USA > Delaware > History of the state of Delaware, Volume III > Part 15
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CHARLES B. LORE.
The present Chief Justice of Delaware, Charles Brown Lore, was born in Odessa, Delaware, March 16, 1831. Both his parents were descended from families which settled in Cum- berland County, New Jersey, in the seventeenth century. His father, Eldad Lore, who was engaged in farming and in the lumber business, was a man of most estimable character, kind and charitable to the poor, and died in 1850. His son, Charles, after attending the village common schools, entered Dickinson College in 1848 and in four years graduated with the honors of his class. For a short time thereafter he read
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law in the office of Judge John K. Findley of Philadelphia ; and upon his return to Delaware, was elected clerk of the House of Representatives, and again in the session of 1856-7. He then joined the M. E. Conference on trial and was sent to the Princess Anne Circuit on the eastern shore of Maryland. One year in the Methodist itinerancy sufficing him, he resumed his law studies in the office of Chancellor Bates at Wilming- ton, and was admitted to the bar in 1861.
He was a candidate for the legislature on the Democratic ticket that same year, but shared the defeat which overtook the whole ticket. Governor Burton appointed him commis- sioner of the draft to raise troops for the Union army in 1862, and he canvassed New Castle County for that purpose. In 1869 Governor Gove Saulsbury appointed him Attorney- General for five years, and during his tenure of office he tried a number of important cases, which aroused great attention throughout the State. Among others, Goldsborough, for murdering Charles Marsh, who after conviction and sentence escaped to the south. Another criminal case which acquired even greater notoriety was that of Dr. Isaac C. West, charged with killing and skinning a negro named Turner, and with attempting to have the half-burnt corpse palmed off for his own, in order that his wife might collect the heavy life-insur- ance policies he carried. West escaped conviction after a highly sensational trial, during which the whole gruesome story was brought out, and the famous reply of the defendant became current, " You never had a dead nigger on your hands !"
Attorney-General Lore won a notable victory in convicting the four professional cracksmen who, in 1873, assaulted the family of the cashier and tried to rob the National Bank of Delaware in Wilmington. These gentlemanly rogues got a taste of Delaware justice which neither they nor any of their yegging craft will ever forget, being set in the stocks, soundly whipped and then sent to prison for five years. In this case, as in all the rest, Mr. Lore was called upon to meet the very ablest lawyers at the bar as counsel for these various defend-
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niits. While his office of public prosecutor gave him a wide acquaintance with the criminal side of the practice of law, and greatly enhanced his reputation as a strong trial lawyer, in every way thoroughly equipped for the forum, yet it is upon the civil side of the law, with its many learned and difficult questions of a constitutional statutory character, questions of law proper rather than those of fact, that he has achieved the distinction. Mr. Lore has carried to a successful issue a number of important suits involving just such nice questions of constitutional law, as for example, the disputes between Delaware and New Jersey relative to their water boundaries, affecting the fishing rights of their people. His skill in pre- senting cases to juries, clearly, forcibly and eloquently, has also contributed to make him quite as successful in civil as in criminal cases, and brought him before his elevation to the wool-sack, a large practice.
Mr. Lore has always been a Democrat, and in the cabinet and on the stump, has always enthusiastically supported the principles of that political belief both in the State and Na- tional issues. He was elected to Congress in 1882 by about two thousand majority over Washington Hastings, and re- elected by a majority of four thousand votes, the largest majority ever given in this State in an election actually con- tested. While a member of the Forty-eighth Congress he served on the Committee on Claims, and on the Special Com- mittee on American Ship Building and Ship Owning Inter- ests ; and in the Forty-ninth, he did valuable service on the Committee on Expenditures of the Department of State and Naval Affairs. His painstaking and conscientious examina- tion of all the subjects he touched, either in debate or in the committee rooms, together with his legal knowledge and train- ing, brought him reputation as a useful, able member. His carefully prepared and earnestly delivered speeches added to his influence and helped the passage of pending legislation.
