USA > Delaware > History of the state of Delaware, Volume III > Part 3
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The first State aid given to colored schools in Delaware was in 1881, when an Act was passed by the General Assembly appropriating $2,400, to be distributed pro-rata among the schools of each county. The active efforts of Thomas N. Wil- liams, Chairman of the House Committee on Education, were largely instrumental in securing this appropriation, and the encouragement which it gave the colored people was evidenced
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in a single year by the increase in the number of schools from forty-six to sixty-seven, and the number of scholars enrolled from 1997 to 3121. In 1883, the annual State appropriation was increased from $2,400 to $5,000, and the State Superin- tendent of Schools was given general supervision of the colored schools of the State. In 1887 the General Assembly further increased the appropriation to $6,000, and gave the general management of the schools to the county superintendents. In 1891 the annual appropriation to the colored schools was in- creased to $9,000.
The teachers of the colored schools are selected from among the colored people, and are generally well informed and make efficient educators. In the apportionment and distribution of the school fund under the law of 1898 the colored schools re- ceive their proportionate share, thus making the system uni- form throughout the State. The text-books are furnished free to all colored children enrolled in the schools of the State, and an annual appropriation of one hundred dollars is made for the maintenance and support of the "Delaware Colored Teachers' State Institute." Separate schools for white and colored children are maintained, both classes of schools being under the general control and supervision of the county super- intendents and the county commissions.
The General Assembly of 1901 passed an Act appropriating the sum of six thousand dollars annually, for two years, for the purpose of repairing, enlarging and building school-houses for the colored children of the State, said amount to be equally divided among the three counties of the State, and to be under the direction and control of the County School Commissioners of each county, and the same sum was again appropriated by the General Assembly of 1903 for a period of two years to be expended in the same way.
STATE COLLEGE FOR COLORED STUDENTS.
By an Act of the General Assembly passed in 1891 the State College for Colored Students was incorporated. The object was to provide facilities for the more advanced education of
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the colored youth of the State. This institution is located two miles north of Dover, occupying a productive farm, and with an equipment of buildings and apparatus that compare favor- ably with like institutions in other States. The farm and equipment were paid for by money appropriated by the State, the expense of running the college being largely met by an appropriation of $6,000 per annum (formerly $5,000) which is paid by the United States Government under the Morrell Act.
The college is under the control of a non-partisan Board of Trustees of six members, two from each county, appointed every four years by the Governor. Hon. Charles B. Lore and Henry C. Conrad have been the trustees of the institution from New Castle County since its organization. In Kent, Dr. George W. Marshall and Daniel M. Ridgely were the original trustees. Mr. Ridgely resigned in 1893 and was succeeded by Wilson T. Cavender, who served until 1903, when he in turn was succeeded by Walter Morris. In Sussex County, Henry P. Cannon and Willie M. Ross were first appointed. Mr. Ross resigned in a few months, and was succeeded by Dr. David L. Mustard, who served until his death in 1900. His successor was Hon. Ebe W. Tunnell appointed in 1901. The present Board is composed of Hon. Charles B. Lore, Henry C. Conrad, George W. Marshall, Walter Morris, Hon. Ebe W. Tunnell and Henry P. Cannon.
The college has had but two presidents. The first was Wesley Webb, who served for four years, and his successor was Rev. William C. Jason, who was elected July 11, 1895, and has since occupied the place. Mr. Jason is a colored man of unusual attainments, and his administration of the affairs of the college has been marked with much success. During the year ending June, 1907, the college showed an enrollment of one hundred and seventeen, and the work and interest in- creases from year to year. The faculty of the college for the last year was as follows : President, William C. Jason, .A. M., D. D .; Instructors, Joseph R. Cogbill, Samuel L. Conwell, Everett L. Brown, Lydia P. Laws, Cecie E. Parker and Win- field Deputy.
