Sussex County Association many years previous to his death. As a citizen he was much beloved and re- spected, eminently social and genial in his nature, and very keen in his perceptions of right and wrong He was known throughout the State as a man of great integrity of char- acter, and large business capacity. In politics he was Republican-truly loyal and unselfish in his patriotism, and in favor of preserving the union at any expense of blood and treas-

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Historical and biographical encyclopaedia of Delaware. V 2, Part 45

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

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