Among his most effective efforts on the floor of Congress may be mentioned his address on the Consular and Diplomatie
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Appropriations, one favoring the Dual Standard of gold and silver; one on the Reclamation of the Oregon and Central Railroad land-grant; and another of much importance, the plan of Secretary Whitney for consolidating the Naval Bu- reaus, which last measure he so convincingly opposed as to de- feat it, and to secure the retention of the old system. Mr. Lore not only achieved a signal personal triumph herein, but con- ferred likewise a great benefit upon the public service. In this wise and courageous course he antagonized the majority of his committee, the Secretary of the Navy, and the leading spirits of his own party ; but his view was sustained in the House after his strong and luminous presentation of the facts; and time has vindicated his wisdom.
Upon the resignation of Hon. Thomas F. Bayard from the Senate to enter President Cleveland's Cabinet, Mr. Lore's name was urged by his friends for that vacancy, and but for an un- expected defection of one vote, he would have been chosen over Mr. Gray who won by a majority of one. And at the election for the full term, his name was again put forward by his partisans, and a heated contest ensued which threatened a serious breach in party lines, whereupon Mr. Lore magnani- mously withdrew in the interests of party harmony.
Upon the death of Chief Justice Robinson Mr. Lore was ap- pointed his successor for life, March 21, 1893, but under the new Constitution was re-appointed June 10, 1897, for the statu- tory period of twelve years. When in active practice Mr. Lore's office was always filled with students, thirty or more having graduated from under his care, to become, many of them, among the ablest members of the Bar. After his first election to Congress Mr. Lore formed a partnership with Harry Emmons, Esq., which continued until he went on the bench. Judge Lore was married in 1862 to Rebecca A., daughter of Joseph Bates, a Friend, of Mount Holly, N. J .; they have one child, Miss Emma Lore. Judge Lore has always taken a prominent part in the affairs of the M. E. Church, on the Peninsula and in the nation at large, being
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frequently sent as a delegate to the General Conferences of that denomination. He was one of the incorporators of the " Home for Friendless Children" in Wilmington, and for many years a member of its Board of Trustees. He was elected a trustee of Delaware College in 1867, and has served as presi- dent of the board for many years.
SKETCHES OF ASSOCIATE JUSTICES.
DAVID HAZZARD.
Under the constitution of 1831 in Delaware, as in New York and a number of other States, the Associate Justices were not required to be lawyers, but the appointment of Judge David Hazzard was the only instance in this State in the last century in which the appointee had not had a previous legal training and practice, though this custom, here and elsewhere, in the previous century, was common enough.
David Hazzard was born May 18, 1781, in Broadkiln Neck, Sussex County, Delaware, being well descended, both on his father's side, and also on his mother's. His father, Major John Hazzard, was a descendant of Coard Hazzard, who, ac- cording to family traditions, settled in that locality about the year 1700, coming from Virginia, whither, some years before, he had emigrated from England. He resided near Milton, and in 1794 received from Governor Joshua Clayton a com- mission as major of the militia of the State, for which position he was well fitted by reason of his services as a soldier in the war of the Revolution. When a young man he had taken holy orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church, but afterwards became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and one of the early Methodists in Delaware. Late in the eighteenth century Major Hazzard left his farm and went to Milton, where he engaged in mercantile and shipping enterprises and in ship building.
The maternal ancestors of Judge Hazzard, the Houstons, were descended from a French nobleman who went to Scot-
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land in 1160. Robert, Houston, one of his descendants, came to America in 1664, and was the father of Mary Houston, the wife of Major John Hazzard and mother of the Judge. Dur- ing the War of 1812 David Hazzard was an ensign in Captain Wright's company, and was afterwards made captain, and served in Delaware at Lewes. When quite a young man he was appointed Justice of the Peace, and displayed in that office the impartiality and sound judgment of riper years. He was elected Governor of Delaware in 1829, and his admin- istration of the executive functions, while marked by firmness and decision, was none the less characterized by a kindness that sought to mitigate, in meritorious cases, the harsh conse- quences of the laws.
As a merchant at Milton, he was noted for his kind and liberal dealings, especially with the unfortunate. In 1834 he was elected State Senator ; and in 1844 appointed an Associate Justice of the Superior Court, holding the office till his resig- nation in 1847. Although, like Andrew Jackson and Chief Justice James Booth, Sr., of this State, without the usual previous legal training, he nevertheless made a good judge, being the possessor, by nature, of a judicial mind and great talent, having had, moreover, the advantage of a long and varied experience in public affairs as Justice of the Peace, State Senator and Governor. He was chosen a member of the Convention that in 1852 was called to revise the State Constitution, but resigned.
