USA > Delaware > History of the state of Delaware, Volume III > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32
Mr. Moore has been a resident of New York City since 1891, but he has always evidenced a lively interest in the State of
1042
PROMINENT DELAWARE LAWYERS.
his birth, being still counted as an honored member of the Delaware Bar. His ability and distinguished achievements are recognized not only in Delaware, but throughout the country.
CHARLES F. RICHARDS.
Charles F. Richards was a native of Northwest Fork Hun- dred. He was the son of John Richards, and was born July 15, 1846. After receiving an academic education, he studied law under Jacob Moore, and was admitted to the Bar at Georgetown in 1869. During the Civil War he served for a short time in the Sixth Delaware Regiment. Always identi- fied with the Republican party he served as chairman of the County Committee for nearly ten years, and was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1872. Elected a member of the Constitutional Convention of the State in 1897 he took a leading part therein, and was recognized as one of the most useful members. On several occasions he received votes for the office of United States Senator in the General Assembly. As a member of the Sussex County Bar for thirty- six years he won the respect and regard of all through his careful attention to business and by virtue of his high stand- ards of integrity. His death occurred December 23, 1905, at Philadelphia, after a brief illness.
RICHARD R. KENNEY.
When a young man makes his appearance among a strange people, and by dint of his own efforts, or his genius, makes himself a leader of them, we must conclude that he possesses a strong personality, or marked ability, or both. Thus came Richard R. Kenney. An obscure law-student, without pres- tige, and with no aid save his own pluck and energy, who dreamed of reaching some proud eminence and to whom the dream came true, and who made himself a Senator: that is Richard R. Kenney.
" He who sows courtesy," says an Eastern proverb, "reaps
·
L ; !
ES
2
٠٠٠
1
.. .
٠٠
.C
٥٠٠
RICHARD R. KENNEY.
1043
·
PROMINENT DELAWARE LAWYERS.
friendship." Never was the truth of a proverb more clearly shown than in his case. Affability furnished the ladder upon which he rose to recognition ; brains and tact did the rest. Yet, behind his affability and courtesy there lies a courage that is dauntless, and a perseverance that is tireless. Perhaps the governing element in his character is intensity of purpose, stimulated by a nature that is prompt to decide and quick to act. With his mental vision, he sees but one thing at a time, a characteristic that gives his efforts singular force and power.
Richard Roland Kenney was born near Laurel, Sussex County, Delaware, September 9, 1856, and received his early education in the country school house, and at the Laurel Academy, from which he entered Hobart College at Geneva, New York, and was graduated June 1, 1877. He is a son of Samuel Kenney, and a descendant of one of the earliest settlers of Sussex County. Immediately after his graduation, he went to Texas, but soon returned, and taught school a while in Accomac County, Virginia. In January, 1878, he came to Dover, and entered upon the study of law with the late Chan- cellor Saulsbury. In January, 1879, he was elected State Librarian, and at the expiration of his term, was re-elected. He was admitted to the Bar October 24, 1881, and began the practice of his profession in Dover, where he has practiced continuously ever since.
He was successful from the start, and rose rapidly in his profession, until to-day he enjoys one of the best practices in the State. Soon after his admission to the Bar he was mar- ried to Harriet C. Pennewill, of a prominent Kent County family, and of this marriage three children were born, two of whom are living. In 1887 Governor Biggs appointed him Adjutant-General of the Delaware National Guard. Here, his ability as an organizer was fully displayed. He put all his energy into the success of the organization, and it rose to a dignity it had never before assumed, and its first annual en- campment under his direction was brilliant and spectacular.
In 1898 he was chosen by the legislature of his State to
....
٢٠
:
7
1044
PROMINENI' DELAWARE LAWYERS.
fill a vacancy in the United States Senate, occasioned by a deadlock and the failure of the preceding legislature to make a choice. He was very popular in the Senate, and made many influential friends there. Had his party succeeded at the polls, upon the expiration of his term as Senator he would undoubtedly have been returned. As a lawyer Mr. Kenney has the confidence and esteem of the whole community. He is prompt, industrious, careful and painstaking. It is before a jury that he is most effective. There the dramatic element of his nature shows itself, and he impresses juries with his eloquence and earnestness.
