History of Delaware : 1609-1888, Part 45

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : L. J. Richards
Number of Pages: 776

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was president of the Constitutional Convention in 1776, and the author of the first Constitution of Delaware and of the first edition of her laws. In 1782 he was appointed by Congre-> a judge in the national Court of Appeals in Admiralty. Three year- later Congress made him one of the commis- sioners of'a federal court to determine an important controversy in relation to territory between New York and Massachusetts. In Fine he was a dele- gate to the convention which met at Annapolis, Maryland, and he took an active part in those proceedings which eliminated in the calling to- gether, in 1787, of the convention in Philadelphia which framed the Constitution of the United States. In this angust body he was al-o a prom- inent figure, especially in his able advocacy of the rights of the smaller State- to a proper repre-

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.

sentation in the Senate. Immediately after the hospitable walls were gathered from time to time adoption of the Constitution, which Delaware. largely under his direction, was the first to ratity, he was elected to the Senate of the United States. At the expiration of his term he was re-elected. He resigned in 1793, and accepted the office of chief justice of Delaware, which he filled gati] his death, on the 21st of September, 179%, Chief Justice Read commanded publie confidence, not only from his profound legal knowledge, sound judgment, and impartial decisions, but from his severe integrity and estimable private character. Those who differed from him in opinion believei that he was acting from a sense of duty, and de- elared that there was not a dishonest fibre in his heart nor an element of meanness in his soul. He left three distinguished sous, George Read. second

EARLY ENGLISH SILVER TANKARD. Which belonged to Colonel John Read, Is -- 1756.

for thirty years United States district attorney of Delaware; William Read, consul-general of the kingdom of Naples ; and John Read, Senator of Pennsylvania ; and one daughter, Mary Read, who married Colonel Matthew Pearce, of Poplar Neck, Cecil County, Maryland. Virorge Read, the signer, was an ardent member of the Church of England and afterwards of the American Episcopal Com- munion, and for many years one of the wardens of Emmanuel Church, New Castle ; and he lies in that beautiful and quiet church-yard, where seven generations of the Road family repose.

The colonial Read mansion, on the west bank of Delaware Bay, in New Castle, in which theurge Read, the signer, lived and died, was the scene of elegant hospitality for many long years. Here the leading magnates of the colonies were enter- tained before the Revolution, and within its

groaps of fashionable friends from the different parts of the South as well as from Philadelphia Annapolis, and New York, Washington and mans of the native and foreign Revolutionary general- and all the foremost statesmen of the republic slept under its roof tree. and enjoyed the courtls hospitalities of its owners. A portion of this man sion was destroyed by are in 1824, but it wa- restored and is still standing on the Delawar. front in New Castle. Ic was one of the finest family residenews in the South. In the extensive gardens about it grew venerable box, cut in fantastic shapes, and midlips of the greatest variety and beauty, this being the favorite flower of the family --- as the oak was its favorite tree. In the rear of the extensivo offices and out-buildings were the quarters of the slaves-that is, of the house servants, the field-hands being on the outlying plantations and at Mr. Bead's country-seat, farther sonth on the Delaware shore. George Read wa- a man not only of the highest integrity, but of the greatest liberality, and he gave so generously both his time and his money to the service of his country that the aggregate dispensed amounted to a very large sum of money for that day. George Read was a man who gathered about him a large circle of warm friend- who looked up to him for guidance and advice. One of the most notable proofs of his own devotion to friendship was the proof which he gave of hi- enduring affection for John Dickinson, The latter, having not only opposed but refused to sign the Declaration of Independence, thereby lost his popularity entirely. But through the friend- ship and political and personal influence of George Read he was after a time restored to public life. became President successively of the States of Delaware and Pennsylvania, and afterwards one of the delegates to the convention which framed the Constitution of the United States.

There are at least three original portraits of George Read, of Delaware. One is by Gilbert Stuart, another by Robert Edge Pine, and a third by Trumbull, in the historical painting " The Declararation of Independence," which is in the C'apitol at Washington. He figures prominently also in various other historical pictures, -among others, in " The Signing of the Constitution of the United States," by Ro-siter, and in a " Dinner at General Washington's to George Read, of Dela ware," by M. Armand Dumaresy. The latter wa- painted for General Meredith Road, the great grandson of Genge Read, and a copy taken In permission of the owner is in the possession of William Astor. Esq., of New York. The principal personages represented are General and Mr- Washington, Chief Justice Read, the Marquis d' Lafayette and Richard Henry Lee. Mon-iem

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DELAWARE DURING THE REVOLUTION.

