The Read’s were originally from Dublin, Ireland. Colonel John Read was born in that town in 1668 to Henry Read, Esq., and was the grandson of Sir Charles Read, the ancient family of Barton Court, Oxfordshire. He was in line of descent from Thomas Read, lord of the manors of Barton Court and Breedon, in Berkshire, and high sheriff of Berks, 1581, descended from Rede of Troughend.
(I) Colonel John Read, only son of Henry and Mary (Molines) Read, was born in Dublin, Ireland, January 15, 1688, of English parentage. He fell in love at an early age with his cousin, a beautiful girl, who died before their engagement terminated in marriage. The shock so overcame him that he determined, in spite of his parents' opposition, to seek relief in entire change of scene. Crossing the ocean to Maryland, he purchased lands in several counties in that province, to which he added others in Delaware and Virginia. On his home plantation in Cecil county, Maryland, where his eldest son George was born, he erected a spacious brick mansion subsequently destroyed by fire. He possessed slaves, whom he treated with unvarying humanity. "Jim" was the head of his house servants, as "Juba" was the head of those of the next generation. He was fond of field sports, and the country rang with the sound of his dogs and gun. He was both hospitable and generous. He gave all the land to endow the churches in his vicinity, both in Maryland and Delaware. His life was honorable in all its relations. He was one of the original six proprietors of the city of Charlestown, at the head of Chesapeake bay, a town in which many of his friends, the elder generations of the Washington family, and eventually General Washington himself, became deeply interested. Tradition preserves an account of the youthful Washington's visit to Colonel Read at the close of the latter's active, well-spent life. As one of the original proprietors of Charlestown, Colonel Read was appointed by the colonial legislature one of the commissioners to lay out and govern the new town. In the course of his active career he held several military commissions, and in the latter part of his life he resided on the plantation in the village of Christiana, where he died June 15, 1756, in his sixty-ninth year. He is buried in New Castle county. His will was signed the day of his death, as is mentioned in an indenture some thirty-five years later, for the original will was carried away by the British army, with many of the public records of New Castle county. Colonel Read embodied the characteristics which have always distinguished the Read family, piety, severe integrity, original and powerful intellectuality, devotion to friends and country, and fascinating manners. In figure, he resembled his English ancestors, being fuller in form than the majority of his American descendants. He was a remarkably handsome man, six feet in height, with a ruddy complexion, dark, expressive eyes, and was noted for his great strength. Bequeathing to his descendants the traditions of a well-ordered life, he was a fitting progenitor of an illustrious line of statesmen, jurists, soldiers, sailors and divines. Three of his sons were numbered among the founders and fathers of the United States. There are two portraits of Colonel John Read; one represents him in his youth, in the striking costume of the reign of Queen Anne; the other depicts him in middle life, in the wig and dress of the time of George II. After a long period of single life his early sorrow was consoled by his marriage, April 16, 1731, to Mary Howell (born 1711, died September 22, 1784), a charming young Welsh woman, many years his junior. When very young, she was brought from Wales to Delaware by her parents. Her father became a large planter, and her uncle was one of the founders of Newark, Delaware. Mrs. Read survived her husband nearly thirty years. Her nephew, Colonel Richard Howell, was a distinguished Revolutionary officer, and for eight years governor of New Jersey. He was the ancestor of Chief Justice Agnew, of Pennsylvania; Verina Howell, wife of Jefferson Davis, president of the Southern Confederacy, and of Rear Admiral John Cumming Howell, who distinguished himself in the war of the rebellion. Six sons and a daughter were born to Colonel John and Mary (Howell) Read. The only daughter, Mary, married Gunning Bedford, Sr., who was a lieutenant in the war against the French in 1775, and took an active part in the revolution. He was commissioned major and lieutenant-colonel, and was wounded at the battle of White Plains, while leading his men to the attack. Later he was muster-master general, member of the continental congress, and governor of Delaware. He left no issue. The sons were:
1. George, "The signer," see forward. 2. William, formerly of Philadelphia, afterward of Havana, where he was assassinated in 1763; he married Elizabeth Chambers, and had a daughter, Mary. 3. John, planter, of Cecil county, Maryland; he never married. 4. Thomas, married Mary Peale; no issue. 5. James, of further mention. 6. Andrew, planter, of Cecil county, unmarried. 7. Mary, of previous mention.
(IIa) His eldest son, George Read, signer of the Declaration of Independence, born at the family-seat, Cecil county, Maryland, 17 September, 1733 ; died in Newcastle, Delaware, 21 September, 1798, was one of the two statesmen, and the only southern one, that signed the three great state papers that underlie the foundations of our government: the original petition to the king of the 1st Continental congress, the Declaration of Independence, and the constitution of the United States.
