Notes for David Ogden:

General Notes:

Arrived with William Penn at New Castle, Delaware on October 27, 1682

"Arms were sometimes granted by the Kings of England for curious reasons; an instance of this is shown in the grant made to John Ogden, of Lancashire, who was a weaver. During the time of Charles I., when England was involved in a civil war, contracts were made with John Ogden and others for weaving cloth for the use of the Royalist army. This work was paid for by warrants signed by the king. On the accession of Charles II. they were presented for payment. The king not having sufficient money in the treasury at the time (it having been depleted by the expenses of the late war), offered to grant arms to those who held these warrants. As there was no chance of getting the money, they accepted the only alternative."

"John Ogden had a son, Jonathan or David, who had a son David, who came to this country with William Penn on the Welcome in 1682, and settled in Chester County, at a place which he and others who came with him from Middletown, County of Chester, England, named after their native town. He died in 1705."

(The Quaker Ogdens in America pp 22-23)

The Welcome, a goodly bark, carrying about three hundred tons burden, Robert Greenaway master, was off Deal, England, 9 mo. 1, 1682, and, after a voyage of about two months, entered the Delaware capes, 10 mo. 24, arriving at New Castle, 10 mo. 27, 1682 (O. S.). About one hundred persons accompanied the proprietor, William Penn, who had been granted the territory of Pennsylvania by Charles II., in payment of a claim against the English government for œ16,000, left him by his father, Admiral Penn. (The Quaker Ogdens in America p 25)

The voyage of the Welcome was prosperous until the scourge small-pox broke out in the midst of the Atlantic, yet they were heroic and submissive. Richard Townsend, a fellow-passenger, thus speaks of Penn's services: "His good conversation was very advantageous to all the company. His singular care was manifested in contributing to the necessities of many who were sick with the small-pox, then on board, out of which company about thirty died." He adds, "We had many good meetings on board."

David Ogden appears to have rendered much assistance in caring for those suffering from the malady, as shown in the office of the recorder of wills, etc., in Philadelphia. (The Quaker Ogdens in America p 27)

The Welcome having arrived at New Castle on 10 mo. 27 (O. S.), ... (The Quaker Ogdens in America p 28)

David Ogden took up a 200-acre tract of land in Middletown, then in Chester, now Delaware, County, Pennsylvania, [Note: Delaware County was created from a portion of Chester County in 1789] receiving his deed from the proprietor, William Penn. It was surveyed 4 mo. 27, 1684, by Thomas Holmes, Surveyor-General of the Province, and he probably soon entered upon its improvement. Holmes's map has John Boweter's name also upon David Ogden's tract. The reason for this is not clear, as David was sole owner, and did not dispose of 50 acres of his tract to John Boweter until more than a year after he, David, took it up. Charles S. Ogden402 copied the following in the land-office at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania:

"Surveyed and laid out ye 27th of ye 4th moth 1684 by nature of a warrant from (???) dated ye 29th of ye 12th moth 1683 unto David Ogden 200 acres of land in ye County of Chester, Pa. Said purchase beginning at a corner of 70 ft. John Hodskinson's thence S. W. by W. by said Hodskinson's land 140 p. to a corner 70 ft. thence N. W. by N. by marked tree 222 perches to a corner 70 ft. thence N.E. by E. by marked trees 140 p. to a corner 70 ft. thence S.E. by S. by ye land of O. Strimusgrand, 222 perches to ye fore mentioned 70 ft. Returned according to which above said survey and bounds unto ye Proprietors & Secretary's Office the 22d of 5th moth 1684.

"At the request of David Ogden late purchaser &c. a warrant granted him for 200 acres of land in the county of Chester &c. dated ye 29th of ye 12th moth 1683.

(Signed) "WILLIAM PENN [SEAL]"

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p37)

Notes for David Ogden:

General Notes:

Arrived with William Penn at New Castle, Delaware on October 27, 1682

"Arms were sometimes granted by the Kings of England for curious reasons; an instance of this is shown in the grant made to John Ogden, of Lancashire, who was a weaver. During the time of Charles I., when England was involved in a civil war, contracts were made with John Ogden and others for weaving cloth for the use of the Royalist army. This work was paid for by warrants signed by the king. On the accession of Charles II. they were presented for payment. The king not having sufficient money in the treasury at the time (it having been depleted by the expenses of the late war), offered to grant arms to those who held these warrants. As there was no chance of getting the money, they accepted the only alternative."

"John Ogden had a son, Jonathan or David, who had a son David, who came to this country with William Penn on the Welcome in 1682, and settled in Chester County, at a place which he and others who came with him from Middletown, County of Chester, England, named after their native town. He died in 1705."

(The Quaker Ogdens in America pp 22-23)

The Welcome, a goodly bark, carrying about three hundred tons burden, Robert Greenaway master, was off Deal, England, 9 mo. 1, 1682, and, after a voyage of about two months, entered the Delaware capes, 10 mo. 24, arriving at New Castle, 10 mo. 27, 1682 (O. S.). About one hundred persons accompanied the proprietor, William Penn, who had been granted the territory of Pennsylvania by Charles II., in payment of a claim against the English government for œ16,000, left him by his father, Admiral Penn. (The Quaker Ogdens in America p 25)

The voyage of the Welcome was prosperous until the scourge small-pox broke out in the midst of the Atlantic, yet they were heroic and submissive. Richard Townsend, a fellow-passenger, thus speaks of Penn's services: "His good conversation was very advantageous to all the company. His singular care was manifested in contributing to the necessities of many who were sick with the small-pox, then on board, out of which company about thirty died." He adds, "We had many good meetings on board."

David Ogden appears to have rendered much assistance in caring for those suffering from the malady, as shown in the office of the recorder of wills, etc., in Philadelphia. (The Quaker Ogdens in America p 27)

The Welcome having arrived at New Castle on 10 mo. 27 (O. S.), ... (The Quaker Ogdens in America p 28)

David Ogden took up a 200-acre tract of land in Middletown, then in Chester, now Delaware, County, Pennsylvania, [Note: Delaware County was created from a portion of Chester County in 1789] receiving his deed from the proprietor, William Penn. It was surveyed 4 mo. 27, 1684, by Thomas Holmes, Surveyor-General of the Province, and he probably soon entered upon its improvement. Holmes's map has John Boweter's name also upon David Ogden's tract. The reason for this is not clear, as David was sole owner, and did not dispose of 50 acres of his tract to John Boweter until more than a year after he, David, took it up. Charles S. Ogden402 copied the following in the land-office at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania:

"Surveyed and laid out ye 27th of ye 4th moth 1684 by nature of a warrant from (???) dated ye 29th of ye 12th moth 1683 unto David Ogden 200 acres of land in ye County of Chester, Pa. Said purchase beginning at a corner of 70 ft. John Hodskinson's thence S. W. by W. by said Hodskinson's land 140 p. to a corner 70 ft. thence N. W. by N. by marked tree 222 perches to a corner 70 ft. thence N.E. by E. by marked trees 140 p. to a corner 70 ft. thence S.E. by S. by ye land of O. Strimusgrand, 222 perches to ye fore mentioned 70 ft. Returned according to which above said survey and bounds unto ye Proprietors & Secretary's Office the 22d of 5th moth 1684.

"At the request of David Ogden late purchaser &c. a warrant granted him for 200 acres of land in the county of Chester &c. dated ye 29th of ye 12th moth 1683.

(Signed) "WILLIAM PENN [SEAL]"

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p37)

Notes for Johnathan Ogden:

General Notes:

JONATHAN OGDEN owned the Boar's Head Inn, Chester, Pa., it being a one-and-a-half-story hostelry, where the Delaware House now stands, on Penn St. near Third, south of Chester Creek, and where William Penn passed the winter of 1682-83. Jonathan willed it in 1727 to his sons David11 and Joseph12; it was in the family a long time, and was burned 3 mo. 20, 1848.

Caleb Pusey conveyed to Jonathan Ogden2, 2 mo. 3, 1710, 134 acres of land next the original Ogden tract on the southwest. Jonathan, his stepfather, James Thomas, and mother, Martha, conveyed these 134 acres, together with 41 acres of original homestead tract, to Peter Hunter, 7 mo. 30, 1717. Upon these 41 acres was a brick house, doubtless the "new hous" of his father David's will, and which his mother, Martha, must have vacated upon her second marriage, according to the provisions of David's will. James and Martha Thomas were living in Whiteland in 1711.

Jonathan's will was dated 6 mo. 17, 1727, and proved 8 mo. 31, 1727. His father-in-law, George Robinson, and cousin, Jacob Howell, were appointed guardians of his three small children.

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 48)

Notes for Johnathan Ogden:

General Notes:

JONATHAN OGDEN owned the Boar's Head Inn, Chester, Pa., it being a one-and-a-half-story hostelry, where the Delaware House now stands, on Penn St. near Third, south of Chester Creek, and where William Penn passed the winter of 1682-83. Jonathan willed it in 1727 to his sons David11 and Joseph12; it was in the family a long time, and was burned 3 mo. 20, 1848.

Caleb Pusey conveyed to Jonathan Ogden2, 2 mo. 3, 1710, 134 acres of land next the original Ogden tract on the southwest. Jonathan, his stepfather, James Thomas, and mother, Martha, conveyed these 134 acres, together with 41 acres of original homestead tract, to Peter Hunter, 7 mo. 30, 1717. Upon these 41 acres was a brick house, doubtless the "new hous" of his father David's will, and which his mother, Martha, must have vacated upon her second marriage, according to the provisions of David's will. James and Martha Thomas were living in Whiteland in 1711.