Dumaresq had previously sketched the portraits in the Trumbull collection at New Haven. George Read is also an important figure in " The Dinner Club of the Congress of 1775," also painted for General Meredith Read by M. Armand Dumaresq. The correspondence of George Read has preserved the memory of this interesting and select social gathering. It was composed of the following eight members (who dined together every day except Saturday ), viz., Randolph, Lee, Washington and Harrison of Virginia, Chase of Maryland, Rodney and Read of Delaware, and Alsop of New York.

Commodore Thomas Read. the first naval officer who obtained the rank of commodore in comoand of an American fleet, was a brave sollier, daring Committee of Safety directed him, with his officers,

Benjamin Rush, subsequently one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. In the follow- ing year he made a successful defense of the Delaware, and Captains Souder, Jackson, Pott- and Charles Biddle gallantly volunteered under him at that moment as seamen before the mast. On the 7th of June, 1776, he was appointed to the highest grade in the Continental navy, and was assigned to one of the four largest ships-the 32- gun frigate " George Washington," then being built in the Delaware. In October of the same year Congress regulated the rank of the officers of the navy, and he stood sixth on the list. His ship being still on the stocks, he vohinteered for land service, and on the 20 of December, 1776, the

READ MANSION, ON DELAWARE BAY, NEW CASTLE, DEL., IN COLONIAL DAYS. Residence of George Read, Attorney-General in 1763, and afterwards a Signer of the Declaration of Independence and Framer of the Constitution of the I'nited Status.

navigator and discoverer. IIe was the son of Colonel John Read, of Maryland and Delaware,and the brother of George Read, of Delaware, the signer, and Colonel James Read, who was at the head of the Navy Department during the Revolu- tion. He was born at the family seat, New Castle County, Delaware, in 1740, and was married, on the 7th of September, 1779, to Mrs. Mary Fiehl, née Peale, at his seat, White Hill, near Bordentown. New Jersey, by his friend, the Rev. William White, chaplain of the Continental Congress, afterwards the first Prote-tant Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania.

On the 23d of October, 1775, at the early age of thirty-five, he was made C'ommodore of the Penn- sylvania navy, and had as his fleet surgeon Dr.

to join General Wa-hington. He gave valuable assistance in the celebrated erossing of the Dela- ware by Washington's army, and at the battle of Trenton commanded a battery composed of guns taken from his own frigate, which raked the stone bridge across the Assanpink. For this important service he received the thanks of all the general officers, as stated in the letter of the 14th of January, 1777, written to his wife by his brother, Colonel James Read, who was near him during the battle. After much active service by land and by sea he resigned, and retired to his seat. White Hill, where he dispensed a constant hospitality, especially to his old associates in the Order of the Cincinnati, of which he was one of the original members. His friend Robert Morris, the financier

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.

of the Revolution, having purchased his old frigate, Read reached Philadelphia on his return vovag " the Alliance," induced Commodore Read to take command of her, and to make a joint adventure to the Chinese seas and an out-of-season passage to China, never before attempted. Taking with him as his first officer one of his old subordinates, Richard Dale, afterwards the commodore in command, in 1801, of the American fleet sent to the Mediterranean, and Mr. George Harrison ( who became an eminent citizen of Philadelphia) as he revered and beloved. He was in the noble-t

on the 17th of September, 1788, and on the 28th of October following died at his seat in New Jersey, in the forty-ninth year of his age. Robert Morris concluded his obituary of him in the- words: "While integrity, benevolence, patriot- ism and courage, united with the most gentie manners, are respected and admired among men, the name of this valuable citizen and soldier will import of the word, a man." Commodore Read left no descendants.

Colonel James Read, one of the fathers of the Ameri- ean navy, was a son of Col- onel John Read, of Maryland and Delaware, and a brother of George Read, of Delaware, the signer of the Deelara- tion of Independence and the framer of the Constitu- tion of the United States, and of the daring navigator and discoverer, Commodore Thomas Read, of the Conti- mental navy. He was born at the family seat, New Castle County, Delaware, in 1743, and died at Philadelphia, the 31st of December, 1822, in his eightieth year. He was regularly promoted from first lieutenant to colonel for gal- lant and distinguished ser- vices at the battles of Tren- ton, Princeton, Brandywine and Germantown. He was appointed by Congress, the 4th of November, 1775, one of the three commissioners of the navy for the Middle States; and on January 11. 1781, Congress invested him! with sole power to conduct the Navy Board. When his friend, Robert Morris, bo- eame agent, he was elected secretary, and was the virtual head of the marine department, while Robert Morris managed the finance department of the American con- federacy.