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John McKinly, the first President or Governor of Delaware, was a resident of Wilmington, and a medical doctor by pro- fession. He was born in Ireland, February 24, 1721, and came to Wilmington about the time he reached his majority. He was sheriff of New Castle County by appointment of Gov- ernor William Denney from 1757 to 1760, and for fifteen years, beginning in: 1759, was Chief Burgess of Wilmington. He was elected the first President of Delaware on February 21, 1777 ; he served in that office until the 11th day of Sep- tember following, being the night after the battle of Brandy- wine, when he was taken prisoner by the British forces who captured him at his home in Wilmington. He remained a prisoner for about thirteen months. He was brigadier-general of the State militia during the Revolution. He was one of the founders of the Delaware Medical Association in 1789, and took a leading part in its deliberation during his life. He was one of the trustees named in the certificate of incor- poration of the First Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, and continued as a trustee from 1789 until his death. His home was at the northwest corner of Third and French streets in Wilmington, and the handsome mansion and grounds occu- pied as his home indicate that he was a man of means. His wife was Jane Richardson, a daughter of Richard Richardson, one of the early owners of the Richardson mill, to whom he was married in 1761. His death occurred August 31, 1796, and he was buried in the graveyard of the First Presbyterian Church at Wilmington.
Thomas Mckean was the second President of Delaware. He assumed the office of President, being the Speaker of the Assembly, when John McKinly was taken prisoner by the
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British on September 11, 1777. George Read should have immediately succeeded President Mckinley, but at the time Read was sitting in Philadelphia as a member of Congress from Delaware, and as the British had possession of Wilming- ton, with their forces scattered along the Delaware, it was with difficulty that Read was able to reach Delaware in order to become the acting President. It fell to the lot of Thomas Mckean, as the Speaker of the Assembly, to serve as President for this interim covering the time from September 11, 1777, to about October 20th of the same year. Thomas Mckean was a Pennsylvanian, having been born in Chester County, March 19, 1734 ; he was liberally educated, studied law under David Finney, Esq., at New Castle, and was admitted to the bar in 1762, and for twelve years from 1764 was one of the trustees of the loan office for New Castle County, was elected to the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, was a member of the Con- tinental Congress from 1774 to 1783, being the only member that served uninterruptedly in that body from the beginning until the end of the Revolutionary War. From 1777 to 1783 he was not only a member of Congress from Delaware, but also Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, occupying the latter posi- tion for a term of twenty-two years. Was President of Con- gress in 1781, was one of the three signers of the Declaration of Independence from Delaware, and served in the Revolu- tionary War as colonel of the Philadelphia Associators. Was a member of the convention that framed the first constitution of the State of Delaware in 1776, and also a member of the convention that framed the first constitution of Pennsylvania in 1790. Was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 1799 and served in that office for nine years. That was the last office held by him, his death occurring June 24th, 1817, being then in his eighty-fourth year. He was buried in Christ Church- yard in Philadelphia.
George Read the third President or Governor, was born in Cecil County, Maryland, September 18, 1733. At the time of the capture of President McKinly by the British on September
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11, 1777, George Read was Speaker of the State Council and as such vice-president of the State and under the constitution, succeeded to the presidency. At the time Mr. Read was in Philadelphia serving the State as a member of Congress, and owing to the British having control of the shores of the Dela- ware, Mr. Read encountered difficulty in reaching the State and assuming the Governorship. He was not able to get back to Delaware until about five weeks after President McKinly had been taken by the British. Mr. Read about October 20, 1777 assumed the presidency and acted as such until March, 1778 when Cæsar Rodney was formally elected president of the State. A more extended biography of George Read ap- pears under the head of the Read family in this work. George Read died September 21, 1798, and is buried in Immanuel churchyard at New Castle.
The fourth president of Delaware was Cæsar Rodney who was elected president in the winter of 1778 and served as president until January, 1782. Inasmuch as that a full sketch of Mr. Rodney appears under the head of the Rodney family in another part of this history there is no necessity of entering into much detail here. Cæsar Rodney was for many years a member of the Continental Congress, a Major-General in the Revolutionary War, several times a member of the As- sembly and Speaker of the Council of the State and altogether possibly the leading man of the Revolutionary period in Dela- ware. His death occurred at his home at "Poplar Grove " near Dover on June 26, 1784. He was the first president from Kent County.