Jonathan's will was dated 6 mo. 17, 1727, and proved 8 mo. 31, 1727. His father-in-law, George Robinson, and cousin, Jacob Howell, were appointed guardians of his three small children.

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 48)

Notes for John Ogden:

General Notes:

JOHN OGDEN (David1), b. 5 mo. 4, 1698; d. 2 mo. 6, 1742; 1st m., Phila., 2 mo. 26, 1723, HANNAH DAVIS; 2d m., Phila., 8 mo. 23, 1740, HANNAH OWEN, b. 3 mo. 16, 1720; d. 1 mo. 1791; dau. of Robert Owen and Susanna Hudson, his wife, latter dau. of William Hudson, Mayor of Phila. (HANNAH (Owen) OGDEN afterward m., 6 mo. 7, 1754, JOSEPH WHARTON, b. 8 mo. 4, 1707; d. 7 mo. 27, 1776; son of Thomas and Rachel Wharton, and bore him seven children, the most distinguished of whom was Robert Wharton, Mayor of Phila., Captain of First Troop Phila. City Cavalry, etc.)

JOHN OGDEN7 was a very prominent man of Phila., and his second wife, HANNAH OWEN, came of a notable Welsh family, and was a lineal descendant of Alfred the Great. Her grandfather, Robert Owen, was b. in Merionethshire, Wales, about 1657; died in Merion Township, Phila. Co., 10 mo. 8, 1697, and was buried in the Merion Friends' M't'g Ground. He came to Penna. in 1690. He had m., about 1678, Rebecca Owen, dau. of Owen Humphrey. She d. 8 mo. 23, 1697. Their seventh child, Robert Owen, b. 7 mo. 27, 1695, m., 11 mo. 10, 1716, Susanna, dau. of William Hudson, Mayor of Phila., and a Justice of the Orphans' Court, by Mary, his first wife, dau. of Samuel Richardson, Provincial Councilor, and a Justice of Penna. William Hudson, Mayor of Phila., 1725-26, first m. Mary Richardson, 12 mo. 28, 1688. The governor and council were present at the great social event. Mary d. 12 mo. 17, 1708 (O. S.). He second m., 12 mo. 27, 1709

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 50)

(O. S.), Hannah, wid. of Robert Barber, of Chester, and sister of David Ogden, dec'd, of Middletown, whose son John afterward m. Hudson's granddau., Hannah Owen. HANNAH (Ogden, Barber) HUDSON, second w. of William Hudson d. 1759, aged 99. Her will was proved 9 mo. 12, 1759. (Penna. Mag. Hist. and Biog., vol. xv. p. 342.)

JOHN OGDEN'S7 will was dated 1 mo. 31, 1742, and proved 2 mo. 12, 1742. In it he bequeathed to son JOSEPH31 a brick house on the upper side of High St., a silver tankard, a mahogany writing-desk, and a black velvet suit. To dau. REBECCA32 he left a tenement on the south side of Chestnut St., and the balance of his estate to his wife and son WILLIAM?? when of age. His negroes were not to be separated, but sold together. To his mother, MARTHA (Houlston, Ogden) THOMAS, he left meadow-land, etc., and to brother SAMUEL6 his next best hat. He possessed a framed tricked copy of the Quaker Ogden arms.

As previously stated, his widow, HANNAH (Owen) OGDEN, afterward m., 6 mo. 7, 1754, JOSEPH WHARTON, who was a successful merchant, and lived at Walnut Grove, Southwark, Phila., the scene of the famous Meschianza. The latter was a fete given General Sir William Howe by officers of the British army prior to his departure for England. The Quaker City was given to mirth and feasting, while Washington's army endured hardships at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-78. Major Andre took the leading part in the preparations, and the date appointed was May 18. The name Meschianza was derived from two Italian words,--mescere, to mix, and mischiare, to mingle. Joseph Wharton's mansion was the British headquarters; to it numerous pavilions were erected and lavishly decorated by Andre, Delancey, and other gallant officers for supper- and ball-rooms. Many Tory ladies were present, but the Quakers, Whigs, and many sensible Tories disapproved the whole affair.

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 51)

____________________________________________________

Wills: Abstracts, Book G: 1743 - 1748/9: Philadelphia Co, PA

Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Thera, Jack Bowman, and Judy.

USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial

individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all

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use, including copying files to other sites requires

permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to

any other sites. We encourage links to the state and

county table of contents.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/pafiles.htm

NOTE: Dates are will written and will proved.

OGDEN, JOHN. City of Philadelphia. Tanner.

January 31, 1742/3. February 12, 1742. G.31.

Wife: Hannah. Children: Joseph, William and Rebecca. Mother:

Martha. Brother: Samuel L. Sister: Sarah Solman.

Exec: Hannah Ogden, Samuel Emlin, Enoch Flower.

Wit: Dorothy Waggoner (her mark) and Joseph Brientnall.

Notes for John Ogden:

General Notes:

JOHN OGDEN (David1), b. 5 mo. 4, 1698; d. 2 mo. 6, 1742; 1st m., Phila., 2 mo. 26, 1723, HANNAH DAVIS; 2d m., Phila., 8 mo. 23, 1740, HANNAH OWEN, b. 3 mo. 16, 1720; d. 1 mo. 1791; dau. of Robert Owen and Susanna Hudson, his wife, latter dau. of William Hudson, Mayor of Phila. (HANNAH (Owen) OGDEN afterward m., 6 mo. 7, 1754, JOSEPH WHARTON, b. 8 mo. 4, 1707; d. 7 mo. 27, 1776; son of Thomas and Rachel Wharton, and bore him seven children, the most distinguished of whom was Robert Wharton, Mayor of Phila., Captain of First Troop Phila. City Cavalry, etc.)

JOHN OGDEN7 was a very prominent man of Phila., and his second wife, HANNAH OWEN, came of a notable Welsh family, and was a lineal descendant of Alfred the Great. Her grandfather, Robert Owen, was b. in Merionethshire, Wales, about 1657; died in Merion Township, Phila. Co., 10 mo. 8, 1697, and was buried in the Merion Friends' M't'g Ground. He came to Penna. in 1690. He had m., about 1678, Rebecca Owen, dau. of Owen Humphrey. She d. 8 mo. 23, 1697. Their seventh child, Robert Owen, b. 7 mo. 27, 1695, m., 11 mo. 10, 1716, Susanna, dau. of William Hudson, Mayor of Phila., and a Justice of the Orphans' Court, by Mary, his first wife, dau. of Samuel Richardson, Provincial Councilor, and a Justice of Penna. William Hudson, Mayor of Phila., 1725-26, first m. Mary Richardson, 12 mo. 28, 1688. The governor and council were present at the great social event. Mary d. 12 mo. 17, 1708 (O. S.). He second m., 12 mo. 27, 1709

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 50)

(O. S.), Hannah, wid. of Robert Barber, of Chester, and sister of David Ogden, dec'd, of Middletown, whose son John afterward m. Hudson's granddau., Hannah Owen. HANNAH (Ogden, Barber) HUDSON, second w. of William Hudson d. 1759, aged 99. Her will was proved 9 mo. 12, 1759. (Penna. Mag. Hist. and Biog., vol. xv. p. 342.)

JOHN OGDEN'S7 will was dated 1 mo. 31, 1742, and proved 2 mo. 12, 1742. In it he bequeathed to son JOSEPH31 a brick house on the upper side of High St., a silver tankard, a mahogany writing-desk, and a black velvet suit. To dau. REBECCA32 he left a tenement on the south side of Chestnut St., and the balance of his estate to his wife and son WILLIAM?? when of age. His negroes were not to be separated, but sold together. To his mother, MARTHA (Houlston, Ogden) THOMAS, he left meadow-land, etc., and to brother SAMUEL6 his next best hat. He possessed a framed tricked copy of the Quaker Ogden arms.

As previously stated, his widow, HANNAH (Owen) OGDEN, afterward m., 6 mo. 7, 1754, JOSEPH WHARTON, who was a successful merchant, and lived at Walnut Grove, Southwark, Phila., the scene of the famous Meschianza. The latter was a fete given General Sir William Howe by officers of the British army prior to his departure for England. The Quaker City was given to mirth and feasting, while Washington's army endured hardships at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-78. Major Andre took the leading part in the preparations, and the date appointed was May 18. The name Meschianza was derived from two Italian words,--mescere, to mix, and mischiare, to mingle. Joseph Wharton's mansion was the British headquarters; to it numerous pavilions were erected and lavishly decorated by Andre, Delancey, and other gallant officers for supper- and ball-rooms. Many Tory ladies were present, but the Quakers, Whigs, and many sensible Tories disapproved the whole affair.

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 51)

____________________________________________________

Wills: Abstracts, Book G: 1743 - 1748/9: Philadelphia Co, PA

Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Thera, Jack Bowman, and Judy.

USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial

individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all

notices and submitter information is included. Any other

use, including copying files to other sites requires

permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to

any other sites. We encourage links to the state and

county table of contents.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/pafiles.htm

NOTE: Dates are will written and will proved.

OGDEN, JOHN. City of Philadelphia. Tanner.

January 31, 1742/3. February 12, 1742. G.31.

Wife: Hannah. Children: Joseph, William and Rebecca. Mother:

Martha. Brother: Samuel L. Sister: Sarah Solman.

Exec: Hannah Ogden, Samuel Emlin, Enoch Flower.

Wit: Dorothy Waggoner (her mark) and Joseph Brientnall.

Notes for Hannah Owen:

General Notes:

Wills: Abstracts, Will Book W, 1790-1795, indexed: Philadephia Co, PA

Submitted for use in USGenWeb Archives by Jack Bowman.

jack@bluenet.net [Wills abstracted by a volunteer whose name

has become lost. If you see this, please contact Jack.]

USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial

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NOTE: Dates are will written and will proved.

INDEX: WILL BOOK W

W.65

No. 31 - 1791

WHARTON, Hannah. City of Phil'a. (Widow of Joseph Wharton) Signed Nov. 28. 1786.

Children- William Ogden, Robert, Mary Sykes, Rachel (Wife of William Lewis),

Franklin. Son in Law- Charles Wharton. Exec. Son in Law Charles and Son Robert

Wharton. Witnesses- Campbell, Dick, Eli Canby, John Palmer Junr.

Prov'd. Jan'y. 31. 1791.

Notes for Hannah Owen:

General Notes:

Wills: Abstracts, Will Book W, 1790-1795, indexed: Philadephia Co, PA

Submitted for use in USGenWeb Archives by Jack Bowman.

jack@bluenet.net [Wills abstracted by a volunteer whose name

has become lost. If you see this, please contact Jack.]

USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial

individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all

notices and submitter information is included. Any other

use, including copying files to other sites requires

permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to

any other sites. We encourage links to the state and

county table of contents. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/

NOTE: Dates are will written and will proved.

INDEX: WILL BOOK W

W.65

No. 31 - 1791

WHARTON, Hannah. City of Phil'a. (Widow of Joseph Wharton) Signed Nov. 28. 1786.

Children- William Ogden, Robert, Mary Sykes, Rachel (Wife of William Lewis),

Franklin. Son in Law- Charles Wharton. Exec. Son in Law Charles and Son Robert

Wharton. Witnesses- Campbell, Dick, Eli Canby, John Palmer Junr.

Prov'd. Jan'y. 31. 1791.

Notes for Joseph Ogden:

General Notes:

Wills: Abstracts, Book J: 1748 - 1752: Philadelphia Co, PA

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county table of contents.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/pafiles.htm

NOTE: Dates are will written and will proved.

OGDEN, JOSEPH. [Barbadoes], late City of Philadelphia. Hatter.

July 15, 1749/50. January 24, 1749. J.211.

Mother: Hannah. Brother: William.

Exec: Hannah Ogden, William Mode, Hezekiah Williams [of Barbadoes].

Wit: Joseph Thomas, Augustine Moller, Sarah Campbell (her mark) [of Barbadoes].

Notes for Joseph Ogden:

General Notes:

Wills: Abstracts, Book J: 1748 - 1752: Philadelphia Co, PA

Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Thera, Jack Bowman, and Judy.

USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial

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NOTE: Dates are will written and will proved.

OGDEN, JOSEPH. [Barbadoes], late City of Philadelphia. Hatter.

July 15, 1749/50. January 24, 1749. J.211.

Mother: Hannah. Brother: William.

Exec: Hannah Ogden, William Mode, Hezekiah Williams [of Barbadoes].

Wit: Joseph Thomas, Augustine Moller, Sarah Campbell (her mark) [of Barbadoes].

Notes for Joseph Ogden:

General Notes:

Wills: Abstracts, Book 1 - Part B: 1805 - 1806: Philadelphia Co, PA

Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Thera, Jack Bowman, and Judy.

USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial

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permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to

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county table of contents.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/pafiles.htm

____________________________________________________

NOTE: All contributions welcomed. Full copies of wills gladly added.

NOTE: Dates are will written and will proved.

Alpha Index thanks to Joe..... NOTE: some pages numbers added if not abstracted

to aid in location of the will abstract....

OGDEN, JOSEPH. City of Phila.

January 11, 1805. February 13, 1805. 1.298.

Gives wife household and kitchen furniture and all his

shares in the capital stock in the Bank of U.S. Property in

Philadelphia in tenure of Samuel Howell to dau. Mary Cuthbert, she

paying to wife one half yearly rents.

To dau. Lydia Ogden.

To son-in-law Anthony Cuthbert.

To Deborah Ogden, widow of son George.

To Rebecca McCrea. To Thomas Palmer.

Property in Chester, Del. Co. to Joseph, Elizabeth and Allen,

children of dau. Mary. Cuthbert and to

Joseph, Sarah, Rebecca and Sabina, grandchildren of David Ogden.

Exec: Dau. Lydia Ogden, son-in-law Anthony Cuthbert and friend Joseph Reed.

Wit: Benjn. Vanleer, Hannah Hayes, Charlotte Shaw.

Notes for Joseph Ogden:

General Notes:

Wills: Abstracts, Book 1 - Part B: 1805 - 1806: Philadelphia Co, PA

Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Thera, Jack Bowman, and Judy.

USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial

individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all

notices and submitter information is included. Any other

use, including copying files to other sites requires

permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to

any other sites. We encourage links to the state and

county table of contents.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/pafiles.htm

____________________________________________________

NOTE: All contributions welcomed. Full copies of wills gladly added.

NOTE: Dates are will written and will proved.

Alpha Index thanks to Joe..... NOTE: some pages numbers added if not abstracted

to aid in location of the will abstract....

OGDEN, JOSEPH. City of Phila.

January 11, 1805. February 13, 1805. 1.298.

Gives wife household and kitchen furniture and all his

shares in the capital stock in the Bank of U.S. Property in

Philadelphia in tenure of Samuel Howell to dau. Mary Cuthbert, she

paying to wife one half yearly rents.

To dau. Lydia Ogden.

To son-in-law Anthony Cuthbert.

To Deborah Ogden, widow of son George.

To Rebecca McCrea. To Thomas Palmer.

Property in Chester, Del. Co. to Joseph, Elizabeth and Allen,

children of dau. Mary. Cuthbert and to

Joseph, Sarah, Rebecca and Sabina, grandchildren of David Ogden.

Exec: Dau. Lydia Ogden, son-in-law Anthony Cuthbert and friend Joseph Reed.

Wit: Benjn. Vanleer, Hannah Hayes, Charlotte Shaw.

Notes for William Ogden:

General Notes:

WILLIAM OGDEN35 was a man of exceptionally strong character and of high social position. He served in the Continental army, and was for this reason disowned by the Society of Friends, but was subsequently reinstated. His son, Robert Wharton Ogden92, says in his family Bible that his father, William, "died in the full hope of a blessed resurrection."

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 61)

The Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution's Centennial Register, published in 1990, contains a roster of all men admitted to membership from the time of the Society's inception through December 31, 1988, as well as a roster of all ancestors from whom those men derived eligibility for membership. The Roll of Members in that publication extended to 5,594 names and the Roll of Ancestors to 3,457 names. In the ten and one-half years since that time, the Society has elected 252 new members, who derived eligibility for membership from 95 new ancestors. The names of those men and their ancestors are fully integrated in an online, Second Edition of the Centennial Register: http://www.amrev.org/htdocs/html/fm/REGTOC.shtml

The following data is extracted from that site:

Name of Ancestor Month/Year of Month/Year of

Birth Death

Revolutionary War Service Record

Name(s) of Descendants

William Ogden ---- 1742 Oct. 1818

Private, Capt. Brown's Co., 3rd Regt., Philadelphia, PA Militia, 1780

Thomas Allen Glenn

Thomas Allen Glenn, Jr.

State General Name of Member Year of Year of

Society Society Birth Admission

Number Number

Name(s) of Ancestor(s) Month/Year Month/Year of

of Birth Death

836 9491 Thomas Allen Glenn 1864 1894

William Ogden ---- 1742 Oct. 1818

5242 23727 Thomas Allen Glenn, Jr. 1901 1976

William Ogden ---- 1742 Oct. 1818

Name Captain James Brown III

Birth 2 Feb 1742, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland

MILI: 1777-1778, Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War.59 Age: 34

MILI: He was commissioned Captain, 1778, of a company of foot in Col. William Will's 3rd Pennsylvania Regiment

Burial 1830, Old Kittanning Cemetery, Kittanning, Pennsylvania

Death 6 Nov 1830, Kittanning, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania59

Flags Military

Captain James Brown enlisted in December, 1776, as a private in Captain Alexander Patterson's company, Twelfth Pennsylvania Line, commanded by Colonel William Cooke. He also served in the Third Regiment, Pennsylvania Line. He was engaged at the battles of Monmouth and Brandywine, and at Piscatawa and Short Hills, New Jersey.

Following notes taken fromGenealogies of Pennsylvania Families I, A-He, The Family of John Cornman, Sugar Baker of Philadelphia,

Page 361:

67 See Charles Burr Ogden, The Quaker Ogdens in America (Philadelphia, 1898) for indentification of Robert W. Ogden and his father William Ogden, as well as for the children listed in this present text; also the somewhat confused account of W. A. Newman Dorland, "The Second Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry," in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XLVII (1923), 373, wherein two different William Ogdens are mentioned, but not separated. Robert Ogden's father, William, from 1798 through 1804 kept a tavern at 86 Chestnut Street, identified in the last account cited above, as the Sign of the Cross Keys, northeast corner of Third and Chestnut. It was not in New Market Ward, however, at any time.

68 William Ogden moved to Camden with his son Robert; he was listed in 1818 in Philadelphia directories as a notary public there, but he died that year on 13 May. His son Robert was one of the creditors of Joseph Sims in 1828, as per Deed Book GWR-20, 206: 16 Jan. 1828, R.W. Ogden et al. to Joseph Sims. In 1809 Robert Ogden bought a three story brick house and lot on the southwest corner of Eleventh and George, and in 1829 two contiguous lots on the west side of Henry Street in Spring Garden. See Deed Book MR-13, 152: 1 July 1809, Lillis Paul et al. to Robert W. Ogden and Juliann, his wife; ibid., AM-25,4: 20 Nov. 1829, Horatio B. Pennock to Robert W. Ogden of Camden, N.J.

