USA > Delaware > History of Delaware : 1609-1888 > Part 48
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** In testimony whereof, we have hereuntu set out hands, at New Ca- tle, the twenty.hist day of september, Annoque Ibanim, 1763.
" Evan Hire, Thomas cook, Witham Arm-nong, George Monto, John
Somelar certificates, in solestance, were signed by the member of the General Acermbly trom Kent and Sussex, as the Asemidy could not two convened in tune, as a body, to take action. The exititu ale trone Kent was signed by John Vimiz, John Caton, Julin Baths, William Killen and Vincent Low kerman That from Silver l'anty was signed by Dave Hill, Benjamin Boston, Levin Crapper, Thomas Robinson, Jacob luilock, Ji.
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DELAWARE DURING THE REVOLUTION.
1777, chief justice of Pennsylvania for twenty-two years, each State claiming him as her own. In Con- gress his work was important and multifarious. He was a member of the committee to state the rights of the colonies, the secret committee to contract for the importation of arms and ammunition, and the committee on the confederation of the colonies When George Read refused to vote for the Deela- ration of Independence, Mr. MeKean sent a mes- senger to Delaware to summon Corsar Rodney in order that the affirmative vote of the State might be cast, and the obstruction offered by Mr. Read was overcome. Mr. MeKean was at that time colonel of a regiment of Associators in Philadel- phia, with which he served in the Flying Camp for the remainder of the summer of 1776. In Octo- ber he was elected a member of the Delaware Con- vention, and Robert Waln, Jr., author of the " Biographies of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence," relates that on his arrival at Dover " a committee of gentlemen waited on him and re- quested that he wouldl prepare a Constitution for the future government of the State. To this he consented. He retired to his room in the tavern, sat up all the night, and having prepared it with- out a book or any assistance whatever, presented it at 10 o'clock next morning to the House, when it was unanimously adopted." In 1777 he acted in the double capacity of President of Delaware and chief justice of Pennsylvania. On July 10, 1781, he was chosen president of Congress, which office he resigned on October 23d, but at the re- quest of Congress served until Nov. 5th. A storm of opposition was aroused to his holding two or more offices at the same time, but he continued in the discharge of his duties. He was chief justice of Pennsylvania until 1799, when he was elected Governor of the State, a success which opened the way for the accession of Mr. Jefferson to the Pres- idency, of whom he was a warm supporter. In January, 1808, an unsuccessful attempt was made to impeach him. It would have been possible for him in 1803 to become the candidate of the Repub- lican party for Vice-President, but he refused to permit the use of his name. After retiring from the Governorship of Pennsylvania, at the close of
Cæ-ar Rodney, born at Dover in 1730, wa> descended from the ancient English family of De Rodeney, who trace their lineage back to the thirteenth century. The earliest record of the family is found in an ancient book belonging to the Cathedral of Wells, in which the name of De Rodeney is mentioned in connection with the founding of that church, three hundred years be- fore the Norman Conquest. Rodeney Stoke was then their residence. A small river in Wales is called " Abba Rodeney," in memory of one Sir
Richard De Rodeney, who, with his son Richard, was slain there in 1234 by Leolin, Prince of Wales Another Sir Richard de Rodeney accom- panied Richard, Coeur de Lion, to the Holy Land, and was killed at the siege of Acre. Sir Walter De Rodeney was knighted in the great hall of the Abbey of Rain-ham, county of Somerset, in the second year of Edward H. " Margaret Rodeney married Thomas Burdett, of Arrow, who was be- headed in the 17th year of Edward IV. for words spoken concerning a white buck." It is elsewhere told that the King, while hunting in Burdett's forest, shot this buck, which was much valued by its owner, who said in great anger " he would that
the horns of the buck were down the throat of him who killed it." For many generations the family was possessed of vast estates in Somersetshire, most 1808, he held no further public position, and died of which were lost in the wars of the Common- June 24, 1817.
wealth, and soon after Penn's settlement in Amer- ica, William Rodeney came over and selected a new home in Kent County. Dying in 1708, he left a son Caesar, wbo married the daughter of Rev. Thomas Crawford and became the father of the Revolutionary statesman and soldier. The latter inherited the large property of his ancestors, and in 1758 was chosen high sheriff of Kent, which county be represented in the Assembly of 1762-63, that began the revolutionary movement in Dela- ware. He was appointed a delegate to the Gen- eral Congress of the provinces, and in 1766, in con-
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.
