Historical and biographical encyclopaedia of Delaware. V 2, Part 7

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Publication date: 1972
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 776

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J.B. Biddeman

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BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT.

the business. He was very successful, and in | farm called "Oakland," in Cedar Creek hun- time his became the leading business house of dred, Sussex county, which he had purchased Smyrna. He retired in 1859, after fifteen years of active life, and removed to "Fout Hill," a farm which he had previously purchased. This property he greatly improved, and devoted it, principally, to raising blooded stock, in which he took great pride. He only remained here a few years, when he returned to Smyrna. He was elected to the House of Delegates on the Whig ticket in 1849, and served in that posi- tion with great credit and usefulness. He was Speaker of the House during the session of 1851-2. Mr. Cummins was married, April 13, 1843, to Miss Martha A., daughter of Jacob Raymond, of Smyrna, of whom see sketch. The two surviving children of this marriage are, Eliza B , wife of Doctor James C. Dirrick- son of Berlin, Md., and Alfred Lee Cummins. He died, June 9, 1861, leaving behind him a record of integrity and honor. of Peter F. Causey, afterwards Governor. In September, 1848, he was elected on the Dem- ocratic ticket, to the State Senate from Sussex county, and served in the session of 1849 He was elected to the speakership of the Senate in 1851, and also at an adjourned session, call- ed for the purpose of passing the revised code of state laws. After the adjournment of this session he removed to Milford, where he had purchased, enlarged, and improved the proper- ty at the north corner of Front and Walnut streets, his present residence, the corner room of which is occupied by the First National Bank. Here he engaged in the coal and lum- ber business and the purchase and sale of real estate, which he continued for several years. He was elected a director of the Delaware Railroad at its inception in 1853, and still holds that position. He was President of the Milford Steam Boat Company, incorporated by the Legislature in 1853, which owned and opera- ted a side wheeled steamer, plying between Milford and Philadelphia. The enterprise was unsuccessful owing to the difficult navi- gation of the Mispillion. The President, by a resolution of the stockholders, sold the steamer, settled the liabilities of the com- pany, and disbursed among them the surplus funds, pro rata He was also a commissioner, appointed by the Legislature, for the improve- ment of the navigation of Mispillion creek, and as treasurer, disbursed some $10,000 He was for sixteen years a director in the Bank of Smyrna, representing its office of Discount and Deposit in Milford, and for a major part of that time alone, with power as a committee to discount paper, which was exercised with such discretion as to avoid the loss of a single dollar to the bank. This position he resigned after his re-election in 1876, and soon after, by a liberal subscription to the capital stock, assumed a leading part in the First National Bank of Milford, of which he was then made, and is now the President. He was very active as one of the original directors of the Junction and Breakwater Railroad, and was at one time its President. He is still a large stockholder in this road. He was again, in 1874, elected to the State Senate, and appointed a commissioner from Delaware to the International Exhibition at Philadelphia, in 1876. He has served the

'IDDEMAN, COL. HENRY B., Presi- dent of the First National Bank of Milford, was born February 3, 1807, in Mispillion hundred, Kent county. His father was Philip D. Fiddeman, a farmer well known as a stock raiser ; a man of great uprightness and integrity, and several times elected to the State Legislature. He died in 1840, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. He married Mary, daughter of Major Anderson of Kent county, a real estate owner and a Jus- tice of the Peace. Mrs. Fiddeman was a chris- tian lady, and a devoted wife and mother. She died in 1817, at the age of twenty-five years. Col. Fiddeman was reared upon the farm and received a fair business education. At the age of seventeen he entered a store as clerk at Cannon's Ferry, Sussex county, where he re- mained until he reached his twenty-first year, when he became an equal partner, and the firm was long and favorably known as Powell and Fiddeman. They commanded an extensive trade and operated largely in vessel property, lumber and grain. In 1838 they removed to Wye. Landing, Talbot County, Md., where they successfully embarked in a like business. In consequence ofa partial failure of his health, Mr. Fiddeman sold out his share of the busi- ness in January, 1845, and removed with his family to the farm of his boyhood near Vernon, Del. In February, 1847, he removed to the

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.