As a politician he is shrewd and sagacious. He has no lack of fighting power or ability to assert himself, and he can show a velvet gentleness whenever the occasion calls for it. Personally he is a man of most engaging manners, hospitable, kind-hearted and benevolent. Though somewhat brusque in speech at times, yet, he never means to wound the feelings. His magnetic personality attracts people, his cheerfulness of disposition delights them, his earnestness of manner holds them. He is thoroughly domestic in his tastes, and the hearthstone of his handsome home in Dover is to him the most desirable place in the world.
ELISHA D. CULLEN.
Elisha D. Cullen was born in Millsboro, Sussex County, Delaware, April 23, 1799. He was educated at Princeton College, and studied law with Peter Robinson, afterwards Associate Judge, and was admitted to the Sussex County Bar in October, 1821. He at once began the practice of law, which he continued until his death. He was elected to Congress in 1854, and took a prominent part in all the leading questions of debate. He was a lawyer of remarkable reasoning powers, and these combined with much ability as a public speaker made him an important factor in public life. He died in Georgetown, Delaware, in February, 1862. He was the father of Charles M. Cullen, Associate Justice from Sussex County,
N. A. Ward.
1045
PROMINENT DELAWARE LAWYERS.
and grandfather of Charles W. Cullen, at present one of the most active practitioners at the Sussex Bar.
LEWIS C. VANDEGRIFT.
Lewis C. Vandegrift was born in St. George's Hundred on August 27, 1855. His ancestors were among the earliest set- tlers in that Hundred. After an education received in the public schools he entered Delaware College, from which insti- tution he graduated in 1875. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1880. George Gray was his legal preceptor. Admitted to practice in November, 1879, he opened an office in Wilmington. In 1881 he formed a co-partnership with Edward G. Bradford, which continued until the elevation of the latter to the bench of the United States District Court in 1897. Mr. Vandegrift was a man of most industrious habits. He applied himself most diligently, and soon won a command- ing position at the bar. In politics he was a Democrat, and he made himself felt as a factor in the counsels of that party. In 1894 he was appointed United States Attorney for the District of Delaware, and made a most successful prosecuting officer. During his term he was called upon to prosecute several very important cases, and they were managed by him with signal ability. His industry and ability brought him! unusual success, and his clientage increased rapidly. He was born a fighter, but fair and open as an antagonist, and pos- sessed of the personal qualities which attracted to him a wide circle of friends. No member of the bar had a more promis- ing future before him, but in the midst of his usefulness and success he was suddenly stricken with mortal disease, which terminated his life on July 31, 1900.
HERBERT H. WARD.
The Delaware bar has been fortunate in several instances by the coming to the State of an educated and enterprising New Englander. Willard Hall, who was the father of the public school system of the State and who served so long and
11
1046
PROMINENT DELAWARE LAWYERS.
honorably on the bench of the United States District Court, came to Delaware from Massachusetts in 1803.
Nearly eighty years later Herbert H. Ward, a Vermonter by birth, settled in this State, engaged for a few years as a tutor, studied law under William C. Spruance and entered upon the practice of the law in 1882 at the age of twenty-six. Bright, active and industrious, with ability of a high order, he was early recognized as a young man who was bound to rise. Soon after his admission he became a law partner with George Gray, and continued with him until the elevation of the latter to the bench of the United States Circuit Court. Of late years Mr. Ward and Andrew C. Gray, son of George Gray, have practiced law together. Mr. Ward's rapid progress at the bar has been entirely through his own merit. He gives most careful preparation to his cases and presents questions of law in argument in a convincing and impressive way that has made him particularly strong before the Court. As a trial lawyer he has few equals, and the large and influential client- age that he controls is an evidence of the success that he has won. An active member in high degree of the Masonic fra- ternity and other influential secret organizations, he is de- servedly popular. An honored member of Grace M. E. Church, he has the full respect of the whole community. In 1900 he was impelled, against his wishes, to accept the nom- ination of the Republican party as its candidate for the office of Attorney-General of the State, and was triumphantly elected. He was the first Attorney-General elected by the people. His administration of this office fully met public ex- pectation. He brought into play in his conduct of public office the same strong qualities which had brought him suc- cess in civil practice, and proved himself a fearless and capable prosecuting officer. Personally Mr. Ward is a gentleman of of attractive manners, whole-souled and generous, and those who have the entree of his charming home in Wilmington find in it an atmosphere of true-hearted hospitality.