junetion with George Read and Thomas MeKean, spection, and in JJanuary, 1777, made a visit to the Delaware regiment in camp at Morristown, New Jersey, for the purpose of giving them encourage- ment and ameliorating their hardships. While there are -no records of the fact, all the circum- stances indicate that on this, as on other occasions, he drew liberally upon his private funds to furnish the starving and ragged soldiers with clothing and provisions. He remained with the army nearly two months, performing the duties of brigadier- general, and even after the enlistment of the Delaware troops had expired, he offered his ser- vices in any capacity to General Washington, who spoke in high appreciation of him, but declined to longer detain him from his home affairs. He re- fused an appointment as one of the judges of the Supreme Court, which had just been organized, and by retaining his military office was enabled to suppress a Tory insurrection in Sussex. When, in the autumn of 1777, the British landed upon the shores of the Delaware, and Washington's headquarters were in the northern part of the state, Rodney hastened to his aid with all the troops he could collect in Kent, and endeavored, though with but partial >necess, to take with him the militia of New Castle County. By directions of Washington, he placed himself south of the main army, so as to watch the movements of the British, and, if possible, cut them off from their fleet. On December 17th he was called to take his seat in Congress, but determined to remain in Delaware in order to counteract the insidious work of the Tory party. He was not destined to re-appear in Congress, for in a few days he was elected President of Delaware, which he retained about four years. The correspondence of Wash- ington during this period shows how often he turned to President Rodney for military supplies, and with what [energy the latter collected cattle and stores for the army. In 1782 he declined a re-election to the Presidential office, and although in that year and the next he was chosen delegate to Congress, his illness kept him at home. The cancerous eruption had so spread over his face that he was obliged to cover it with a screen. He died June 29, 1784 ( as some authorities give it, although it is believed the date is not precisely known), and was buried in an open field on Par- dee's farm, in Jones' Neck,abont four miles from Dover. A rough stone, with his name inscribed thereon, is the only mark of his grave, but at the present time (Dee., 1887) a plan is being formed by the young men of Dover to remove the re- mains to one of the publie squares of the State capital and ereet over them an appropriate monu- ment. framed the address to the King thanking him for the repeal of the Stamp Act. During the next two years Rodeney, (now spelt Rodney ) was a member of the Legislature, and brought in the proposition, which was defeated, to forbid the further importation of slaves into the province. When the new aggres- sions of Great Britain overthrew the expectations of safety in which the colonies had indulged, Rod- ney, again in consort with MeKean and Read, wrote that address to the crown in which armed resistance to tyranny was foreshadowed. He was suffering at this time from the cancer which spread over one side of his face and ultimately caused his death. Philadelphia physicians, to whom he had resorted for aid, concurred with the members of his family in advising him to go to Europe for medi- cal treatment, and the only thing that prevented him from doing so was his consciousness that a great erisis was upon America, and that he was needed at home. It was hardly as well known then as it is now that cancer of the face is ineura- ble, and Mr. Rodney's refusal to absent himself from his imperiled country for any personal con- siderations affords an index to his heroic character. When the Assembly met in October, 1769, he was chosen Speaker, an office which he retained for several years, and he was also chairman of the Committee of Correspondence and Communication with the other colonies. The convention that as- sembled at New Castle on August 1, 1774, made him a delegate to the Continental Congress, in which he was appointed a member of the com- mittee instructed to state the rights of the colonies and the means for obtaining a restoration of them. The Delaware Assembly, in March, 1775, re- elected him to the next Congress and conferred upon him the office of brigadier-general. In the succeeding spring and summer his attention was divided between the affairs of Congress and the organization of the Delaware militia. He was absent in the lower counties of Delaware om the latter business while the question of separation from Great Britain was being agitated in Congress, and, being summoned by a special messenger from Mr. MeKean, arrived in Philadelphia just in time to give his vote in favor of the Declaration of In- dependence. He was so sick a man at the time, that John Adams thus described him : " Casar Rodney is the oddest-looking man in the world ; he is tall, thin and slender and pale; his face is not bigger than a large apple, yet there is sense and fire, spirit, wit and humor in his eounte- nance." In spite of his being one of the signers of the Declaration, the Delaware Convention, in the autumn of 1776, which was controlled by the Tory and conservative clement, refused to re-elect Win. Rodeney, the pioneer of the Rodney family him to Congress, but he continued to be a member in Delaware, came to America with William Penn. of the Council of Safety and Committee of In- He lived in Philadelphia from 1682 to 1690 and
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then settled in Dover. He was Speaker of the infringement of the liberties of the colonies by first Delaware Legislature, and died in 1708. In Great Britain. In his " Address to the Committeee 1688 Mr. Rodeney married Mary Hollyman, of of Correspondence in Barbadoes," which had Philadelphia, who died in 1690, leaving one son, William. In 1693 Mr. Rodeney married. Sarah Jones, daughter of Daniel Jones, of Sussex County, and their only child was Casar Rodeney, who married Mary, daughter of Rev. Thomas Crawford. Casar Rodeney was the father of the American patriot Casar Rodney and Col. Thomas Rodney, also a participant in the memorable struggle for independence.