Democratic party of which he is a consistent | State till 1848, when he removed to Delaware, member, in several State conventions, and upon one or more occasions as the presiding officer. He was one of the largest slave hold- ers in the state. Most of his slaves he brought over from Maryland on his removal to Dela- ware as they were unwilling to be left and separated from the family. All of these, over twenty in number, he liberated on the ratifica- tion of the anti-slavery amendment to the constitution of the United States in 1865. He has been a prominent member of the Milford Presbyterian church and an elder for many years, contributing liberally to its erection in 1851 and to its maintenance since, serving continuously as a trustee, and most of the time, and now, president of the board He was married in 1830 to Miss Eliza Ann Smoot of Dorchester County, Md. She was a member of the Presbyterian church for many years previous to her death, a most excellent and devoted christian lady. She died, November 12, 1866, in her 57th year, and is interred in the Protestent Episcopal Cemetery of Mil- ford. The beautiful monument erected to her memory bears this inscription; "Erected to my beloved wife, Eliza A. Fiddeman-for thirty six years my companion and support in the trials of life, and endeared by all the . virtues that adorn the christian wife and mother. Free from the pain and sorrow of this earthly night she has entered into that perfect rest that cometh with the morning of eternal life." Col Fiddeman has one child surviving, Mrs. Mary E., widow of Dr. Mark G. Lofland, of Milford.

HITTOCK, HENRY G., Farmer of Appoquinimink hundred, was born in Alkampton, Somersetshire, England, June 13, 1809. His father, Benjamin Whittock, a farmer, was one of a family of three sons and six daughters, viz : William. Joseph, Benjamin, Sarah, Mrs. Simmons, Eliza- beth. Miriam, Martha and Ann. The Whit- tocks are an old English family of means and standing, and had been land owners in Somer- setshire for many generations. Mr. Whittock has in his possession documents containing the family names as far back as 1745. He came to America, landing in New York city, March 25, 1832,and soon after commenced farming in Phil- adelphia county, Pa., near Fox Chase, now in- cluded in the city limits. He remained in that

settling in St. George's hundred, New Castle county. In 1853 he became a resident of Appoquinimink hundred, moving in 1858 to. the "Hook" farm, where he has since remained. He is one of the model farmers of Delaware, and it may be mentioned as an unusual circum- stance, that he has chosen to rent rather than to purchase land. But he has been remarka- bly successful and is one of the most prosper- ous agriculturists in New Castle county. The farm under his care contains three hundred acres of upland and the same of marshland. He has about six thousand peach trees on the place, and with him they have been a success. Mr. Whittock was originally an old line Whig, but now acts with the Democratic party. He was brought up in the Episcopal church, with which, however, he never united, and in 1837 joined the Presbyterian denomination. He has now been for twenty-four years a ruling elder is Drawyer's church at Odessa. He was married in 1840, to Ann, daughter of George Stockdale of Philadelphia, and half-sister of Hon. Joseph L. Caven, late President of the City Council, of that city. They have had nine children : Henry Harrison, died in Phila- delphia county, Penna., in his fourth year ; Mary Elizabeth, married Charles M. Matthews, and died in 1864, in her twenty-second year ; Joseph, residing with his parents; Robert Caven, farmer, near Middletown ; . Abraham Martin ; Alonzo Stockdale,farmer near Mount Pleasant ; Ida Ann, married Mr. William H. West of the eastern shore of Maryland ; Henry Goodfellow and George. As a christian gentleman and a worthy citizen, Mr. Whittock has the sincere regards of the community.

OBINSON, JUDGE PETER, the first appointed Justice of the Supreme Court of Delaware, and Thomas, his brother, the loyalist, settled in Sussex county, at the St. George's Chapel, Indian River hundred. This was a voting place and a town of some historic interest. But little of the life of Judge Robinson has been preserved, but he is known to have been a gentleman of prominence, and was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of Delaware, October 8, 1793, at the same time that Hon. George Read was appointed Chief Justice of the same court.

Jano 3 Daires

Gaming

321

BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT."