Appears in 1790 U.S. Census for Philadelphia:

Roll: M637_9

Page: 238

Notes for William Ogden:

General Notes:

WILLIAM OGDEN35 was a man of exceptionally strong character and of high social position. He served in the Continental army, and was for this reason disowned by the Society of Friends, but was subsequently reinstated. His son, Robert Wharton Ogden92, says in his family Bible that his father, William, "died in the full hope of a blessed resurrection."

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 61)

The Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution's Centennial Register, published in 1990, contains a roster of all men admitted to membership from the time of the Society's inception through December 31, 1988, as well as a roster of all ancestors from whom those men derived eligibility for membership. The Roll of Members in that publication extended to 5,594 names and the Roll of Ancestors to 3,457 names. In the ten and one-half years since that time, the Society has elected 252 new members, who derived eligibility for membership from 95 new ancestors. The names of those men and their ancestors are fully integrated in an online, Second Edition of the Centennial Register: http://www.amrev.org/htdocs/html/fm/REGTOC.shtml

The following data is extracted from that site:

Name of Ancestor Month/Year of Month/Year of

Birth Death

Revolutionary War Service Record

Name(s) of Descendants

William Ogden ---- 1742 Oct. 1818

Private, Capt. Brown's Co., 3rd Regt., Philadelphia, PA Militia, 1780

Thomas Allen Glenn

Thomas Allen Glenn, Jr.

State General Name of Member Year of Year of

Society Society Birth Admission

Number Number

Name(s) of Ancestor(s) Month/Year Month/Year of

of Birth Death

836 9491 Thomas Allen Glenn 1864 1894

William Ogden ---- 1742 Oct. 1818

5242 23727 Thomas Allen Glenn, Jr. 1901 1976

William Ogden ---- 1742 Oct. 1818

Name Captain James Brown III

Birth 2 Feb 1742, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland

MILI: 1777-1778, Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War.59 Age: 34

MILI: He was commissioned Captain, 1778, of a company of foot in Col. William Will's 3rd Pennsylvania Regiment

Burial 1830, Old Kittanning Cemetery, Kittanning, Pennsylvania

Death 6 Nov 1830, Kittanning, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania59

Flags Military

Captain James Brown enlisted in December, 1776, as a private in Captain Alexander Patterson's company, Twelfth Pennsylvania Line, commanded by Colonel William Cooke. He also served in the Third Regiment, Pennsylvania Line. He was engaged at the battles of Monmouth and Brandywine, and at Piscatawa and Short Hills, New Jersey.

Following notes taken fromGenealogies of Pennsylvania Families I, A-He, The Family of John Cornman, Sugar Baker of Philadelphia,

Page 361:

67 See Charles Burr Ogden, The Quaker Ogdens in America (Philadelphia, 1898) for indentification of Robert W. Ogden and his father William Ogden, as well as for the children listed in this present text; also the somewhat confused account of W. A. Newman Dorland, "The Second Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry," in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XLVII (1923), 373, wherein two different William Ogdens are mentioned, but not separated. Robert Ogden's father, William, from 1798 through 1804 kept a tavern at 86 Chestnut Street, identified in the last account cited above, as the Sign of the Cross Keys, northeast corner of Third and Chestnut. It was not in New Market Ward, however, at any time.

68 William Ogden moved to Camden with his son Robert; he was listed in 1818 in Philadelphia directories as a notary public there, but he died that year on 13 May. His son Robert was one of the creditors of Joseph Sims in 1828, as per Deed Book GWR-20, 206: 16 Jan. 1828, R.W. Ogden et al. to Joseph Sims. In 1809 Robert Ogden bought a three story brick house and lot on the southwest corner of Eleventh and George, and in 1829 two contiguous lots on the west side of Henry Street in Spring Garden. See Deed Book MR-13, 152: 1 July 1809, Lillis Paul et al. to Robert W. Ogden and Juliann, his wife; ibid., AM-25,4: 20 Nov. 1829, Horatio B. Pennock to Robert W. Ogden of Camden, N.J.

Appears in 1790 U.S. Census for Philadelphia:

Roll: M637_9

Page: 238

Notes for William Ogden:

General Notes:

WILLIAM OGDEN35 was a man of exceptionally strong character and of high social position. He served in the Continental army, and was for this reason disowned by the Society of Friends, but was subsequently reinstated. His son, Robert Wharton Ogden92, says in his family Bible that his father, William, "died in the full hope of a blessed resurrection."

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 61)

The Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution's Centennial Register, published in 1990, contains a roster of all men admitted to membership from the time of the Society's inception through December 31, 1988, as well as a roster of all ancestors from whom those men derived eligibility for membership. The Roll of Members in that publication extended to 5,594 names and the Roll of Ancestors to 3,457 names. In the ten and one-half years since that time, the Society has elected 252 new members, who derived eligibility for membership from 95 new ancestors. The names of those men and their ancestors are fully integrated in an online, Second Edition of the Centennial Register: http://www.amrev.org/htdocs/html/fm/REGTOC.shtml

The following data is extracted from that site:

Name of Ancestor Month/Year of Month/Year of

Birth Death

Revolutionary War Service Record

Name(s) of Descendants

William Ogden ---- 1742 Oct. 1818

Private, Capt. Brown's Co., 3rd Regt., Philadelphia, PA Militia, 1780

Thomas Allen Glenn

Thomas Allen Glenn, Jr.

State General Name of Member Year of Year of

Society Society Birth Admission

Number Number

Name(s) of Ancestor(s) Month/Year Month/Year of

of Birth Death

836 9491 Thomas Allen Glenn 1864 1894

William Ogden ---- 1742 Oct. 1818

5242 23727 Thomas Allen Glenn, Jr. 1901 1976

William Ogden ---- 1742 Oct. 1818

Name Captain James Brown III

Birth 2 Feb 1742, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland

MILI: 1777-1778, Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War.59 Age: 34

MILI: He was commissioned Captain, 1778, of a company of foot in Col. William Will's 3rd Pennsylvania Regiment

Burial 1830, Old Kittanning Cemetery, Kittanning, Pennsylvania

Death 6 Nov 1830, Kittanning, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania59

Flags Military

Captain James Brown enlisted in December, 1776, as a private in Captain Alexander Patterson's company, Twelfth Pennsylvania Line, commanded by Colonel William Cooke. He also served in the Third Regiment, Pennsylvania Line. He was engaged at the battles of Monmouth and Brandywine, and at Piscatawa and Short Hills, New Jersey.

Following notes taken fromGenealogies of Pennsylvania Families I, A-He, The Family of John Cornman, Sugar Baker of Philadelphia,

Page 361:

67 See Charles Burr Ogden, The Quaker Ogdens in America (Philadelphia, 1898) for indentification of Robert W. Ogden and his father William Ogden, as well as for the children listed in this present text; also the somewhat confused account of W. A. Newman Dorland, "The Second Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry," in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XLVII (1923), 373, wherein two different William Ogdens are mentioned, but not separated. Robert Ogden's father, William, from 1798 through 1804 kept a tavern at 86 Chestnut Street, identified in the last account cited above, as the Sign of the Cross Keys, northeast corner of Third and Chestnut. It was not in New Market Ward, however, at any time.

68 William Ogden moved to Camden with his son Robert; he was listed in 1818 in Philadelphia directories as a notary public there, but he died that year on 13 May. His son Robert was one of the creditors of Joseph Sims in 1828, as per Deed Book GWR-20, 206: 16 Jan. 1828, R.W. Ogden et al. to Joseph Sims. In 1809 Robert Ogden bought a three story brick house and lot on the southwest corner of Eleventh and George, and in 1829 two contiguous lots on the west side of Henry Street in Spring Garden. See Deed Book MR-13, 152: 1 July 1809, Lillis Paul et al. to Robert W. Ogden and Juliann, his wife; ibid., AM-25,4: 20 Nov. 1829, Horatio B. Pennock to Robert W. Ogden of Camden, N.J.

Appears in 1790 U.S. Census for Philadelphia:

Roll: M637_9

Page: 238

Notes for Marie Pinniard:

General Notes:

OGDEN, Mary (Pinniard)

Birth Date: 174? Birth Place:

Volume: 127 Page Number: 201

Reference: Ten "Series" of "Pennsylvnia Archives" have been so far published in from 5 to 31v. Ea. Philadelphia and Harrisburg. 1852- ( We have indexed Series 2, v.2 and v.8 ( early Pa. marriage recds.) And all the v. of SeriesV. Which contain nearly complete Pa. Rev. War recds.)s.2,

PINNIARD, Mary

Birth Date: 174? Birth Place: Pennsylvania

Volume: 137 Page Number: 295

Reference: Ten "Series" of "Pennsylvnia Archives" have been so far published in from 5 to 31v. Ea. Philadelphia and Harrisburg. 1852- ( We have indexed Series 2, v.2 and v.8 ( early Pa. marriage recds.) And all the v. of SeriesV. Which contain nearly complete Pa. Rev. War recds.)s.2, v.2:197

Notes for Hezekiah Niles Jr.:

General Notes:

Founder and editor of Niles' Weekly Register, of Baltimore, MD

He and his father are mentioned in Wilmington, DE MM records:

NILES

Hezekiah Dis 7-16-1777

Mary Way d 11- 2-1806

m 7-17-1766, Wilmington MM

Ch: Hezekiah b

"has so far deviated fr our principles as to be active

as an assistant to the commissary of the army, & not

withstanding friends labour to convince him of the

inconsistancy thereof with the peaceable principles we

profess in (although he says he has declined the service

on account of outward convenience). Yet he continues to

justify his conduct in the said business."--Statement of

Disownment

Hezekiah s Hezekiah & Mary

Cert, as a minor, to Philadelphia MM, 7-16-1794

(Herbert Standing, Delaware Quaker Records: Wilmington, (Wilmington, DE 1900), p. 230.)