Col. Thomas Rodney, son of Casar Rodney, was born in Sussex County, June 4, 1744. He was a delegate from Delaware to the Continental Con- gress from 1781-83 and 1785->7. He was also a member of the "Council of Safety;" of the General Assembly for several terms; judge of the Courts of Admiralty and Common Pleas; colonel in the Delaware militia, and rendered important services to the Continental army during the Revo- lutionary War. He was appointed United States Judge of Mississippi Territory in 1802, until his death, January 2, 1811.
Thomas MrKean Rodney was born in Wilming- ton Sept. 11, 1800, and died April 24, 1874, at his residence in his native city. He was a son of Caesar A. Rodney and was a eadet at West Point early in life, but resigned his commission to adopt the profession of law. In 1823 he was secretary of the American legation at Buenos Ayres (his father being minister), and he was subsequently consul-general at Havana, and at Matanzas, Cuba. He was a Republican Presidential elector in 1856, and the following year was a member of the Legis- lature. IIe was collector of customs from 1861 to 1866.
Governor Daniel Rodney was born in Lewes, Sept. 10, 1764, and while still in his minority had charge of a sailing vessel on the Delaware, becom- ing on two different occasions a prisoner of war. He afterward served as judge of the Court of Common Pleas for a number of years, and in 1809 was a Presidential elector. From 1814 to 1817 he served as Governor, and as a member of Congress in 1822-23. Ile was also elected to the United States Senate in 1826-27. Governor Rodney married the daughter of Major Henry Fisher, or Lewes, and died on Sept. 2, 1846.
HIon. John Dickinson, eminent as a writer on political topics and as a Delaware statesman, was born in Maryland, Nov. 13, 1732, and died in Wilmington, Feby. 14, 180s. His father was Judge Samuel Dickinson, of Dover. John Dick- inson studied law in Philadelphia, and at the Temple, London, and practiced successfully in Philadelphia. He was elected to the General Assembly of Pennsylvania in 1764, and became well known by his publications on the attempted
censured the northern colonies for their opposition of the Stamp Net, he made a masterly defense of the colonies. This address was published in Phila- delphia in 1766. He was a deputy to the First Colonial Congress in 1765, and drew up its resolu- tions. In 1767 his " Farmer's Letters to the in- habitants of the British Colonies" attracted much attention. They were republished in London with a preface by Dr. Franklin, and afterwards in French in Paris. In 1774 he published his
" Essay on the Constitutional Power of Great Britain over the Colonies in America." The same year he was a member of the First Continental Congress, from Delaware, and wrote " the Address to the Inhabitants of tQuebec," "the Declaration to the armies," the two petitions to the King, and " the Address to the States," all of which are im- portant State papers. He opposed the Declaration of Independence, deeming it premature, and did not sign it. In consequence of this action he was for a time absent from public life. In October, 1777, he was made brigadier-general of the Penn- sylvania militia, having previously served in the Continental army as a private. In 1779 he returned to Congress ffom Delaware. From 1781
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to 1785 he was President of Delaware and Penn- sylvania successively, and a member of the con- struggle. vention which framed the Federal Constitution. In 1788 he published his " Fabius " letters advo- cating the adoption of the new Constitution, and
another series of " Fabius" letters in 1797 on the the State -- moral and material -in aid of the relations of the United States with France, com- prised his last work of this character. He was a member of the Delaware Constitutional Convention of 1792. The political essays of Mr. Dickinson were published in two volumes in 1801. He and of the formation of the Federal Constitution.