AVIS, COL. SAMUEL BOYER, son of John Davis and Elizabeth Boyer, his wife, was born at Lewes, Sussex county, March 25, 1766. His father having been taken prisoner while serving in the Army of the Revolution, suffered so se- verely from the effects of bad treatment by the English that he died shortly after his release. His widow removing to Philadelphia about 1783, Samuel was placed in a counting house for a short time, but his inclinations being for a maritime life he went to sea for several years. During one of his voyages to France he met and married Rosa Elizabeth,daughter of Baron de Boisfontaine, a French noblemen, after which he served a short time as a Captain in the French Navy. The disturbed condition of France became so great, however, that he resigned, and returning about 1796, settled at New Orleans. He there served as "Capitaine del Porto" (Captain of the Port) under the Spanish Government, the then owners of Louisiana; the position being similar to that of Collector of the Port. On the cession of Louisiana to the French in 1800, he became a "Fuge de Pain" of the Parish of St. Bernard. He was also engaged in business, and particular- ly in sugar planting, the raising of sugar cane having become very profitable. Having accumulated what was in those days a large fortune he retired from business. On the breaking out of the war of 1812 he came North and offered his services to the Government. Towards the close of 1812 the British Government had declared the ports and harbors in the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays in a state of vigorous blockade. The commander of the British fleet, Admiral Beresford, in March, 1813, proceeded to levy contributions on the people inhabiting the shores of Delaware Bay. This demand for provisions was sternly refused by the people and the officials. Benson J. Lossing, in his "Incidents of the War of 1812," says: "The spirit of the people thus manifested, astonished Beresford, and he held the thunders of his threat at bay for almost three weeks. The Governor of Delaware, in the meantime, sum- moned the militia to the defence of menaced Lewistown. He reiterated the positive refusal of the inhabitants to furnish the invaders with supplies. £ Beresford continued to threaten and hesitate, but at length, on the 6th of batants, after an hour's pleasant conversation, 41

April he sent Captain Byron with the Belvi- dere and some smaller vessels to attack the village. They drew near, and the Belvidere sent several heavy rounds of shot into the town, with the expectation of terrifying the inhabitants into submission. These were fol- lowed by a flag of truce, bearing from Byron a renewal of the requisition. Colonel Davis in command of the gathering militia repeated the refusal, when Byron expressed a regret because of the misery he would be compelled to inflict on the women and children by a bombardment. 'Colonel Davis is a gallant man and will take care of the ladies,' was the verbal reply. A cannonade and bombardment followed this correspondence, and were con- tinued for about twenty-two hours. So spirited was the response of a battery on an eminence worked by the militia that the most dangerous of the enemies gunboats was disabled, and its cannon silenced. Notwithstanding the British hurled full eight hundred of their 18 and 32 pound shot into the town, and many shells and two Congreve rockets were sent, the damage inflicted was not severe. The shells did not reach the village, the rockets passed over it, but the heavy round shot in- jured many houses. No lives were lost. An ample supply of powder was sent down from Wilmington, while the industrious enemy supplied the balls from his guns. A large number of these were sent back with effect. Unable to capture the town, the British at- tempted to land the next day, for the purpose of seizing live stock in the neighborhood. They were met with great spirit at the verge of the water, and driven back to their vessels. For a month longer they lingered, closely watched by the vigilant Davis, and then drop- ping down the coast seven miles below Lewis- town, they attempted to supply themselves with fresh water from Newbold's ponds. Again they were driven to their ships. Failing to obtain supplies on the shores of the Delaware, the little blockading squadron sailed for Ber- muda, where Admiral Warren was fitting out reinforcements for his fleet in American waters.' So much pleased with the courage and skill shown by Colonel Davis, was Beresford, that he sent a flag of truce, desiring to make the acquaintance of so brave a man and skillful a soldier. This was accorded, and the two com-

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.