.. ...
1
١٢
:19
.410444
Lors Hille
1047
PROMINENT DELAWARE LAWYERS.
WILLIAM S, HILLES.
The Hilles family has been identified with Wilmington for a century. Samuel Hilles came to Wilmington about 1812 and for twenty years was a leading educator, conducting with his brother Eli, a school which ranked among the leading educational institutions of its time. The two sons of Samuel Hilles, William S. and Jolin S., were for years active and im- portant factors in Wilmington business life. The subject of this sketch was a son of John S. Hilles, and though born in Philadelphia, has spent most of his life in Wilmington. Edu- cated at the Penn Charter School and Rugby Academy, he later entered Haverford College, from which he graduated in 1885. He then began the study of law with Benjamin Nields and came to the bar of New Castle County in 1888. His suc- cess at the bar has been remarkable. With him the " waiting period," that is the customary experience of the young lawyer, was lacking. From the start he had been busy ; and within a few years from his admission he had attracted a large and substantial clientage which has grown with the years that have followed, until Mr. Hilles has now a practice unequaled by any member of the bar in the State. His wide knowledge of legal principles, his keen insight into human nature, his strong common sense and superior judgment, coupled with untiring industry and vigorous tenacity, have made the com- bination that has led to the marked success of Mr. Hilles as a practicing attorney. Engrossed in the practice of the law, Mr. Hilles has shown but little inclination towards political life. He is a pronounced Republican in politics, has represented his party in State conventions, and is always in demand as a pub- lic speaker. On several occasions he has received compli- mentary votes for United States Senator. He represents in private and professional life the high ideals of morality and good citizenship that have always been inculcated by the Society of Friends, of which sect his ancestors, for genera- tions, were honored and useful members.
1048
PROMINENT DELAWARE LAWYERS.
WILLARD SAULSBURY.
Willard Saulsbury, the youngest son of Chancellor Willard Saulsbury, was born at Georgetown, April 17, 1861, while his father was a member of the United States Senate. Educated at the Wilmington Conference Academy and the University of Virginia, he prosecuted his law studies with his father, and was admitted to the bar at Dover in 1882. Mr. Saulsbury immediately after came to Wilmington and entered the law office of Victor DuPont, and began at once to build up a large and lucrative practice. He became early identified with many of the leading enterprises of the city, and he soon developed into an unusually successful business lawyer. No member of the bar has had a more extensive touch with large corporate interests, and no one could have guarded with greater care or wiser judgment the varied and important matters entrusted to him. He was the active factor in the founding of the Equit- able Guarantee and Trust Company, and has served for years as a director of the Union National Bank. Through his efforts the street railways of the City of Wilmington were developed and extended until they compare most favorably with systems in cities of a like population. Forceful as a character, Mr. Saulsbury has been an important factor in the business world in all the years that he has been at the bar. His practice has been extensive, particularly in the Court of Chancery, where he has represented many important causes. His opponents have found him resourceful and tenacious. He wins because he deserves to win.
For the past fifteen years he has been an active leader in Democratic politics in the State, and had his party been in control during that time would doubtless have been elected to the United States Senate. He has never held public office, but has been frequently honored by his party with a seat in its National Conventions, and is recognized in all matters of party appointments. Mr. Saulsbury has fully maintained the honored name of the family, and occupies an honorable posi- tion both at the bar and in the business community.
. 1
r
£
JOHN BIGGS.
1049
PROMINENT DELAWARE LAWYERS.
PETER L. COOPER, JR.
The subject of this sketch gave promise of an unusually successful career at the bar. Born in Kent County in 1864, he came from the Cooper line that has figured in all conven- tions and all departments of the State government since colo- nial days. After an education obtained in the public schools he studied law with James L. Wolcott at Dover, and came to the bar in 1890. After serving for two years as Superin- tendent of Free Schools for Kent County, he removed to Wilmington and began the practice of law. He showed pluck and determination, gave close attention to the business which came to him, and by dint of close study and industry soon occupied a promising position at the bar. In 1895 he was appointed Deputy Attorney-General by Robert C. White, and proved himself such a strong and courageous prosecutor that it won for him the nomination for Attorney-General by the Democratic party in 1900. His record of ten years at the bar indicates that his future success, if he had lived, would have been secure ; but unfortunately an accident which befell him in the spring of 1901 led to a decline in health which resulted in his death July 18, 1901, in the thirty-seventh year of his age. But few young men of the bar have made a more favor- able impression on the community.