The fifth president was John Dickinson who was elected November 13, 1781, and served until November 4, 1782, when he was elected president of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania and asked to be relieved of the presidency of Delaware. He was the son of Samuel Dickinson and was born on the family plantation in Talbot County, Maryland, Novem- ber 8, 1732. When about eight years of age his parents re- moved to a large farm just east of Dover and here his boy-
JOHN DICKINSON. 1732-1808.
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hood was spent and the rudiments of knowledge taught him by William Killen. The latter afterward became a distin- guished member of the Delaware Bar and in turn Chief Justice and Chancellor of the State.
Young Dickinson after being liberally educated began the study of law when eighteen years of age with John Moland a leading member of the Philadelphia Bar. After his admis- sion to the Bar he took a three years' course as a student at law in the Middle Temple in London. Settling in Philadel- phia he was elected a member of the Assembly in 1764 and a member of Congress in 1765 ; was a delegate to Congress from Delaware from 1774 to 1777 and again from 1779 to 1780. Was a member from Delaware of the Convention that framed the Constitution of the United States. From 1782 to 1785 was president of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania, equivalent at that time to the governorship. Dickinson was a man of scholarly attainments and was the author of many of the most important State papers during the Revolutionary period.
He was a Friend in religion and inherited the conservative tendencies of that sect. He hesitated in proclaiming himself in favor of the independence of the Colonies and went the length of opposing the Declaration of Independence, but afterwards attested his patriotism by enlisting in the army serving as a private soldier in the battle of Brandy wine, and a few days after that battle was appointed a Brigadier-General of the State militia. The military service, however, proved distasteful to him and he retired from the service after serving only a few months. His writings have been largely preserved and rank high as literary productions. He was undoubtedly one of the strongest characters that figured in American poli- tics in the early days of the Republic. It is questionable whether Delaware has produced a more learned man. His home, in the latter days of his life was in Wilmington and his mansion, a pretentious one for that time, occupied the site of the present Wilmington Free Library. He died Feb-
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ruary 14, 1808, and was buried in the graveyard adjoining the Friends Meeting at Fourth and West streets in Wilming- ton ; a plain stone containing simply the letters "J. D." marking his resting place. Thomas Jefferson's estimate of Dickinson as a public character is contained in the following from a letter of condolence written a few days after Dickin- son's death :
" A more estimable man or truer patriot could not have left us ;
" His name will be consecrated in history as one of the worthies of the Revolution."
John Cook became the sixth President of Delaware by reason of the resignation of John Dickinson. The latter by a letter, which has been preserved, notified John Cook under date of November 4, 1782 that he had been elected a member of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania and re- quested John Cook to immediately take upon himself the administration of the government in the Delaware State ac- cording to the constitution, Mr. Cook being at that time the speaker of the Council. He served as President from Novem- ber, 1782, until February 8, 1783. John Cook's residence was near Smyrna where he lived most, if not all of his life engaged in farming, and, following for a time the occupation of a tanner. He was at one time the owner of " Belmont Hall." He served as sheriff of Kent County, and was elected a member of the Council from Kent County in 1780 and 1787. He was a soldier in the Revolution, and served as third Jus- tice of the Court of Common Pleas, his commission bearing date July 17, 1777. His wife was a sister of Governor Thomas Collins and one of his sisters married Governor John Clark. John Cook died at Smyrna in 1789.
The seventh President of Delaware was Nicholas VanDyke who occupied the office from 1783 to 1786. He had been a member of the Council in 1776, and in 1799 was its speaker. He was also a member of the convention that framed the first constitution of the State in 1776. Ile was born in New
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Castle, September 25, 1738, being the son of Nicholas Van- Dyke who came to Delaware from Flat Bush, Long Island. He was admitted to the bar in 1765. On February 21, 1777, he was elected by the General Assembly Judge of Admiralty, and on the same day he and James Sykes were elected dele- gates to the Continental Congress from Delaware. His son Nicholas VanDyke, Jr., was afterwards a distinguished lawyer and member of Congress from this State, and his oldest daughter Nancy married Chancellor Kensey Johns the elder. He was twice married, and died February 19, 1789, and his remains were buried on his farm in St. Georges hundred just south of Delaware City, but were afterward removed to Immanuel churchyard in New Castle.