mutually pleased with each other, and being, office here, although he always took an active each, somewhat versed in painting, exchanged | interest in all political and public affairs. In water colored sketches; that given by Beresford being still in the possession of Colonel Davis' family. Colonel Davis was badly wounded in this bombardment and battle, having been struck in the face by a part of a shell, and also had his ankle shattered by a splinter. He re- covered the use of his leg, however, entirely. March 17, 1813, he received from President Madison his commission as Lieutenant Colonel of the Thirty-second Regiment, U. S. Infantry, which was recruited in Delaware and Pennsyl- vania, and on May 6, 1813, was transferred to the Forty-fourth Regiment, of which he afterwards was made Colonel. This regiment was recruited in Louisiana. He was placed in command of the defenses at Sandy Hook, which commanded the entrance to New York Bay, and in 1814, was ordered to Albany, New York, as one of the Judges of the Court Martial for the trial of General William Hull, who had surrendered Detroit to the British in 1812 On the completion of this duty he was ordered to re-form his regiment at Sandy Hook and proceed at once to New Orleans. On this march he passed through Wilmington, encamp- ing for the night on a hill on William Warren's lands, about one mile west of the city. They reached Wheeling, Va., the regiment marching on foot, and from that point were conveyed on flat-boats down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, arriving there the day after the battle of that name, fought January 8, 1815. They were ordered to Fort St. Philip, one of the river de- fenses below New Orleans, to the command of which Colonel Davis was assigned. He remained in the army until 1819, when he finally resigned. Struck by the exceeding beauty of his camping ground near Wilming- ton he came north soon after and purchased it, a house having in the meantime been built thereon, naming it "Delaware Place." He 1837 the State of Delaware presented him with a gold sword, in recognition of his services during the war of 1812, a gift in which he justly took great pride. In 1837, he married Sally, daughter of Edward P., and Janette Jones, of Wilmington. He died, September 6, 1854, after a short illness, and was buried in the Brandywine cemetery. By his first wife he had three children ; Horatio, Alonzo and Oscar, and by his second, five; Delaware, Sussex D., Kent D., Elizabeth and Harriet. Delaware is living in Virginia; Sussex D., practising law in Philadelphia, and also Regis- ter in Bankruptcy ; Elizabeth married, first, to Charles H. Stokes, of Philadelphia, and after- wards to Hampden P. Morris, of Virginia, and Harriet, widow of Capt William B. McKean, of the United States Marine Corps, are those now living. Kent D. died in 1865, a Lieutenant in the Marine Corps ; Horatio in New Orleans in 1857 ; Alonzo in 1854, and Oscar in 1839. Colonel Davis was a singularly handsome man, fully six feet three inches in stature, with a most winning smile and graceful and courteous bear- ing. His life had been full of event and incident, and gifted as he was with a vigorous intellect, strong memory and brilliant powers of con- versation, it was not strange that in his later days he should frequently be called on to en- tertain strangers of distinction. His residence, "Delaware Place," became the property of his son Delaware, and subsequently was purchased by the Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, who still re- sides there. In politics, Colonel Davis was a strong Jackson Democrat, whose devotion to his country never faltered, and whose motto was that of his political leader, "The Union, it must and shall be preserved." . By the people of Lewistown he was always held in the most grateful remembrance, and whenever he visited that place the citizens testified, always, their appreciation of his services by a salute from cannon.

spent his summers here, going south in the winter to his plantations, until about 1830 when he became a citizen of Pennsylvania, living in Philadelphia, from which city he was elected a representative to the Legislature for the ses- sions of 1831-32 and 32-33. In 1834 he was a candidate for Congress, but being defeated, and his wife dying shortly thereafter, he removed permanently to his native state .. He never held

RIFFITH, WILLIAM, F., Merchant of Newark, was born August 6, 1848. His father was Caleb Griffith, who died April 19, 1855 He wasa man of great in- dustry and great physical power, a good citizen, and died in his 35 year much regretted. His mother was Miss Mary Elizabeth Briscoe.

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Hashington Jones

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BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT.

His grandfather was Joseph Griffith (of whom account, which he carried on prosperously see Plate and sketch in this volume). William was the second son of his parents, and attended the public school until fifteen years of age, when he was sent to Newark, Academy, under the direction of Professer E. D. Porter, and re- mained there for two years. At the expiration of this time he went West and resided in Indiana for one year, when he returned East. He then engaged in the occupation of clerking in Easton, Talbot county, Md., which he con- tinued until he returned to Newark and embarked in the mercantile business in the Autumn of 1870, which he still continues. He has been very successful in business and is a man of great energy and fine busi- ness ability. Mr. Griffith was reared in the Baptist Church to which his family has been attached from the early settlement of the Welsh tract ; the first pastor of that church in this locality being a Thomas Griffith, of whom the Griffiths are lineal descendants. He is a Democrat in politics, though not partisan. He has served as a town commissioner for the last . two years. Mr. Griffith was married February 21, 1871, to Miss Marianna, daughter of Willam H. and Susan A. Wilson, of Easton, Talbot county, Md.