Hezekiah Niles was a publisher who advocated a nationalist economics in order to assure the States an economic self-sufficiency in keeping with its political independence. Niles was born in 1777 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where his parents had sought refuge from advancing British troops in their native Wilmington. Apprenticed to a printer in Philadelphia at the age of 17, Niles worked there and in Wilmington until 1805, when he moved to Baltimore to become editor of the Evening Post. In 1811, he began to publish the Weekly Register, the single most popular periodical of its time, and considered the world over to be an indispensable source of information on the United States for the next twenty-five years. Although a Jeffersonian Democratic Republican, Niles ardently supported Carey and Hamilton's vision of an industrial-based economic self-sufficiency. Intensely patriotic, he also advocated protectionism as the means to encourage American industry.

Niles' literary output was prolific; he wrote essays and articles on almost every conceivable subject, including the tariff, protection, banking, politics, emancipation of the slaves, the Erie canal, as well as a valuable sourcebook, Principles and Acts of the American Revolution. He never held office, but was influential in Maryland politics for many years before returning to Wilmington at the end of his life. He died in 1839.

(source: http://archives.mse.jhu.edu/mss/mshut014.txt)

The Editor who Tried to Stop the Civil War

Hezekiah Niles and the New South

We know a great deal about the many people and forces pulling the nation apart in the decades before the Civil War; but more attention is certainly due t

NILES, Hezekiah

Date: 04-01-1839

04-04-1839 - Nat'l Intelligencer - Obit Notice

NILES, Hezekiah, editor of Niles' Weekly, died at Wilmington, Delaware, where he had resided for a year or 2, April

1, 1839. (April 4, 1839).

[Abstracts of Marriages and Deaths from National Intelligencer, 1839, Page 1126]

Possibly a daughter named Elizabeth:

1 ISRAEL CONVERSE YORK, born in Rochester, Vt., 15 March 1807; married, 1st, in 1832, Elizabeth Niles of Baltimore, Md., who died in 1834

Extract from article (Niles Register and the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Morris) published inthe Supreme Court Historical Society 1978 Yearbook:

Hezekiah Niles began his Register before 'he was thirty-four years old.[5] Born October 10, 1777, Niles' early years were spent in 'Wilmington, Delaware. At seventeen he was apprenticed to a printer in Philadelphia, then the nation's capital, where he spent several years learning typesetting and bookbinding. Breathing the air of budding party rivalries, he became a Jeffersonian Republican, writing articles supporting Jefferson in the 1796 election.

Niles returned to Wilmington where he spent a decade as a printer.[6] Along with typical job printing, he produced a two-volume edition of the political writings of the prominent Delaware Republican, John Dickinson.[7] He also edited and published the state's first literary magazine, Apollo, or, Delaware Weekly Magazine, which survived eight months, about average for magazines of the time. Involved with the Democratic Republican Party, he was elected town clerk and Assistant Burgess of Wilmington, holding each office twice.

After his second publishing partnership and his literary magazine failed, Niles moved to Baltimore, then a major commercial center, the nation's third largest city (and soon to be its second), a city with genuine cultural aspirations. There, he operated a book and stationery store from 1805 to 1811 and became editor of the four-page daily (three pages were ads) Evening Post, Baltimore mouth of the Democratic Republican Party, a newspaper typical of the partisan press of its time.[8]

The Evening Post was sold in June 1811. Two weeks later, Niles issued a prospectus for a new newspaper. The first issue of Niles Register was published on September 7, 1811. For twenty-five years, his editorial responsibilities and relations with his readers were Niles' chief interest. He did, however, find the time to produce an anthology of primary source materials on the American Revolution,[9] to participate in two national tariff conventions, and in local, state and national politics.

He first served on the First Branch of the City Council of Baltimore and participated in such varied civic groups as the Abolition Society, Fire Company, and Typographical Society. He is reported to have loved good food, wine and tobacco. He must have loved home, hearth and family–he had twelve children by his first wife, Anne, and another eight by his second wife, Sally. He died in Wilmington at sixty-one, after suffering a stroke, on April 2, 1839. The Baltimore Chronicle wrote of him:

frank, honorable, independent and truly republican spirit, simple in his manners, and habits, affectionate to his family, liberal to those who he employed in the prosecution of his business, disinterested and public spirited.[10]

[5] The major works on Niles are Lucon, op. cit.; Richard Gabriel Stone, Hezekiah Niles as an Economist, The Johns Hopkins Studies in Historical and Political Sciences, Series LI Number 5 (Baltimore, 1933. See also, Dictionary of American Biography, vol. XIII, p. 521-522).

[6] Niles' Wilmington career is discussed in John Thomas Guerther, "Hezekiah Niles, Wilmington Printer and Editor," Delaware History, XVII (Spring-Summer 1976) No. 1, pp. 37-53.

[7] John Dickinson, The Political Writings of John Dickinson (Wilmington, 1801).

[8] In 1809 Niles' partisan commentaries in the Evening Post on federalist speeches and statements were published in book form as Things As They Are; or Federalism Turned Inside Out! Being a Collection of Extracts From Federal Papers, &c and Remarks upon Them Originally Written for, and Published in the Evening Post (Baltimore, 1809).

[9] Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America (Baltimore, 1822), republished by Samuel V. Niles (New York: 1876), republished and edited by Alden T. Vaughan, supra n. 2.

[10] Quoted in Luxon, op. cit., p. 64. = Norval Neil Luxon, Niles Weekly Register; News Magazine of the Nineteenth Century (Baton Rouge, 1947)

Hezekiah Niles

1777-1839

Birth: October 10, 1777 in Pennsylvania, United States

Death: April 2, 1839

Occupation: Editor

Source: Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Biographical Essay

Further Readings

Source Citation

BIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY

Niles, Hezekiah (Oct. 10, 1777 - Apr. 2, 1839), editor, was born at Jefferis' Ford, Chester County, Pa., whither his parents had gone for safety just before the battle of the Brandywine. His father, Hezekiah Niles, a plane-maker of Philadelphia, had married Mary Way of Wilmington, Del., and moved to the latter place. Both were of the Quaker faith, though the father was "disowned" a few years after going to Wilmington. Though definite record is lacking, it is probable that the younger Hezekiah attended the Friends' School in Wilmington. At seventeen he was apprenticed to Benjamin Johnson, a printer of Philadelphia, with whom he worked for three years, until 1797, when he was released because of his master's lack of funds. Niles's first writing was done in Philadelphia; in 1794 he published in newspapers several essays favoring protection, and in 1796 arguments against Jay's Treaty. He married Ann, daughter of William Ogden, of Wilmington, May 17, 1798, and they had twelve children. She died in 1824, and two years later Niles married Sally Ann Warner, by whom he had eight children. At the time of his second marriage he was described by an acquaintance as "a short stout-built man, stooping as he walked, speaking in a high key, addicted to snuff, and with a keen gray eye, that lighted up a plain face with shrewd expression" (J. E. Semmes, John H. B. Latrobe and His Times, 1917, p. 184).

Upon returning to Wilmington in 1797 Niles assisted in publishing an almanac and did job printing. After two years he formed a partnership with Vincent Bonsal, but the partnership was dissolved because of losses incurred in the publication of The Political Writings of John Dickinson (2 vols., 1801). In 1805, following the failure of a short-lived literary magazine, the Apollo, Niles moved to Baltimore and became editor of the Baltimore Evening Post. This paper supported the Jeffersonian party in all of its policies; it was sold in June 1811, and Niles immediately issued the prospectus for his Weekly Register (later Niles' Weekly Register) which after seven years of publication had over 10,000 subscribers. This paper he edited and published until 1836, with the assistance of his son, William Ogden Niles, from 1827 to 1830, and on it his reputation is based. In these twenty-five years he made it the strongest and most consistent advocate of union, internal improvements, and protection to industry, in the country. Niles was probably as influential as any in the nationalist economic school which sponsored the American System after the War of 1812. He was the intimate associate of Mathew Carey and Henry Clay. He was a principal mover in the protectionist conventions at Harrisburg in 1827 and at New York in 1831; for the former he wrote the address to the people of the United States; of the latter he was the chief secretary (Niles' Weekly Register, Aug. 11, Oct. 13, 1827; Nov. 5, 1831). In each instance he gave spirit and form to the work of the convention, and utilized, besides, his remarkable talents and opportunities as a propagandist in its behalf. His opinions and advocacies developed as he advanced. He opposed the recharter of the first Bank of the United States in 1811, believing it to be unconstitutional and a harmful monopoly. But he espoused the recharter of the second Bank of the United States in Jackson's administration, declaring that it had become a necessity to prosperity. In politics, Niles was a Jeffersonian until 1816 or 1817, when he described himself as a no-party man. On Jan. 10, 1824, he wrote: "I cannot believe that either [Jackson or Calhoun] will be elected, and should regret votes thrown away. I esteem both, personally and politically; and though my private wish is rather for Mr. Adams, I shall be content to accept any other than Mr. Crawford" (Darlington Collection, post). When Jackson came into office in 1829, Niles differed sharply with his policies, and became a Whig.