JOHN BIGGS.
John Biggs is the oldest son of Governor Benjamin T. Biggs. His birthplace was near Mount Pleasant on the Biggs homestead, and was born October 15, 1855. After a prepara- tory course at Rugby Academy in Wilmington, he entered Princeton College, from which he graduated in 1877. Enter- ing the office of Victor DuPont, he pursued the study of law for three years, and was admitted to the bar in December, 1879. Since that date he has been in active practice in Wilmington.
In 1885 he was made Deputy by Attorney-General John H. Paynter, and on the appointment of the latter to the bench in April, 1887, was appointed Attorney-General of the State.
٢٠١٠٠
1050
PROMINENT DELAWARE LAWYERS.
At that time he had been but seven years at the bar, and he was then in his thirty-second year. If there were any mis- givings, owing to his age and lack of experience, as to the ability of Mr. Biggs to cope with the responsible duties of this important office, they were very soon dispelled, as it became evident, at once, that he was master of the situation.
In the preparation of his cases, both criminal and civil, he has always been most thorough and painstaking, and in the presentation of matters, both of fact and law, to the Court, he has shown unusual force. His administration of the office of Attorney-General was eminently successful. He has held no other public office. For several years he has been associate counsel of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Wilming- ton. Always identified with the Democratic party, he has been recognized as a leader and his name has been presented on several occasions by his political friends in the General Assembly, for United States Senator. A man of excellent business judgment and of the strictest integrity, careful, in- dustrious and systematic, he has won and held a large client- age, and has the full respect, both of his associates at the bar and of the people of the State.
ROBERT H. RICHARDS.
Among the younger members of the bar none have forged more rapidly to the front than Robert H. Richards. The oldest son of Charles F. Richards, Esq., he was born in Georgetown, Delaware, November 15, 1873, and after a pre- liminary education received in the schools and the noted academy of that town, entered Dickinson College, where he graduated in 1895. After the usual law course under the direction of his father, he came to the bar in 1897, and spent his first year of practice with his father. He then removed to Wilmington where he has since resided.
Both the court and the older members of the bar were soon impressed with the marked talent which he exhibited as a lawyer. His conduct of the cases early entrusted to him bore
W
٠٠
1051
PROMINENT DELAWARE LAWYERS.
evidence of thorough knowledge of the principles of law, and before the court he was strong and forcible. In 1901 he was appointed Deputy Attorney-General by the newly elected Attorney-General, Herbert H. Ward, and in this office served for four years, rendering to the State conspicuously able ser- vices, which resulted in his being the nominee of both fac- tions of the Republican party for the office of Attorney-General in 1904. Although opposed by L. Irving Handy, the Demo- cratic nominee, who as a campaigner had no equal in the State, he was triumphantly elected, and entered upon the duties of the office in January, 1905. Mr. Richards has shown himself thoroughly equipped as a lawyer. Keen in percep- tion, cool and collected in temperament, his record as a pros- ecuting officer has measured up to the highest record hereto- fore made by the long line of distinguished lawyers who have occupied the post of Attorney-General.
LEVIN IRVING HANDY.
Levin Irving Handy was born at Berlin, Worcester County, Maryland, on December 24, 1861. He is one of a family of eight children, and is the son of Rev. William C. Handy, a Presbyterian preacher, and the grandson of William W. Handy, Esq., who was in his generation the leading lawyer at the bar of Somerset County, Maryland. The mother of Levin Irving Handy was a daughter of Rev. Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, and was a woman of brilliant gifts and strong character.