ONES, WASHINGTON, Morocco Man- ufacturer and President of the National Bank of Wilmington and Brandywine, was born in Wilmington, January 5, 1818. He is a son of the late William G. and Rachel Walker Jones. His father, who was a cabinet maker, lived all his life in the house where he was born, and died there in his eighty-ninth year. The great-grandfather of Mr. Jones came from Wales and was among the early settlers of the Diamond State. His mother was from a substantial Pennsylvania family of Irish descent. Mr. Jones attended the schools of his native city as much as the delicate health of his childhood would permit. At the age of sixteen he became a clerk in a retail dry goods house in Philadelphia, and at eighteen, went into a wholesale house in the same city. At the end of a year he returned to Wilmington, where he spent a year as a dry goods clerk, after which became discount clerk in the 'bank of which he has been for many years the honored President. In 1839 he er .- gaged in the dry goods business on his own

until January, 1858, when he disposed of it and associated in partnership with Mr. Thomas H. Baynard, under the firm name of Baynard & Jones. They erected suitable works, and early in 1859 commenced the manufacture of Mo- rocco. Mr. Baynard died in 1864 and Mr. Jones assumed the control of the whole busi- ness, since which time it has increased four- fold. In 1867 he associated with him Mr. Daniel Post Price and his son, Charles Rice Jones, under the firm name of W. Jones & Co., and in 1873 another son, Wm. Gideon Jones was admitted to the firm. The business done by this establishment is one of the largest of its class in the country. They import their own skins from Calcutta and sumac from Sicily. Their goods, which are exclusively for first- class boots and shoes, are sold in all parts of the United States. Mr. Jones has traveled extensively in his native country He has been an active member of the Second Baptist Church of Wilmington, since January, 1841, and has held nearly every official lay-position. He was for many years the President of the Board of Trustees, and was Treasurer of the Church for seventeen years. He took an ac- tive and leading part in collecting the funds to erect the beautiful church edifice at the N. E. corner of Fourth and French Sts., and was himself one of the leading contributors. He superintended the Sabbath School for fifteen years and has been for many years a deacon. He takes an active interest in the welfare of the church and is one of its most liberal sup- porters. He was married in 1841 to Miss Margaret Wilson, daughter of Mr. Washing- ton Rice, a prominent and highly respected citizen and a leading grocer of Wilmington. The four children of this union were Emma D. (Mrs. Wm. W. Lobdell), Charles R., Mar- garet R. (Mrs. D. S. Cresswell, of Philadel- phia), and William G. Mrs. Jones died, Octo- ber 4, 1854. In 1856, Mr. Jones married Emma W. Stager of Philadelphia, and they have one child, Lizzie S. Jones (Mrs. N. B. Danforth). Mr. Jones has been a projector of many of the enterprises that have contributed to the material prosperity of the city. Among them are the Franklin Cotton Factory and the Wilmington Coal Gas Co., in each of which he became a director. He is the only sur- viving director of those who obtained a char-

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.

ter of the Gas Co. in 1852. He has also been | town of Concord now stands, and himself sur- an active promoter of various new railroad en- terprises, and has held positions of trust and responsibility in connection with them. A few years after he resigned his clerkship in the Bank of Wilmington and Brandywine, he was elected a director, and he has held that position, with short intervals, ever since. He became President of the Bank in 1868. Mr. Jones is one of the most careful and far-see- ing of our business men. His active enter- prise and sound judgment have not only ad- vanced his own interests, but his liberal pub- lic spirit has contributed largely to the sub- stantial and permanent growth of his native city. Mr. Jones is a gentleman of affable manners and is universally esteemed for his sterling integrity, great business capacities and kindliness of heart:

LLEGOOD, ROBERT GRIFFITH, M. D., of Concord, Sussex county, was born March 16, 1828. He is descended from William Ellegood who emigrated from Wales about 1750, and settled on the eastern shore of Virginia, removing soon to the vicinity of Concord, then in Maryland, where he patented and purchased large tracts of land on the head waters of the Nanticoke river. He had four sons, Thomas, John, Wil- liam and Robert, and one daughter, Mrs. Sally Hitch. He died in 1790, greatly respected as a man and a citizen. His son Robert, the grandfather of Dr. Ellegood, inherited a por- tion of the original estate and became a far- mer of some note for that time. He died in 1800 at the age of fifty years. His wife was Mary B. Adkinson of St. Mary's county, Md They had four children ; William, Joshua A., Thomas and Sarah. Their son Joshua Adkin- son Ellegood, the father of Dr. Ellegood, was born on the old homestead in 1789. He was a man of ability and high character, and acquired considerable wealth which was mostly invested in lands. He enjoyed the confidence and esteem of the community, and for fourteen years held the office of Justice of the Peace. He died in 1845. He married Miss Ann Griffith, of Concord, daughter of Col. Seth and Nancy (Houston) Griffith. Col. Griffith was also a man of prominence, a large land owner, and at one time sheriff of Sussex county. He owned the land on which the

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Historical and biographical encyclopaedia of Delaware. V 2, Part 7

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

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