Thomas Collins became the eighth President of Delaware by election of the General Assembly in 1786. He descended from English parentage, was presumably a man of large means and lived for several years at " Belmont Hall," a mile south of Smyrna in Duck Creek Hundred. While in public life, just previous to the Revolutionary War, he improved and enlarged the Mansion House on his plantation " Belmont Hall," and it then became, as it has ever since remained, one of the handsomest private residences in Delaware. Here he dispensed a liberal hospitality for years. He evidently held the respect and esteem of his neighbors, as he served in the office of High Sheriff of Kent County ; was four years a mem- ber of the Council and a leading member of the first constitu- tional convention in 1776. During the Revolutionary war he served for a period of five years from 1777 to 1783 as brig- adier-general of the State militia. On June 18, 1782, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and Orphans' Court, and his name appears as one of the signers on the continental currency issued by the State during the Revo- lution. He was one of the largest land owners in Upper Kent County, a devout Episcopalian in religion and a liberal con- tributor to St. Peter's Church at Smyrna. His death occurred on March 29, 1789, during his term as President.
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Jehu Davis as Speaker of the House succeeded to the Presi- dency on the death of President Collins on March 29, 1789, and thus became the ninth President of Delaware. He called a ses- sion of the General Assembly on May 28 ensuing, and notified the members of the death of the President, Thomas Collins, and also of the death of George Mitchell, the Speaker of the Council. The Assembly thus convened, proceeded on May 30th to elect a successor for the unexpired term of President Collins, and the choice fell upon
Joshua Clayton, who thus became the tenth President of Delaware. He was the son of James Clayton, a descendant of an early Joshua Clayton who came to America with Penn. Young Joshua was born in Cecil County, Maryland, in 1744, and after graduating in a course in medicine married Rachael MeCleary, an adopted daughter of Governor Richard Bassett, about 1773, and he then settled on the Locust Grove farm, about two miles west of Mount Pleasant station, in St. Georges Hundred. Here he practiced his profession during the re- mainder of his life, although frequently called upon to serve his State in offices of trust and responsibility. He was twice elected a member of the House of Assembly in 1785 and 1787, and was chosen State Treasurer June 24, 1786, and served as such until he became President.
Serving the unexpired term of President Collins, he was in the fall of 1792 elected by the people to the office of Governor (the name of the chief executive having been changed by the Constitution of 1792), his majority over Thomas Montgomery, his opponent, being 307. His term as Governor continued until January 13, 1796. Serving, as he did, in the two capaci- ties of President and Governor, he occupied the office of Chief Magistrate for six years and a half, being the longest term of any individual that held that office. On January 19, 1798, he was elected United States Senator from Delaware, but held the office for only a few months, as his death occurred on August 11 of the same year.
During the prevalence of yellow fever in Philadelphia in
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the summer of 1798 he was called into consultation with the leading physicians of that place, and while there contracted the fever and fell a victim to it. During the Revolutionary war he served as second major in the Bohemia battalion of the Maryland regiment. This regiment was originally in- tended for home defense only, but most of the members of it entered the Continental army. Major Clayton participated in the battle of Brandywine, where, it is said, he served as an aide to General Washington. At his death, on August 11, 1798, he left three sons to survive him, Richard, James Law- son and Thomas, the latter afterwards becoming Chief Justice of Delaware and United States Senator.
The eleventh Governor of Delaware was Gunning Bedford, who was elected by the people, and assumed the duties of the office on January 13, 1796, as the successor of Governor Joshua Clayton. He was the son of William Bedford, a sub- stantial land-owner in New Castle Hundred, and a grandson of Gunning Bedford, who, it is thought, came to this State either from New Jersey or Pennsylvania. Gunning Bedford was born April 7, 1742; he acted as major in the Delaware militia, his commission bearing date March 20, 1775, and under date of January 19, 1776, was commissioned lieutenant- colonel of Colonel John Haslet's Delaware regiment. He took an active part in the New Jersey campaign in the summer of 1776, and was wounded in the battle of White Plains while leading his regiment.