founded the Dickinson College at Carlisle, Pa , and endowed it liberally. Mr. Dickinson was married July 19, 1770, to Mary, daughter of Isaac Norris, of Fair Hill, Pa., and two daughters survived him. Governor Dickinson's last residence in Wilmington was at the northwest corner of 9th and Market Street. The site is now occupied by the Wilmington Institute building. The Dickin- son mansion was owned by Richard H. Bayard
JOHN DICKINSON'S MANSION.
for many years. He lived in it when a member of the United States Senate.
General Philemon Dickinson, a daring officer of the Revolutionary army, was born near. Dover, April 5, 1739. He was educated under Dr. Alli- son, in Philadelphia, and became a small farmer near Trenton, N. J. In 1775 he entered the army and was placed in command of the New Jersey militia. With a force of only four hundred men, he attacked and defeated a large foraging party of the enemy on January 21, 1777. He commanded the militia at the battle of Monmouth. General Diekin-on represented Delaware in 1782-83 in the Continental Congress, and in 1784 was a member of the commission to select a site for the national capital. From 1790 to 1793 he was a United States Senator. He died near Trenton, Feb. 4, 1809.
Recently-published minutes of the Executive Council of Delaware, throughout the War for In- dependence, 1776-83, exhibit remarkably the un- faltering devotion and intelligent courage of her
rulers and citizens throughout that eventful
In all these events appears the name of a quiet and most efficient actor, who was Richard Bassett. who seems to have unceasingly pre-sed the forces of " Rebellion," and in 1785 was present at the An- napolis Convention as a delegate from Delaware, when and where the impetus was lent which led to the Continental Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia,
While the fate of the proceedings of the Con- stitutional Convention was surrounded by doubt, and the Union was hanging loosely together with it> " ropes of sand," Delaware, under the active lead of Mr. Bassett, hastened in 1787 to lead the way to the adoption of the new government by her unanimous adhesion to the new Constitution ou December 7th of that year.
The importance of this act of decision at this juncture can hardly be over-stated, and to appre- ciate its character and value it is only necessary to contrast it with the hesitation and dilatory action of most of the other larger States, such as Virginia and New York, not to mention North Carolina and Rhode Island, who joined the Union so reluctantly and slowly.
Mr. Bassett went at once into the United States Senate, and when the new government had gotten fairly under way, resigned and re- turned home to Delaware, having served from 17>9 to 1793. While in the Senate he was the first man who cast his vote for loeating the seat of government on the Potomae. He was a Presidential elector in 1797, and Gov- ernor of Delaware from 1798 to 1801. He served as chief justice of the United States District Court in 1801 and 1802. He was an eminent statesman and lawyer and a prominent member of the Methodist Church. His affluent circumstances enabled him to entertain extensively at his residences in Wilmington, Dover and Bohemia. He died in September, 1815. His daughter was the wife of the distinguished states- man, Hon. James A. Bavard.
Shepherd Kollock, a distinguished Delawarean, Revolutionary officer and journalist, was born in Lewiston in 1750 and died in Philadelphia July 28, 1839. He was commissioned a lieutenant early in the struggle for American independence, and was engaged at the battles of Trenton, Fort Lee, Short Hills and others. He resigned in 1779 and started the New Jersey JJournal at Chatham. He removed to New York in 1583 and established the New York Gazette; from thence he went to Elizabethtown in 1787, and revived the New Jersey Journal and con- ducted it for thirty-one years. lle was judge of Common Pleas thirty-four years and post master of Elizabeth until 1829:
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George Ross, an earnest American patriot and signer of the Declaration of Independence from Pennsylvania, was born in New Castle in 1780. He was educated by his father, who was pastor of the Episcopal Church of New Castle, and studied law in Philadelphia. In 1751 be located in Lan- caster and was a member of the Pennsylvania Gen- eral Assembly in 1760-70. In 1774 he was elected to the First General Congress at Philadelphia and was charged with the duty of reporting to the As- sembly instructions for himself and associates. The following year, in reply to Governor Penn's mes sage, he drew up a report advising against any ac- tion on the part of the colony. He also wrote a report on measures necessary to put the city of Philadelphia and the colony in a state of defense. After signing the Declaration of Independence he was compelled. in 1777, to resign his seat in Con- gress. He deeliued a plate testimonial from the people of Lancaster. Mr. Ross was delegate to prepare a declaration of rights by the convention which assembled after the proprietary government was dissolved. He was a successful mediator with the Indians and was appointed a judge of the Ad- miralty Court in 1779. He died in Lancaster in July, 1799.