Judge David Hazzard died July 8, 1864, in his eighty- fourth year. He was buried from the Methodist church at Milton of which he had been a faithful member since 1802. He was married, July 12, 1803, to Elizabeth, daughter of Captain John and Sarah (Houston) Collins, and had eight children, three daughters and five sons. Two of his sons, John Alexander Hazzard and David Hazzard, acquired con- siderable prominence in public life, the latter winning high distinction in the Civil War, entering the army in 1861 as a private, and rising to the position of captain in 1866 when he
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resigned, after having taken part in all the battles of the Army of the Potomac from Bull Run to Petersburg.
PETER ROBINSON.
Peter Robinson was born October 14, 1775, in Sussex Co., Delaware, and was a son of Thomas Robinson, the Loyalist. After reading law with Chancellor Ridgely he was admitted to practice April 23, 1799, and promptly rose to the leadership of the bar of Sussex County, and moreover, assumed a station among the foremost practitioners in the whole State. He be- came prominently identified with the politics of his day, and before his elevation to the bench, had been three time ap- pointed Secretary of State for Delaware.
His conceded ability and undoubted integrity won for him the respect even of his political antagonists. On January 3, 1832, he was appointed Associate Justice for Sussex County, and remained upon the bench until his death in 1836. He married his first cousin, Arcada, the daughter of his uncle, Peter Robinson, and of this union three children were born, Thomas Robinson, Jr., Alfred P. Robinson, and Mary Robin- son, afterwards wife of Judge Edward Wootten, deceased.
CALEB S. LAYTON.
About the year 1700, Tilghman Layton, Esq., an early rep- resentative of this old and influential family, came from Vir- ginia with a number of other families and settled in what is now North West Fork Hundred in Sussex County. Of his two sons, William and James, the former died in 1745, leav- ing three sons, Hewett, Lowder and Robert, the second, Lowder Layton, being the grandfather of Judge Caleb S. Layton. The Judge's father was also named Lowder, and was born August 21, 1770, and married Sarah, daughter of Caleb Sipple, Esq., of Kent County, living in Milford, and engaged in the mercantile business, a good man, and of great influence in his lifetime. He died June 26, 1849.
Of a family of nine children, the subject of this biography,
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Caleb S., was the oldest, and was born in the family home- stead, April 12, 1798. His father moving into Milford soon after his birth, he had the advantages of the excellent local schools, and received later a more advanced course of instruc- tion at the Philadelphia Grammar School. After finishing his education he engaged in business with his father. October 14, 1819, he married Penelope, the daughter of Governor Caleb and Elizabeth West Rodney, and the year after he was appointed Clerk of the Peace for Sussex County. Resigning this office in 1822, he began the study of law with Thomas Cooper, Esq., of Georgetown, then one of the leaders of the Sussex bar.
He served as Clerk of the Assembly in the Legislature of 1824-5, and, being admitted to the bar in 1826, immediately set himself diligently to work to build up a practice, which he soon achieved, and through his industry and character became noted as a learned and reliable counselor and a successful ad- vocate. He was elected a member of the Assembly in 1826 and re-elected for several terms thereafter, and in 1830 was chosen to the Senate. During the administration of Governor David Hazzard from 1830 to 1833 he served as Secretary of State, and in 1836 Governor Charles Polk re-appointed him. He was made Associate Justice of the Superior Court of Delaware in 1836, and ably sustained the duties and responsibilities of that high station until July, 1844, when, owing to the meager salary which the position afforded, he was compelled to resign, much to the regret of the bar and citizens of the State. Entering anew upon his private practice he added fresh laurels to his reputation as a lawyer.