COMMODORE THOMAS READ DISCOVERING CAROLINE ISLANDS.

supercargo, he sailed from the Delaware on the 7th of June, 1787. and arrived at Canton the following 22d of December, having navigated on a traek as yet unpracticed by any other ship, and also made the first out-of-season passage to China, and discovered two islands, one of which he named Morris and the other Alliance Island. These islands form a portion of the now celebrated Caroline Islands, and Commodore Read's dis- covery gave rights to the United States which have never been properly asserted. Commodore

Colonel James Read married, on the 9th of July, 1770, Susanne Correy, of the Correys of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and left one son, James Read, born at Philadelphia in 1783. The latter was a great traveler in European and Oriental countries, In 1815 he visited Sweden with his friend, Sir Robert Ker Porter, and was

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DELAWARE DURING THE REVOLUTION.

there created a Knight of the Order of the 1805, and died on the 12th of March, 1-7. After Amaranth by the Queen of Sweden. He was a graduating with honor at the I'niversity of Penn- sylvania, he studied law with his cousin, Chief Justice John Meredith Read, and was called to the bar. But shortly afterwards he studied theology, and graduated at the Princeton Divinity School. His long life was one of remarkable u-t- fulness, and his work in India and China re. dounded to the credit of America. In 1845 he published an authoritative volume on Ceylon Dr. Read Eckard married Margaret Esther. daughter of Dr. Nicholas Bavard. the son of Colonel John Bayard, of Philadelphia. He left one son, the Rev. Leighton Wilson Eckard. born 23d of September, I> 15, who graduated at Latay- man of distinguished attainments as an amateur botanist. He died unmarried, at Philadelphia, the 29th of October, 1853. Colonel James Read also left one married daughter, Susanne Read, who married, the 27th of March, 1803, Joachim Frederic Eckard, Danish consul at Philadelphia, and brother of His Excellency Christian Eckard, Knight of the Dannebrog and honorary coun- selor to the King of Denmark, who-e daughter married the Conrt Grand Huntsman Tutein, Knight Grand Cross of the Dannebrog, while his sons and grandsons were knights of the same order and superior judges of Schleswig-holstein.

READ MANSION, NEW CASTLE, DEL., When the Marquis de Lafayette was the gyest there of Hon. George Read, son of George Read, "the Signer."

Consul-General Eckard died at Venezuela the ette College and at the Princeton Divinity 14th of September, 1837. Mrs. Susanne Read School, and is also a distinguished elergyman. Eckard was a woman of remarkable accomplish- Hon. George Read, (24), of Delaware, eldest surviving son of George Read, the signer, was born at New Castle the 17th of August, 1765, at the Read mansion. He married, on the 30th of October, 1786,' Mary Thompson, daughter of General William Thompson, a distinguished Revo- lutionary officer, at the latter's country seat, mar Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Thompson was Catharine Ross, the sister of Gertrude Ross, wife of George Read, The signer. George Read, (21 ). was an eminent jurist, and for nearly thirty years was United States district attorney of Delaware. Ile was the owner of large plantations in Missis- sippi. Ile died at the Read mansion on the 3d September, 1836, and was buried at Emmanuel ments and great wit, and figures, under the name of' Miss Rushbrook, in a novel entitled " Justina," by Mrs. Simeon De Witt, published in 1823. It is there said : "She keeps the most literary and the most fashionable society in Philadelphia. Her manners are charming, her conversation full of mind, and her heart is noble and benevolent." Mrs. Eckard was the anthor of the historical ae- count of " Washington delivering hi- Farewell Address." Mrs. Eckard died at Philadelphia the 3d day of December, 1861, leaving two distin- guished sons, -- i e., Dr. Frederick Eckard, and the Rev. Dr. James Read Eckard. The latter was born in Philadelphia on the 22d of November.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.