The boyhood of Levin Irving Handy was spent partly on the eastern shore of Maryland, partly with his maternal rela- tives in Kentucky, and partly in rural New York, where his father went to preach in 1871. His education was irregular, and was obtained at private and public schools in Maryland and New York. He did not attend college, but began teach- ing school shortly before he was eighteen years of age at Dames Quarter, Somerset County, Maryland. In 1881 he was elected principal of the high school at Smyrna, and it was this call
5
1. 10
1052
PROMINENT DELAWARE LAWYERS.
which brought him to Delaware. On January 25, 1887, he married at Smyrna Miss Mary C. Bell, a daughter of William M. Bell, Esq., and Emily Hoffecker, his wife. The same year he was appointed by Governor Biggs Superintendent of Free Schools of Kent County. While serving as superintendent he registered as a law student with John R. Nicholson, Esq., then a member of the Kent County Bar, now the Chancellor of Delaware. In 1890 he resigned the position of County Super- intendent to accept the principalship of the old Newark Academy, and thereupon removed to Newark, Delaware. About this time he began lecturing before teachers' institutes in Pennsylvania and other States. In 1892 he was made Chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee, a posi- tion which he held until 1896. In 1892 he retired from teaching and devoted himself to the lyceum lecture field, responding to calls from all parts of the country. In 1894 he was a candidate for the Democratic congressional nomination, and was defeated in that ambition by Samuel Bancroft, Jr. He became editorial writer for the "Every Evening," and continued that work until January 1, 1896. In 1896 he was nominated for Congress by the Democrats and elected. He served in Congress one term only, being renominated in 1898 by his party but defeated at the polls by John H. Hoffecker, Esq., an uncle of Mrs. Handy. At the May term of the Superior Court of New Castle County in 1899 he was admitted to the practice of the law, and opened a law office in Wilmington, where he has since pursued his profession. In 1900 he was a delegate from Delaware to the Democratic National Conven- tion at Kansas City, where he served on the Committee on Platform and supported the views of William J. Bryan, who was there renominated for the presidency. In 1902 he was again a candidate for the congressional nomination, but was defeated in the Democratic State Convention by Henry A. Houston, Esq., by a majority of two votes. In 1904 Mr. Handy was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention at St. Louis, and presented the name of Judge George Gray to
.. 1
;a
.
PROMINENT DELAWARE LAWYERS.
1053
that convention as a presidential candidate. The same year Mr. Handy was nominated by the Democrats for the office of Attorney-General of Delaware, and was defeated at the polls by Robert H. Richards, Esq. In 1905 he was made Grand Master of Masons in Delaware, and during his term the Grand Lodge A. F. & A. M. celebrated the centennial of its existence as a separate jurisdiction. Mr. Handy has for many years been an industrious stump speaker for his party in Delaware and neighboring States during political campaigns. He has also spoken much on literary subjects. His residence is at Newark, Delaware, and his family consists of a wife and two children-a son and a daughter.
Mr. Handy has inherited from both lines of ancestry, especi- ally from the Breckinridge family, an unusual vocabulary coupled with a fluent and forcible utterance. As a public speaker he has few, if any, equals in the State, and his attrac- tiveness as a conversationalist is everywhere recognized. His success as a platform lecturer has been established for many years, and he is rapidly forging to the front as a member of the Delaware Bar.
1.
MEDICINE AND ITS PRACTITIONERS.
Lawfully may the historian, borrowing the phrase of the learned author of "Delaware Doctors," the well-known Dr. Stellwagen of Philadelphia, felicitate himself that "Fortu- nately it fell to his lot to examine that portion of Delaware's history which related to the medical profession," for surely when he surveys the magnitude of what her sons have accom- plished in the domain of medicine, and notes how many laureled names have arisen from out her little handful, he is constrained to yield assent to the growing panegyric paid them by Professor Stellwagen.
Early medication in Delaware during the seventeenth and much of the eighteenth century, was confined to the exhibi- tion of home-derived remedies, such as herb simples-the horehound, boneset, pennyroyal, sassafras and the like-which composed the grandmotherly pharmacopcias of the day, brought in part from their European homes, and in part de- rived from the aborigines of the forest around them. So, too, broken bones and wounds were commonly left to the care of native bonesetters aided by such simple remedies as the skill and experience of the household afforded-plus, always, the vix medicatrix naturæ.
In truth, in the early days roads through the pathless wilderness were few and poor, while bridges were almost un- known, the winding trail of the Indian being often the sole recourse of the mounted doctor with his saddlebags.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.