Niles devoted many editorials to the institution of slavery, which he declared should be abolished, though gradually. While in Delaware he was an officer of the state abolition society. In his arguments for the protective tariff, he exerted himself with much ingenuity to win the agricultural interest to his side. His writing was characterized by vigor and decision. He was a tireless worker, and supplied statistical evidence where many in his group were content with eloquence. Besides a number of pamphlets, he published the Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America (1822). He never held national office, but in Wilmington was twice town clerk and twice assistant burgess; in Baltimore he served two terms in the first branch of the city council. He was elected and reëlected (1818-19) grand high priest by the Masonic Order in Maryland. He was a leading figure in the Baltimore Typographical Society. He died in Wilmington.

-- Broadus Mitchell

FURTHER READINGS

[R. G. Stone, Hezekiah Niles as an Economist (1933); biographical notices in Niles' National Register (as it was then called), Apr. 6, 13, 1839; Philadelphia North American, Apr. 4, 1839; Baltimore Patriot and Commercial Gazette, Apr. 3, 1839; "Village Record, West Chester, Pa., Notae Cestrienses, No. 34," in Genealogical Soc. of Pa. Colls. The Register is the best source for his opinions and activities. See also Clay and Darlington collections in MSS. Div., Lib. of Cong.; E. T. Schultz, Hist. of Freemasonry in Md., II (1855); J. S. Futhey and Gilbert Cope, Hist. of Chester County, Pa. (1881); Edward Stanwood, Am. Tariff Controversies in the Nineteenth Century (1903), vol. I.]

SOURCE CITATION

"Hezekiah Niles."Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936.

Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2004. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC

Notes for Hezekiah Niles Jr.:

General Notes:

Founder and editor of Niles' Weekly Register, of Baltimore, MD

He and his father are mentioned in Wilmington, DE MM records:

NILES

Hezekiah Dis 7-16-1777

Mary Way d 11- 2-1806

m 7-17-1766, Wilmington MM

Ch: Hezekiah b

"has so far deviated fr our principles as to be active

as an assistant to the commissary of the army, & not

withstanding friends labour to convince him of the

inconsistancy thereof with the peaceable principles we

profess in (although he says he has declined the service

on account of outward convenience). Yet he continues to

justify his conduct in the said business."--Statement of

Disownment

Hezekiah s Hezekiah & Mary

Cert, as a minor, to Philadelphia MM, 7-16-1794

(Herbert Standing, Delaware Quaker Records: Wilmington, (Wilmington, DE 1900), p. 230.)

Hezekiah Niles was a publisher who advocated a nationalist economics in order to assure the States an economic self-sufficiency in keeping with its political independence. Niles was born in 1777 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where his parents had sought refuge from advancing British troops in their native Wilmington. Apprenticed to a printer in Philadelphia at the age of 17, Niles worked there and in Wilmington until 1805, when he moved to Baltimore to become editor of the Evening Post. In 1811, he began to publish the Weekly Register, the single most popular periodical of its time, and considered the world over to be an indispensable source of information on the United States for the next twenty-five years. Although a Jeffersonian Democratic Republican, Niles ardently supported Carey and Hamilton's vision of an industrial-based economic self-sufficiency. Intensely patriotic, he also advocated protectionism as the means to encourage American industry.

Niles' literary output was prolific; he wrote essays and articles on almost every conceivable subject, including the tariff, protection, banking, politics, emancipation of the slaves, the Erie canal, as well as a valuable sourcebook, Principles and Acts of the American Revolution. He never held office, but was influential in Maryland politics for many years before returning to Wilmington at the end of his life. He died in 1839.

(source: http://archives.mse.jhu.edu/mss/mshut014.txt)

The Editor who Tried to Stop the Civil War

Hezekiah Niles and the New South

We know a great deal about the many people and forces pulling the nation apart in the decades before the Civil War; but more attention is certainly due t

NILES, Hezekiah

Date: 04-01-1839

04-04-1839 - Nat'l Intelligencer - Obit Notice

NILES, Hezekiah, editor of Niles' Weekly, died at Wilmington, Delaware, where he had resided for a year or 2, April

1, 1839. (April 4, 1839).

[Abstracts of Marriages and Deaths from National Intelligencer, 1839, Page 1126]

Possibly a daughter named Elizabeth:

1 ISRAEL CONVERSE YORK, born in Rochester, Vt., 15 March 1807; married, 1st, in 1832, Elizabeth Niles of Baltimore, Md., who died in 1834

Extract from article (Niles Register and the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Morris) published inthe Supreme Court Historical Society 1978 Yearbook:

Hezekiah Niles began his Register before 'he was thirty-four years old.[5] Born October 10, 1777, Niles' early years were spent in 'Wilmington, Delaware. At seventeen he was apprenticed to a printer in Philadelphia, then the nation's capital, where he spent several years learning typesetting and bookbinding. Breathing the air of budding party rivalries, he became a Jeffersonian Republican, writing articles supporting Jefferson in the 1796 election.

Niles returned to Wilmington where he spent a decade as a printer.[6] Along with typical job printing, he produced a two-volume edition of the political writings of the prominent Delaware Republican, John Dickinson.[7] He also edited and published the state's first literary magazine, Apollo, or, Delaware Weekly Magazine, which survived eight months, about average for magazines of the time. Involved with the Democratic Republican Party, he was elected town clerk and Assistant Burgess of Wilmington, holding each office twice.

After his second publishing partnership and his literary magazine failed, Niles moved to Baltimore, then a major commercial center, the nation's third largest city (and soon to be its second), a city with genuine cultural aspirations. There, he operated a book and stationery store from 1805 to 1811 and became editor of the four-page daily (three pages were ads) Evening Post, Baltimore mouth of the Democratic Republican Party, a newspaper typical of the partisan press of its time.[8]

The Evening Post was sold in June 1811. Two weeks later, Niles issued a prospectus for a new newspaper. The first issue of Niles Register was published on September 7, 1811. For twenty-five years, his editorial responsibilities and relations with his readers were Niles' chief interest. He did, however, find the time to produce an anthology of primary source materials on the American Revolution,[9] to participate in two national tariff conventions, and in local, state and national politics.

He first served on the First Branch of the City Council of Baltimore and participated in such varied civic groups as the Abolition Society, Fire Company, and Typographical Society. He is reported to have loved good food, wine and tobacco. He must have loved home, hearth and family–he had twelve children by his first wife, Anne, and another eight by his second wife, Sally. He died in Wilmington at sixty-one, after suffering a stroke, on April 2, 1839. The Baltimore Chronicle wrote of him:

frank, honorable, independent and truly republican spirit, simple in his manners, and habits, affectionate to his family, liberal to those who he employed in the prosecution of his business, disinterested and public spirited.[10]

[5] The major works on Niles are Lucon, op. cit.; Richard Gabriel Stone, Hezekiah Niles as an Economist, The Johns Hopkins Studies in Historical and Political Sciences, Series LI Number 5 (Baltimore, 1933. See also, Dictionary of American Biography, vol. XIII, p. 521-522).

[6] Niles' Wilmington career is discussed in John Thomas Guerther, "Hezekiah Niles, Wilmington Printer and Editor," Delaware History, XVII (Spring-Summer 1976) No. 1, pp. 37-53.

[7] John Dickinson, The Political Writings of John Dickinson (Wilmington, 1801).

[8] In 1809 Niles' partisan commentaries in the Evening Post on federalist speeches and statements were published in book form as Things As They Are; or Federalism Turned Inside Out! Being a Collection of Extracts From Federal Papers, &c and Remarks upon Them Originally Written for, and Published in the Evening Post (Baltimore, 1809).

[9] Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America (Baltimore, 1822), republished by Samuel V. Niles (New York: 1876), republished and edited by Alden T. Vaughan, supra n. 2.

[10] Quoted in Luxon, op. cit., p. 64. = Norval Neil Luxon, Niles Weekly Register; News Magazine of the Nineteenth Century (Baton Rouge, 1947)

Hezekiah Niles

1777-1839

Birth: October 10, 1777 in Pennsylvania, United States

Death: April 2, 1839

Occupation: Editor

Source: Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Biographical Essay

Further Readings

Source Citation

BIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY

Niles, Hezekiah (Oct. 10, 1777 - Apr. 2, 1839), editor, was born at Jefferis' Ford, Chester County, Pa., whither his parents had gone for safety just before the battle of the Brandywine. His father, Hezekiah Niles, a plane-maker of Philadelphia, had married Mary Way of Wilmington, Del., and moved to the latter place. Both were of the Quaker faith, though the father was "disowned" a few years after going to Wilmington. Though definite record is lacking, it is probable that the younger Hezekiah attended the Friends' School in Wilmington. At seventeen he was apprenticed to Benjamin Johnson, a printer of Philadelphia, with whom he worked for three years, until 1797, when he was released because of his master's lack of funds. Niles's first writing was done in Philadelphia; in 1794 he published in newspapers several essays favoring protection, and in 1796 arguments against Jay's Treaty. He married Ann, daughter of William Ogden, of Wilmington, May 17, 1798, and they had twelve children. She died in 1824, and two years later Niles married Sally Ann Warner, by whom he had eight children. At the time of his second marriage he was described by an acquaintance as "a short stout-built man, stooping as he walked, speaking in a high key, addicted to snuff, and with a keen gray eye, that lighted up a plain face with shrewd expression" (J. E. Semmes, John H. B. Latrobe and His Times, 1917, p. 184).