On his return to Delaware in 1779 he was admitted to the Bar and shortly afterward was appointed Prothonotary of New Castle County. In 1784, 1785 and 1786 was elected to the State House of Representatives, and was twice a member of the Privy Council, being elected in 1783 and 1790 ; was ap- pointed Register of Wills for New Castle County February 25, 1788, and Justice of the Peace January 24, 1789; was twice elected a member of the Continental Congress, and was one of the presidential electors from Delaware in 1788 casting his vote for George Washington for President. He served as
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Governor from January 13, 1796, until September 30, 1797, when he died. His wife was Mary Read, a sister of George Read, the signer, to whom he was married in 1769. He left no children. He was buried in the Read lot in the Immanuel churchyard in New Castle.
Daniel Rogers, the twelfth governor of Delaware, succeeded to that office as Speaker of the State Senate on the death of Governor Bedford, September 28, 1797, and served until Janu- ary, 1799. Daniel Rogers was born in Accomack County, Virginia, January 3, 1754, and after attaining his majority settled in Cedar Creek Hundred, Sussex County, Delaware, on a large farm purchased by him from Levin Crapper. He lived in the large mansion house in South Milford now the residence of Joseph E. Holland. He built what is known as the " Brick Granary " on Cedar creek, four miles from Milford, on the road leading to the Draw Bridge, and he operated for some years the Haven Mills in Milford. He was twice elected a State Senator and was elected Speaker of the Senate at the session of 1797. He died February 2, 1806, and was buried on his home farm, in South Milford.
The thirteenth Governor of Delaware was Richard Bassett, who was elected in November, 1798, and took his seat January 9, 1799. He was born on Bohemia Manor, Cecil County, Maryland, in 1754. He studied law under Judge Golds- borough of Maryland. His record as a public servant was a remarkable one, and few men have served the State in more capacities or with greater efficiency. He was a member of the Council of Safety in 1776 ; was Captain in the Continental army ; for ten years was a member of the State Council ; a member of the convention that framed the Constitution of the United States in 1787, also a member of the State Convention that ratified the same in December the same year; was also a member of the Delaware constitutional conventions of 1776 and 1792.
He was one of the first United States Senators from Dela- ware serving from 1789 to 1793. He was appointed Chief
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Justice of the Court of Common Pleas by Governor Clayton and served from 1793 until he assumed the office of Governor on January 9, 1799. In March, 1801, he resigned the office of Governor in order to become United States Circuit Judge for the Third District, an appointment that came to him from President John Adams. His daughter Anne Bassett married James A. Bayard, the elder, and his adopted daughter Rachel became the wife of Governor Joshua Clayton. Richard Bas- sett died at his home on Bohemia Manor, in 1815, and he was buried beside his distinguished son-in-law James A. Bayard, who died in the same month.
James Sykes, who at one time was Speaker of the Senate, became the fourteenth Governor of Delaware as the successor of Governor Richard Bassett, who resigned the governorship in March, 1801. He acted as Governor until the following January only. Governor Sykes was a medical practitioner having studied medicine with Governor Joshua Clayton. His father bore the same name and the son was born near Dover, in 1761. He first practiced medicine at Cambridge, Mary- land, remained there only a short while when he established himself at Dover and gained a high reputation as a surgeon. He was six times elected a member of the State Senate and was twice elected Speaker. He spent a few years in the prac- tice of his profession in New York, but again returned to Dover, and in his latter days he occupied the large house im- mediately adjoining the State House, now owned by the State, and in this house he died in 1822.
David Hall served as the fifteenth Governor of Delaware. He was born at Lewes, January 4, 1752 ; he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1773, and two years later on the break- ing out of the Revolution, he shouldered his musket and went to war. He was early commissioned captain in the Conti- nental service in Jolm Haslet's regiment and led his company in the battle of Long Island and White Plains. In April, 1777, he was commissioned colonel of a regiment which formed a most important part of the famous Delaware line in the war.
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