From about the year 1825 until his death in 1882, in addition to his standing and prominence as lawyer and judge, he exer- cised a wide influence in politics, and labored with equal zeal and success in furthering the principles and power of the party of his choice. Early in his career he was ever found in the forefront of the Old Line Whig movement, and upon its natural merger in the late fifties into the Republican party,
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he transferred to that organization his ardent loyalty and zeal, and in those stirring times when new and big questions were in the throes of Titan birth, questions whose acceptance or rejection meant the life or death of the nation, Judge Layton was ever foremost among those patriotic Delawareans who threw their talents, their labors, their social and political influence into the struggle and turned the sometime quivering scale plump down for "The Union, one and inseparable of these States!" A forcible speaker in the hustings, a clear and accurate thinker when debating in any forum those live issues, he became in that crucial hour a mighty power for good, a recognized leader in the public affairs and politics of his State, and kept this primacy until his death.
To Judge Layton is assigned the high honor of being the author of the free school system of the State, for he introduced the bill which created it, and maintained always a warm interest in its success, fostering every effort or measure looking to the maintenance and improvement of Delaware's educa- tional, moral and religious institutions. To him also should be accorded another and yet loftier meed of praise, that of introducing, when a member of the Delaware Legislature, the first bill to abolish slavery that ennobles its annals.
For nearly fifty years he was a Christian, a consistent mem- ber of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and a liberal sup- porter of home and foreign evangelical work. It is an especi- ally grateful task to supplement the record of such a dis- tinguished public and professional career, with the many pleasing social and domestic virtues which adorned his pri- vate life. Judge Layton possessed to a large degree the rare and in a man, truly lovable, quality of amiability ; was of pleasing manners and polished address ; his conversation so intelligent and agreeable that his presence was everywhere socially welcomed, while at his own fireside his delightful ways and loving words made him with his own a very idol of affectionate esteem and reverence.
The wife of his youth was a noble Christian woman, posses-
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sing a character of rare excellence and goodness, and proved to her husband and a large family of nine children a devoted wife and mother. Dr. Joseph R. Layton, well-known through- out Delaware in his lifetime, was their oldest child; Col. Caleb R. Layton of the United States army, another son died August 20, 1887 ; Daniel J. Layton a third son is the oldest member of the Sussex County bar, and at present Register of Wills, and their daughter Penelope is the wife of Rev. John L. McKim, and Lavinia of Rev. George F. Plummer.
After the death of his first wife, Judge Layton married Ann, the daughter of Dr. William Morris of Dover, who sur- vived him four years. Erect and graceful in stature in his youth and manhood, he kept that carriage to a remarkable degree even in extreme old age. Finally, this truly noble man, to quote the eloquent words of the historian Scharf, " In the ripeness of advanced age, passed away after a brief illness, October 3, 1882, leaving behind him the fragrant memory of a well spent life."
JAMES R. BLACK.
James R. Black was born in Newark, Delaware, in 1785. After being educated in the academy of his native town, he attended Dickinson College, from which institution he was duly graduated. He thereupon entered the law office of Hon. George Read, Jr., son of the Signer, and after studying law under that preceptor, was admitted to the bar of New Castle County, at the November Term 1806. Opening a law office, his fine talents, marked industry and upright character speedily won for him a large clientele and at length placed him among the first counselors of his time.
Upon the re-organization of the Court in 1832, he, together with the Hon. Samuel M. Harrington and the Hon. Peter Robinson, was appointed an Associate Justice, and kept his seat on the bench until his death September 3, 1839. Judge Black was highly esteemed in his official position not less than as lawyer and private citizen. Two days after his death,
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the bar of New Castle County held a meeting, and adopted the following resolution :
Resolved, That in the death of James R. Black, one of the Associate Justices of this State, we recognize a public misfortune which we individually and as members of the legal profession must peculiarly feel and deplore; regarding the sad event not only as the loss of a friend whose character in private life justly endeared him to the whole community, but of a judge whose sound legal learn- ing, uncompromising integrity, and faithful discharge of duty, gave inestimable value to his official labors, and adorned and dignified his station.
JOHN J. MILLIGAN.
John J. Milligan was born December 10, 1795, in the paternal homestead on Bohemia Manor, Cecil County, Mary- land. His grandfather George Milligan, who came from Ayre- shire, Scotland, settled in Maryland about 1750, and his father Robert Milligan was educated at the University of Saint Andrew's in Scotland, and read law in the Middle Temple, London. Returning to America, he was admitted to the Bar at Annapolis, Maryland, though residing chiefly at his home in Bohemia. He married a daughter of John Jones, Esq., whose estate was near Cantwell's Bridge, now Odessa ; his wife's mother was Lydia Cantwell, a direct descendant of the Quaker martyr, Mary Dyer.