Upon returning to Wilmington in 1797 Niles assisted in publishing an almanac and did job printing. After two years he formed a partnership with Vincent Bonsal, but the partnership was dissolved because of losses incurred in the publication of The Political Writings of John Dickinson (2 vols., 1801). In 1805, following the failure of a short-lived literary magazine, the Apollo, Niles moved to Baltimore and became editor of the Baltimore Evening Post. This paper supported the Jeffersonian party in all of its policies; it was sold in June 1811, and Niles immediately issued the prospectus for his Weekly Register (later Niles' Weekly Register) which after seven years of publication had over 10,000 subscribers. This paper he edited and published until 1836, with the assistance of his son, William Ogden Niles, from 1827 to 1830, and on it his reputation is based. In these twenty-five years he made it the strongest and most consistent advocate of union, internal improvements, and protection to industry, in the country. Niles was probably as influential as any in the nationalist economic school which sponsored the American System after the War of 1812. He was the intimate associate of Mathew Carey and Henry Clay. He was a principal mover in the protectionist conventions at Harrisburg in 1827 and at New York in 1831; for the former he wrote the address to the people of the United States; of the latter he was the chief secretary (Niles' Weekly Register, Aug. 11, Oct. 13, 1827; Nov. 5, 1831). In each instance he gave spirit and form to the work of the convention, and utilized, besides, his remarkable talents and opportunities as a propagandist in its behalf. His opinions and advocacies developed as he advanced. He opposed the recharter of the first Bank of the United States in 1811, believing it to be unconstitutional and a harmful monopoly. But he espoused the recharter of the second Bank of the United States in Jackson's administration, declaring that it had become a necessity to prosperity. In politics, Niles was a Jeffersonian until 1816 or 1817, when he described himself as a no-party man. On Jan. 10, 1824, he wrote: "I cannot believe that either [Jackson or Calhoun] will be elected, and should regret votes thrown away. I esteem both, personally and politically; and though my private wish is rather for Mr. Adams, I shall be content to accept any other than Mr. Crawford" (Darlington Collection, post). When Jackson came into office in 1829, Niles differed sharply with his policies, and became a Whig.

Niles devoted many editorials to the institution of slavery, which he declared should be abolished, though gradually. While in Delaware he was an officer of the state abolition society. In his arguments for the protective tariff, he exerted himself with much ingenuity to win the agricultural interest to his side. His writing was characterized by vigor and decision. He was a tireless worker, and supplied statistical evidence where many in his group were content with eloquence. Besides a number of pamphlets, he published the Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America (1822). He never held national office, but in Wilmington was twice town clerk and twice assistant burgess; in Baltimore he served two terms in the first branch of the city council. He was elected and reëlected (1818-19) grand high priest by the Masonic Order in Maryland. He was a leading figure in the Baltimore Typographical Society. He died in Wilmington.

-- Broadus Mitchell

FURTHER READINGS

[R. G. Stone, Hezekiah Niles as an Economist (1933); biographical notices in Niles' National Register (as it was then called), Apr. 6, 13, 1839; Philadelphia North American, Apr. 4, 1839; Baltimore Patriot and Commercial Gazette, Apr. 3, 1839; "Village Record, West Chester, Pa., Notae Cestrienses, No. 34," in Genealogical Soc. of Pa. Colls. The Register is the best source for his opinions and activities. See also Clay and Darlington collections in MSS. Div., Lib. of Cong.; E. T. Schultz, Hist. of Freemasonry in Md., II (1855); J. S. Futhey and Gilbert Cope, Hist. of Chester County, Pa. (1881); Edward Stanwood, Am. Tariff Controversies in the Nineteenth Century (1903), vol. I.]

SOURCE CITATION

"Hezekiah Niles."Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936.

Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2004. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC

Notes for Hezekiah Niles Jr.:

General Notes:

Founder and editor of Niles' Weekly Register, of Baltimore, MD

He and his father are mentioned in Wilmington, DE MM records:

NILES

Hezekiah Dis 7-16-1777

Mary Way d 11- 2-1806

m 7-17-1766, Wilmington MM

Ch: Hezekiah b

"has so far deviated fr our principles as to be active

as an assistant to the commissary of the army, & not

withstanding friends labour to convince him of the

inconsistancy thereof with the peaceable principles we

profess in (although he says he has declined the service

on account of outward convenience). Yet he continues to

justify his conduct in the said business."--Statement of

Disownment

Hezekiah s Hezekiah & Mary

Cert, as a minor, to Philadelphia MM, 7-16-1794

(Herbert Standing, Delaware Quaker Records: Wilmington, (Wilmington, DE 1900), p. 230.)

Hezekiah Niles was a publisher who advocated a nationalist economics in order to assure the States an economic self-sufficiency in keeping with its political independence. Niles was born in 1777 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where his parents had sought refuge from advancing British troops in their native Wilmington. Apprenticed to a printer in Philadelphia at the age of 17, Niles worked there and in Wilmington until 1805, when he moved to Baltimore to become editor of the Evening Post. In 1811, he began to publish the Weekly Register, the single most popular periodical of its time, and considered the world over to be an indispensable source of information on the United States for the next twenty-five years. Although a Jeffersonian Democratic Republican, Niles ardently supported Carey and Hamilton's vision of an industrial-based economic self-sufficiency. Intensely patriotic, he also advocated protectionism as the means to encourage American industry.

Niles' literary output was prolific; he wrote essays and articles on almost every conceivable subject, including the tariff, protection, banking, politics, emancipation of the slaves, the Erie canal, as well as a valuable sourcebook, Principles and Acts of the American Revolution. He never held office, but was influential in Maryland politics for many years before returning to Wilmington at the end of his life. He died in 1839.

(source: http://archives.mse.jhu.edu/mss/mshut014.txt)

The Editor who Tried to Stop the Civil War

Hezekiah Niles and the New South

We know a great deal about the many people and forces pulling the nation apart in the decades before the Civil War; but more attention is certainly due t

NILES, Hezekiah

Date: 04-01-1839

04-04-1839 - Nat'l Intelligencer - Obit Notice

NILES, Hezekiah, editor of Niles' Weekly, died at Wilmington, Delaware, where he had resided for a year or 2, April

1, 1839. (April 4, 1839).

[Abstracts of Marriages and Deaths from National Intelligencer, 1839, Page 1126]

Possibly a daughter named Elizabeth:

1 ISRAEL CONVERSE YORK, born in Rochester, Vt., 15 March 1807; married, 1st, in 1832, Elizabeth Niles of Baltimore, Md., who died in 1834

Extract from article (Niles Register and the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Morris) published inthe Supreme Court Historical Society 1978 Yearbook:

Hezekiah Niles began his Register before 'he was thirty-four years old.[5] Born October 10, 1777, Niles' early years were spent in 'Wilmington, Delaware. At seventeen he was apprenticed to a printer in Philadelphia, then the nation's capital, where he spent several years learning typesetting and bookbinding. Breathing the air of budding party rivalries, he became a Jeffersonian Republican, writing articles supporting Jefferson in the 1796 election.

Niles returned to Wilmington where he spent a decade as a printer.[6] Along with typical job printing, he produced a two-volume edition of the political writings of the prominent Delaware Republican, John Dickinson.[7] He also edited and published the state's first literary magazine, Apollo, or, Delaware Weekly Magazine, which survived eight months, about average for magazines of the time. Involved with the Democratic Republican Party, he was elected town clerk and Assistant Burgess of Wilmington, holding each office twice.

After his second publishing partnership and his literary magazine failed, Niles moved to Baltimore, then a major commercial center, the nation's third largest city (and soon to be its second), a city with genuine cultural aspirations. There, he operated a book and stationery store from 1805 to 1811 and became editor of the four-page daily (three pages were ads) Evening Post, Baltimore mouth of the Democratic Republican Party, a newspaper typical of the partisan press of its time.[8]

The Evening Post was sold in June 1811. Two weeks later, Niles issued a prospectus for a new newspaper. The first issue of Niles Register was published on September 7, 1811. For twenty-five years, his editorial responsibilities and relations with his readers were Niles' chief interest. He did, however, find the time to produce an anthology of primary source materials on the American Revolution,[9] to participate in two national tariff conventions, and in local, state and national politics.

He first served on the First Branch of the City Council of Baltimore and participated in such varied civic groups as the Abolition Society, Fire Company, and Typographical Society. He is reported to have loved good food, wine and tobacco. He must have loved home, hearth and family–he had twelve children by his first wife, Anne, and another eight by his second wife, Sally. He died in Wilmington at sixty-one, after suffering a stroke, on April 2, 1839. The Baltimore Chronicle wrote of him:

frank, honorable, independent and truly republican spirit, simple in his manners, and habits, affectionate to his family, liberal to those who he employed in the prosecution of his business, disinterested and public spirited.[10]

[5] The major works on Niles are Lucon, op. cit.; Richard Gabriel Stone, Hezekiah Niles as an Economist, The Johns Hopkins Studies in Historical and Political Sciences, Series LI Number 5 (Baltimore, 1933. See also, Dictionary of American Biography, vol. XIII, p. 521-522).

[6] Niles' Wilmington career is discussed in John Thomas Guerther, "Hezekiah Niles, Wilmington Printer and Editor," Delaware History, XVII (Spring-Summer 1976) No. 1, pp. 37-53.

[7] John Dickinson, The Political Writings of John Dickinson (Wilmington, 1801).

[8] In 1809 Niles' partisan commentaries in the Evening Post on federalist speeches and statements were published in book form as Things As They Are; or Federalism Turned Inside Out! Being a Collection of Extracts From Federal Papers, &c and Remarks upon Them Originally Written for, and Published in the Evening Post (Baltimore, 1809).

[9] Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America (Baltimore, 1822), republished by Samuel V. Niles (New York: 1876), republished and edited by Alden T. Vaughan, supra n. 2.