Church. He was a hand- me, dark-haired man, Grand Gulf, Mississippi, in February, 1847, and of rich complexion and courtly manners. His succeeded by will to the great plantation of Ross. portrait was painted by Wortnudler. He restored the Read mansion, and entertained Lafayette there most sumptuously on the latter's -round visit to America. mere, which was much damaged by the Union army during the War of the Rebellion, He mar ried Susan Salmon, of Lynchburg, Virginia. 11. is also a successful cotton-planter, and a gu- tleman of great refinement and varied cultun Ili- eldest son, George Read (6th ), of Rossmere. died in infancy. Two children survive-Cleveland Read, born Ith July, I>>1, and Alice Read, born 15th of February, 1850. George Read, (5th) ut Rossmere, had -even brothers and sisters ; all dies without issue during the lifetime of their father. except one sister and William Thompson Read. born at Rossmere, 7th October, 1857, married, 7th January, 1879, Jono Saunders, of Chicot County. and has William Thompson Read, born at Ro- mere 20 of April, 1850, and Earl Read, born 15th July, 1883. Mr. W. T. Read is a large and successful planter. The only surviving sister ot George Read (5th), and William Thompson Read i- Marion Read, who was born at Rossmere on the 3d of February, 1553 ; married, 10th November. 1880, F. M. Carlton, Esq., of King and Queen County, Virginia, and has George Read Carlton, born 9th July, 1883, and Marian Read Carlton, born August 1, Isst.

Hon. George Road (Md), of Delaware, son of George Read (20, of Delaware, was born in the Road mansion, at New Castle, Delaware, Jane 4, 1788, and married, the 19th of April, Isto, Louisa Ridgeley Dorsey, whose family resided near Baltimore, Maryland, her father being Dr. Nathan Dorsey, a surgeon in the Revolutionary navy, who afterwards became an eminent phy-i- cian in Philadelphia. After graduating at Prince- ton with honors, in 1806, he studied law with his father, and was called to the bar in Delaware. Distinguished as a lawyer, he was still more emi- nent as an advocate and remarkable for hi- con- versational power-, fine taste and extensive and varied literary attainments. Frank, generous, benevolent, gentle and unassuming in manner, it was said of him that the general regard that his many admirable qualities attracted was only sur- passed by the warm attachment, much more than any man we have known, which he elicited from his immediate friends. His father had occupied for many years the post of United States district attorney, and he also filled that office with ability during the administrations of three of our Presi- dents. George Read (Gdy, died at the family mansion, in New Castle, on the Ist of November. 1837, and on the eve of his nomination to the United States Senate. He had constantly refused the highest state and national offices.

George Read, (4th , son of George Read (1), of Delaware, was born at New Castle, loth Oct., 1812 ; married, in 1>41, Susan Chapman, of Vir- ginia, and died in August, 1859, forty seven years of age at Rossmere, near Columbia, Arkansas. He showed carly aptitude for business, and was trained in the counting house of an eminent firm in Baltimore. In company with his grandfather, George Read, (20, he purchased a cotton plan- tation of several thousand acres in Chicot County, Arkansas, on the border- of Louisiana, which grew under his masterly touch into one of the great representative plantations of the South. He took an active part in the organization of a parish in his neighborhood, where his kindness and generosity made him the object of warm affection. He died in the communion of the Episcopal Church, of which he was a prominent member, like all of his family. He was characterized by sound judgment, foresight and energy. He was most ta-tidiously refined, a man of medium height, of handsome face and carriage.

George Read (5th), of Arkansas, ellest son of George Read (4th), of Delaware, was born at

William Thomp-on Read, son of George Read (21), of Delaware, was born in the Read man- sion, at New Castle, on the 22d of August, 1792. and was baptized the 16th of September following at Emmamiel Church. He graduated at Prince- ton in 1816, studied law with his father and was called to the bar in Delaware. He resided at Wash- ington for some year-, and was at the head of one of the government departments, and became later secretary of the legation of the United States to Buenos Ayres, and a Senator of Delaware. Ile was also Grand Master of Masons of Delaware. and one of the founders of the Historical Society of Delaware. He was a man of great culture. an ardent churchman, and highly respected in all relations through life. He was the author of a life of his grandfather, George Read, the signer. He died in his man-ion at New Castle on the 27th of January, 1973, having married Sally Latimer Thomas, who pre-deceased him. He left no issue. His brothers, Gunning Bedford Read and Charles Henry Read, both lawyer- of great promise, died mumarried. His sister, Catherine Anne Road, who was born in 1791, in the Read mansion at New Castle, and died there in 1826; married, on the 18th of June, 1812, Dr. Allen MeLane, of Wilmington, son of Colonel Allen MeLane, of the Revolutionary army, and brother of the Hon. Lewis MeLane, Secretary of State of the United States, and uncle of the Hon. Robert M. MeLane, I'nited States Minister to France.