He received a classical education, first at Chester, Pennsylvania, and afterward at New London, and at the age of nineteen was admitted to the Philadelphia bar. He removed in 1754 to Newcastle, where the family had large landed estates. While holding the office of attorney-general of Kent, Delaware, and Sussex counties in 1763-'74, he pointed out to the British government the danger of taxing the colonies without giving them direct representation in parliament, and in a letter to Sir Richard Neave, afterward governor of the Bank of England, written in 1765, he prophesied that a continuance in such a policy would ultimately lead not only to independence, but to the colonies surpassing England in her staple manufactures. He was for twelve years a member of the Delaware assembly, during which period, as chairman of its committee, tie wrote the address to the king which Lord Shelburne said so impressed George III. that the latter read it twice. Chagrined at the unchanged attitude of the mother country, he resigned the attorney-generalship, and was elected to the first congress which met at Philadelphia in 1774. Although he voted against independence, he finally signed the Declaration, and thenceforth was one of the staunchest supporters of the cause of the colonies. He was president of the first naval committee in 1775: of the Constitutional convention in 1776; author of the first constitution of Delaware, and the first edition of her laws; vice-president of Delaware, and acting president of that state after the capture of President McKinley; judge of the national court of admiralty eases in 1782 ; and a commissioner to settle a territorial controversy between Massachusetts and New York in 1785. Mr. Read was a delegate to the Annapolis convention in 1786, which gave rise to the convention that met in Philadelphia in 1787 and framed the constitution of the United States. In the latter convention he ably advocated the rights of the smaller states to an equal representation in the United States senate. He was twice elected United States senator, serving from 1789 till 1793, when he resigned to assume the office of chief justice of Delaware, which post he filled until his death. In person, Read was tall, slightly and gracefully formed, with pleasing features and lustrous brown eyes. His manners were dignified, bordering upon austerity, but courteous, and at times captivating. He commanded entire confidence, not only from his profound legal knowledge, sound judgment, and impartial decisions, but from his severe integrity and the purity of his private character. He married in 1763 Gertrude, daughter of the Reverend George Ross, and sister of George Ross, a signer of the Declaration. See his " Life and Correspondence," by William T. Read (Philadelphia, 1870). )
(IIb) Commodore Thomas Read, the first naval officer of that rank in command of the American fleet, was fourth child of Colonel John Read and his wife Mary Howell. He was born at the family home, New Castle, Delaware, 1740. When his father died in 1756, he was only 16 years old, but was willed the house on the banks of the Christiana, near the bridge. However, his choice of a career made it unlikely that he spent much of his adult life here.
On October 23, 1775, then being aged thirty-five, he was made commodore of the Pennsylvania navy, and had as fleet surgeon Dr. Benjamin Rush, later a signer of the Declaration of Independence. On June 7, 1776, he was appointed to the highest grade in the continental navy, and assigned to one of the four largest ships, the thirty-two-gun frigate "George Washington," then being built on the Delaware. His ship being still on the stocks, he volunteered for land service, and was directed by the commission of safety to join General Washington. He gave valuable assistance in the celebrated "crossing of the Delaware" by Washington's army, and at the following battle of Trenton commanded a battery composed of guns taken from his own frigate, which raked the stone bridge across the Assanpink. After much service by sea and land, he resigned and retired to his country seat at White Hill, New Jersey, where he dispensed a constant hospitality, especially to his old associates in the Order of the Cincinnati, of which he was an original member. His friend, Robert Morris, the "financier of the Revolution," persuaded him to take command of his old frigate, the "Alliance," which Morris had purchased, and make a joint adventure to Chinese seas. His first officer on the voyage was Richard Dale, afterward commodore in the United States navy. He sailed for Canton, where he arrived safely, having discovered two islands, to which he gave the names "Alliance" and "Morris." They formed a part of the Caroline Islands, but the rights of Commodore Read's discovery have never been asserted. Returning to Philadelphia on the voyage home, he arrived September 17, 1788, and, October 26 following, he died at his New Jersey home, aged forty-nine. Robert Morris concluded his obituary of him in these words: "While integrity, benevolence, patriotism and courage, united with the most gentle manners, are respected among men, the name of this valuable citizen and soldier will be revered and loved." Commodore Read married, September 7, 1779, at his home in White Hill, New Jersey, Mrs. Mary Field (maiden name Peale); he left no descendants.
(IIc) Colonel James Read, fifth son of Colonel John and Mary (Howell) Read, was born at the family home in New Castle county, Delaware, 1743, died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 31, 1822. When his father died in 1756, James Read was willed the Mansion at Christiana, although he was only 13 years old at the time. As was custom, his mother was his guardian, and remained at the Mansion as well overseeing the Estate.
He was the youngest of the three sons of Colonel John Read who were so prominently and intimately connected with the revolutionary period of our country's history. He had a distinguished military, official and civil career. He was regularly promoted from first lieutenant to colonel for gallant service at the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine and Germantown. He was first lieutenant of Delaney's company of Philadelphia "associators" (volunteers), whose first service was with Washington on that memorable Christmas night in 1776, which preceded the victory at Trenton. He was appointed by congress November 4, 1778, one of the three commissioners of the navy for the middle states, and on January 11, 1781, congress invested him with sole power to conduct the navy board. After the war was over and his naval accounts settled, Colonel Read was in business in Philadelphia, where he held many important public and private positions. He was flour inspector; one of the four commissioners to settle the conflicting claims of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, concerning large tracts of land in Pennsylvania; member of the select council for many years; director of the City Library Company and the Bank of North America; and president of the Mutual Assurance Company against fire. He was a communicant of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia. He faithfully served his God and his country, dying, as he had lived, without fear and without reproach. Colonel Read married, about 1772, Susan Corey, of Philadelphia. They had one daughter, Maria, died at the age of twenty-five; two others died in infancy.