When Judge Milligan was a lad, his father bought a house in Wilmington for a temporary residence to escape the malarial fevers of his country place on the Manor, but dying shortly thereafter, the family continued to live in Wilmington, where the educational advantages were superior to those in Bohemia. Young Milligan attended the Wilmington Academy, St. Mary's College, Baltimore, and finally in 1814 graduated from Princeton College. He read law in the office of his brother- in-law, Hon. Louis McLane, and was admitted to the Bar of New Castle County, in December, 1818, but because of poor health, was unable to engage in active practice.
In the year 1832 he was elected to Congress where he was returned for three consecutive terms, and received the nomi- nation for a fourth term. About a year after the expiration
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of his service in Congress be was appointed by Governor Comegys an Associate Justice of the Superior Court of New Castle County to succeed Judge Black, then just deceased. He held the office of judge for twenty-five years, and resigned September 16, 1864.
That he was an able, a wise and conscientious judge, is the consensus of the members of the Bar who practiced in the period of his incumbency. In the trial of causes he was uni- formly patient, attentive, impartial, never for the sake of public applause indorsing or advocating any course contrary to his own sense of right and justice. To his honor it is told of him that many years ago, long before the modern " grand- father " laws and " Jim Crow cars " oppressions were invented, when the Legislature had passed a like measure for harassing the colored people and hampering their right to travel in the State, and had, moreover, laid upon the courts the duty of enjoining upon the grand juries at the spring term in each county, the strict enforcement of the unjust law, Judge Milli- gan, though himself a Democrat, while thus instructing the grand juries, denounced the law as needlessly harsh and un- just, and recommended its speedy repeal.
He was tendered the portfolio of Secretary of the Interior in the Cabinet of President Fillmore, but was forced by reason of his failing health to decline this honor. Very warm expres- sions of regret were generally spoken by the citizens of the State upon the occasion of Judge Milligan's relinquishment of the judicial position he had so long and so honorably filled, and Governor Cannon, in accepting his resignation, addressed to him through the Secretary of State, a letter expressive of his profound regret that the State was to lose the services of one who had " performed the duties of his office with fidelity and ability."
His presence was at once commanding and engaging ; his address that of the cultured gentleman he truly was, with a charm and kindness of manner that impressed every one with whom he dealt. His portrait strikingly resembles that of
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Charles Sumner, a fine mingling of innate gentleness with a lofty spirit of independence and courage. His generous treat- ment of the younger members of the Bar was long remem- bered, and often recounted after his death, which took place in Philadelphia, April 20, 1875.
EDWARD WOOTTEN.
Edward Wootten, for forty years an Associate Justice of the Courts of Delaware, was born in Laurel, Delaware, October 2, 1810. His grandfather, Peter G. Wootten, Sr., came from England and settled with his four sons upon a large tract of land, some two thousand acres in extent, near the town of Laurel, Delaware. His father, Peter G. Wootten, became a successful business man, and likewise came to occupy a prom- inent place in the politics of his day, being several times sent to the Legislature. Young Wootten was educated at the academy of his native town, then a noted school, and after graduation began the study of the law with Thomas Cooper, Eeq., of Georgetown, and upon his death finished his legal studies with James Rogers, Esq., of New Castle, and after his admission to practice in 1830, opened a law office in George- town.
Coming soon to the fore in his profession, he was paid the unsolicited compliment, in 1845, of the unaminous vote of the Democratic convention for Congress, but preferring his chosen profession to any political career, he declined the nomination. So manifest were his qualifications for a judicial position that in 1846 lawyers representing both parties in the State urged Governor Cooper, who was a Whig, to appoint him. But the Governor was too stout a partisan to yield to this very proper request. The following year, however, upon the succession of Governor Tharp to the executive office, Mr. Wootten was ap- pointed to fill a judicial vacancy. The appointment gave general satisfaction to his legal brethren, who appreciated his ability and learning as a jurist, and it likewise pleased the laity. No one of his cotemporaries during his protracted
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