William Read, first lieutenant of the United

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States army, born the 24th of April, 1823, at the buried at Governer's Island, New York, leaving family man-ion, New Castle, Delaware, was hap- tic issue. tized on the 4th of April, 1-24, at Emmanuel Church, New Castle. He was the son of the Hon. George Read (Gd), of Delaware, and Louisa Ridgely Dorsey, his wife. He was appointed from Delaware a cadet at West Point the 1st of July, 1540; promoted to be second brevet lieutenant in the Sixth Infantry; served with distinction in the war with Mexico; was made second lieutenant of the Fifth Infantry in 1846, and first lieuten- ant of the same regiment in 1847; resigned 21st of July, 1850. Ile was Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy in the Kentucky Mili- tary Institute from 1851 to 1853: assistant exam- iner of patents at Washington from 1855 to 1:61. and a planter in Montgomery County, Maryland, from 1861 until his death in 1884. He married M. E. Beale, the granddaughter of Commodore Truxton, of the United States navy.

J. Dorsey Read, a graduate of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, was a lieutenant in the United States navy. He died in 1858. Married Maria Chapman, of Virginia, but left no deseend- ants. He was the third son of the Hon. George Read (3d), of Delaware, and Louisa Ridgely Dorsey, his wife.

Marian Murray Read, born at the Read Man- H. Rodney, of New Castle, a great grand-nephew sion, New Castle, Delaware, was baptized on the of the Hon. Caesar Rodney, a signer of the Declar- ation of Independence, and has six sons and one oth of May, 1811, aged three months, at Emmanuel Church, New Castle; was the eldest daughter of daughter. the Hon. George Read (Bd), of Delaware and Caroline E. Reeves married Wm. S. Potter, Esq., a planter in Cecil County, Maryland, and has two sons and five daughters. Louisa Ridgely Dorsey, his wife. She married James G. Martin, E-q., of North Carolina, a graduate of West Point, who attained the rank of major in the United States army, and became a major general in the Confederate army. James G. Martin, eldest son of James G. Martin, of North Carolina, was counselor-at-law, Ashe- ville, North Carolina. He married Annie Davis.

Elizabeth Stark Murray Martin was the ellest daughter of James G. Martin, of North Carolina. She married William Bruce, Esq., counselor-at- law, Norfolk, Virginia.

Annie Hollingsworth Martin was the second daughter of James G. Martin, of North Carolina. She died unmarried.

Marian Martin, the youngest daughter of James G. Martin, Esq,,of North Carolina, was married to Samuel Tennent, Esq., planter, Asheville, North Carolina.

Hon. George Read (3d), and Louisa Ridgely Dar- sey, his wife, was married to Colonel B. K. Pierce, of the United States army, brother of General Franklin Pierce, President of the United States. lle commanded at Governor's I-land at the time of his wife's death, which occurred in 1840. She was

Annie Dorsey Read, third daughter of the Hon. George Read (30), and Louisa Ridgely Dorsey, his wife, born at the family mansion, New Castle, Delaware, was baptized on the zd of August, 131, then aged three weeks, at Emmanuel Church, New Castle. The pourried Major Istae A. Keiter Reeves, of the I united States any, who was born in New York. He was appointed a cadet from New York to West Point in 1831, graduated in 1835, served with distinction in the Florida War, and attainsi the rank of major. He died prior to the Rebellion. Mes Major Reeves resides in one of the old Read mansions at New Castle, Delaware and has the following children, Keiter Reeves, only son an engineer in the United States navy, who married Henrietta Young and has two children .- Keiter Reeves and Marian Reeves; Marian Legere Reeves, a well-known authoress, who has written under the nom de plume of Fadette, the following novels, " Ingemisco," " Randolph Honour " and " Wearie Thorne," and in connection with her aunt Miss Emily Read, of New Castle, has published " Old Martin Boseawen's Jest."

Annie Dorsey Reeves married the IIon. John

Caroline Read, fourth daughter of Hon. George Read (3d), of Delaware, and Louisa Ridgely Dorsey, his wife, born at the family mansion, New Castle, Delaware, was baptized on the 22d of July, 1820, at Emmanuel Church, New Castle. She married, on the 31st of March, 1840, Major- General William II. French, of the United States army, a graduate of West Point in 1837, a dis- tinguished officer of the United States army during the Rebellion. Ile was born on the 3d of January, 1815, at Baltimore, Maryland. He re- tired in July, 1880, as Colonel of the 4th Artillery, with rank of major-general. Hedied on the 20th of May, 1881, at Washington. Ilis wife, Caroline Road, died on the 20th of September, 1884, at Blue Ridge Sunnit, Franklin County, Pennsyl- vania. They left the following isste :

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History of Delaware : 1609-1888, Part 45

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia : L. J. Richards Number of Pages: 776

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : L. J. Richards
Number of Pages: 776