General Thomas Collins, a prominent figure in the history of Delaware, particularly at the time of the Revolutionary War, was born in 1732. In his early career he was high sheriff of Kent County and member of the General Assembly. He was a member of the Council of Safety in 1776 and was made brigadier-general of militia from 1776 to 1783. During his active labors in this position he expe- rieneed a rigorons campaign in 1777 in New Jersey, and later harassed Sir Wm. Howe's army in its passage through New Castle County. He was a member of the new Constitutional Convention, chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and President of the State from 1786 to 1789. General Collins died near Duck Creek, Kent County, March 29, 1789.
Hon. Nathaniel Mitchell was one of the early representatives of Delaware in the legislative branch of the national government. He served as delegate to the Continental Congress from this State from 1786 to 1788
Governor Bedford Gunning, who died in 1797, younger daughter of Colonel Hlaslett. The only
was lieutenant-colonel in the Revolutionary army. and after the declaration of peace was attorney- general of the State, member of the Legislature, and represented Delaware in the Continental Con- gress from 1783 to 1787. He was elected executive of the State in 1796. Ile was also a member of the National Constitutional Convention in 1787. After leaving the gubernatorial chair he was ap- pointed by Washington the first judge of the United States District Court for Delaware.
Major John Patten, of Revolutionary fame, was born in Kent County April 26, 1746. He was a
farmer and at the beginning of the Revolution was commissioned first lieutenant of Captain Caldwell's company, in the First Delaware Regiment. Upon the reorganization of the regiment, after the battle of Princeton, Captain Patten's company was the first to re-enlist for the war. Owing to the severe wound received by Colonel Hall at the battle of German- town, causing him permanently to retire from the command of the regiment, there were several changes in the tield officers. Captain Patten be- eame major by seniority. Major Patten partiei- pated in all the battles of the war from Long Island to Candden. in all of which his command received the highest praise. At the latter hattle Major Patten was taken prisoner and sent to Charleston. Hle was released on parole, and it is said walked almost the whole distance from Charleston to his home in Delaware. fle did not secure his exchange in time to enter into active service before the sur- render of Cornwallis at Yorktown, in October, 1781 After the elose of the war he resumed his occu- pation of farming, but his fellow-citizens did not permit him to remain long in retirement from pub- lic affairs. He was a member of the Legislature from Kent under the first State Constitution, a del- egate to the Continental Congress from Delaware in 1785-86 and was elected to the Congress of the United States in 1792 and again in 1794. His seat in the Third Congress was successfully contested by his opponent, Henry Latimer, on the ground of a technical irregularity, and although the major had received a majority of the votes cast, he was obliged to retire. He was returned to the Fourth Congress and took his seat without further oppo- sition. He died at Tynhead Court, near Dover, December 26, 1800. Major Patten, in the latter part of his life, resided for some portion of the year in Wilmington, in a substantial three-storied briek house, which he had built on the north side of Front Street, between Orange and Tatnall Streets, and which is still standing. His portrait, which was painted by Peale, represents him in his uniform of major. The features are regular, the complexion florid, with dark eyes and hair, and the whole ex- pression is indieative of intelligence and firmness. He was twice married,-first to Miss Ann, the child by this marriage died in infancy, and the mother did not long survive. His second wife was Mrs. Mary Lockerman, the widow of Vincent Loekerman, the younger, and daughter of Rev. John Miller, both of Kent County She survived the major only three months, and was buried by his side in the Presbyterian church-yard at Dover, where a modest tomb still marks their resting- place. The only two children of this last marriage were Ann, who married John Wales, and died No- vember 10, 1843, and Joseph Miller, who died. unmarried, December 11, 1887.
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