[10] Quoted in Luxon, op. cit., p. 64. = Norval Neil Luxon, Niles Weekly Register; News Magazine of the Nineteenth Century (Baton Rouge, 1947)

Hezekiah Niles

1777-1839

Birth: October 10, 1777 in Pennsylvania, United States

Death: April 2, 1839

Occupation: Editor

Source: Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Biographical Essay

Further Readings

Source Citation

BIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY

Niles, Hezekiah (Oct. 10, 1777 - Apr. 2, 1839), editor, was born at Jefferis' Ford, Chester County, Pa., whither his parents had gone for safety just before the battle of the Brandywine. His father, Hezekiah Niles, a plane-maker of Philadelphia, had married Mary Way of Wilmington, Del., and moved to the latter place. Both were of the Quaker faith, though the father was "disowned" a few years after going to Wilmington. Though definite record is lacking, it is probable that the younger Hezekiah attended the Friends' School in Wilmington. At seventeen he was apprenticed to Benjamin Johnson, a printer of Philadelphia, with whom he worked for three years, until 1797, when he was released because of his master's lack of funds. Niles's first writing was done in Philadelphia; in 1794 he published in newspapers several essays favoring protection, and in 1796 arguments against Jay's Treaty. He married Ann, daughter of William Ogden, of Wilmington, May 17, 1798, and they had twelve children. She died in 1824, and two years later Niles married Sally Ann Warner, by whom he had eight children. At the time of his second marriage he was described by an acquaintance as "a short stout-built man, stooping as he walked, speaking in a high key, addicted to snuff, and with a keen gray eye, that lighted up a plain face with shrewd expression" (J. E. Semmes, John H. B. Latrobe and His Times, 1917, p. 184).

Upon returning to Wilmington in 1797 Niles assisted in publishing an almanac and did job printing. After two years he formed a partnership with Vincent Bonsal, but the partnership was dissolved because of losses incurred in the publication of The Political Writings of John Dickinson (2 vols., 1801). In 1805, following the failure of a short-lived literary magazine, the Apollo, Niles moved to Baltimore and became editor of the Baltimore Evening Post. This paper supported the Jeffersonian party in all of its policies; it was sold in June 1811, and Niles immediately issued the prospectus for his Weekly Register (later Niles' Weekly Register) which after seven years of publication had over 10,000 subscribers. This paper he edited and published until 1836, with the assistance of his son, William Ogden Niles, from 1827 to 1830, and on it his reputation is based. In these twenty-five years he made it the strongest and most consistent advocate of union, internal improvements, and protection to industry, in the country. Niles was probably as influential as any in the nationalist economic school which sponsored the American System after the War of 1812. He was the intimate associate of Mathew Carey and Henry Clay. He was a principal mover in the protectionist conventions at Harrisburg in 1827 and at New York in 1831; for the former he wrote the address to the people of the United States; of the latter he was the chief secretary (Niles' Weekly Register, Aug. 11, Oct. 13, 1827; Nov. 5, 1831). In each instance he gave spirit and form to the work of the convention, and utilized, besides, his remarkable talents and opportunities as a propagandist in its behalf. His opinions and advocacies developed as he advanced. He opposed the recharter of the first Bank of the United States in 1811, believing it to be unconstitutional and a harmful monopoly. But he espoused the recharter of the second Bank of the United States in Jackson's administration, declaring that it had become a necessity to prosperity. In politics, Niles was a Jeffersonian until 1816 or 1817, when he described himself as a no-party man. On Jan. 10, 1824, he wrote: "I cannot believe that either [Jackson or Calhoun] will be elected, and should regret votes thrown away. I esteem both, personally and politically; and though my private wish is rather for Mr. Adams, I shall be content to accept any other than Mr. Crawford" (Darlington Collection, post). When Jackson came into office in 1829, Niles differed sharply with his policies, and became a Whig.

Niles devoted many editorials to the institution of slavery, which he declared should be abolished, though gradually. While in Delaware he was an officer of the state abolition society. In his arguments for the protective tariff, he exerted himself with much ingenuity to win the agricultural interest to his side. His writing was characterized by vigor and decision. He was a tireless worker, and supplied statistical evidence where many in his group were content with eloquence. Besides a number of pamphlets, he published the Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America (1822). He never held national office, but in Wilmington was twice town clerk and twice assistant burgess; in Baltimore he served two terms in the first branch of the city council. He was elected and reëlected (1818-19) grand high priest by the Masonic Order in Maryland. He was a leading figure in the Baltimore Typographical Society. He died in Wilmington.

-- Broadus Mitchell

FURTHER READINGS

[R. G. Stone, Hezekiah Niles as an Economist (1933); biographical notices in Niles' National Register (as it was then called), Apr. 6, 13, 1839; Philadelphia North American, Apr. 4, 1839; Baltimore Patriot and Commercial Gazette, Apr. 3, 1839; "Village Record, West Chester, Pa., Notae Cestrienses, No. 34," in Genealogical Soc. of Pa. Colls. The Register is the best source for his opinions and activities. See also Clay and Darlington collections in MSS. Div., Lib. of Cong.; E. T. Schultz, Hist. of Freemasonry in Md., II (1855); J. S. Futhey and Gilbert Cope, Hist. of Chester County, Pa. (1881); Edward Stanwood, Am. Tariff Controversies in the Nineteenth Century (1903), vol. I.]

SOURCE CITATION

"Hezekiah Niles."Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936.

Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2004. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC

Notes for Hezekiah Niles Jr.:

General Notes:

Founder and editor of Niles' Weekly Register, of Baltimore, MD

He and his father are mentioned in Wilmington, DE MM records:

NILES

Hezekiah Dis 7-16-1777

Mary Way d 11- 2-1806

m 7-17-1766, Wilmington MM

Ch: Hezekiah b

"has so far deviated fr our principles as to be active

as an assistant to the commissary of the army, & not

withstanding friends labour to convince him of the

inconsistancy thereof with the peaceable principles we

profess in (although he says he has declined the service

on account of outward convenience). Yet he continues to

justify his conduct in the said business."--Statement of

Disownment

Hezekiah s Hezekiah & Mary

Cert, as a minor, to Philadelphia MM, 7-16-1794

(Herbert Standing, Delaware Quaker Records: Wilmington, (Wilmington, DE 1900), p. 230.)

Hezekiah Niles was a publisher who advocated a nationalist economics in order to assure the States an economic self-sufficiency in keeping with its political independence. Niles was born in 1777 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where his parents had sought refuge from advancing British troops in their native Wilmington. Apprenticed to a printer in Philadelphia at the age of 17, Niles worked there and in Wilmington until 1805, when he moved to Baltimore to become editor of the Evening Post. In 1811, he began to publish the Weekly Register, the single most popular periodical of its time, and considered the world over to be an indispensable source of information on the United States for the next twenty-five years. Although a Jeffersonian Democratic Republican, Niles ardently supported Carey and Hamilton's vision of an industrial-based economic self-sufficiency. Intensely patriotic, he also advocated protectionism as the means to encourage American industry.

Niles' literary output was prolific; he wrote essays and articles on almost every conceivable subject, including the tariff, protection, banking, politics, emancipation of the slaves, the Erie canal, as well as a valuable sourcebook, Principles and Acts of the American Revolution. He never held office, but was influential in Maryland politics for many years before returning to Wilmington at the end of his life. He died in 1839.

(source: http://archives.mse.jhu.edu/mss/mshut014.txt)

The Editor who Tried to Stop the Civil War

Hezekiah Niles and the New South

We know a great deal about the many people and forces pulling the nation apart in the decades before the Civil War; but more attention is certainly due t

NILES, Hezekiah

Date: 04-01-1839

04-04-1839 - Nat'l Intelligencer - Obit Notice

NILES, Hezekiah, editor of Niles' Weekly, died at Wilmington, Delaware, where he had resided for a year or 2, April

1, 1839. (April 4, 1839).

[Abstracts of Marriages and Deaths from National Intelligencer, 1839, Page 1126]

Possibly a daughter named Elizabeth:

1 ISRAEL CONVERSE YORK, born in Rochester, Vt., 15 March 1807; married, 1st, in 1832, Elizabeth Niles of Baltimore, Md., who died in 1834

Extract from article (Niles Register and the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Morris) published inthe Supreme Court Historical Society 1978 Yearbook:

Hezekiah Niles began his Register before 'he was thirty-four years old.[5] Born October 10, 1777, Niles' early years were spent in 'Wilmington, Delaware. At seventeen he was apprenticed to a printer in Philadelphia, then the nation's capital, where he spent several years learning typesetting and bookbinding. Breathing the air of budding party rivalries, he became a Jeffersonian Republican, writing articles supporting Jefferson in the 1796 election.

Niles returned to Wilmington where he spent a decade as a printer.[6] Along with typical job printing, he produced a two-volume edition of the political writings of the prominent Delaware Republican, John Dickinson.[7] He also edited and published the state's first literary magazine, Apollo, or, Delaware Weekly Magazine, which survived eight months, about average for magazines of the time. Involved with the Democratic Republican Party, he was elected town clerk and Assistant Burgess of Wilmington, holding each office twice.

After his second publishing partnership and his literary magazine failed, Niles moved to Baltimore, then a major commercial center, the nation's third largest city (and soon to be its second), a city with genuine cultural aspirations. There, he operated a book and stationery store from 1805 to 1811 and became editor of the four-page daily (three pages were ads) Evening Post, Baltimore mouth of the Democratic Republican Party, a newspaper typical of the partisan press of its time.[8]

The Evening Post was sold in June 1811. Two weeks later, Niles issued a prospectus for a new newspaper. The first issue of Niles Register was published on September 7, 1811. For twenty-five years, his editorial responsibilities and relations with his readers were Niles' chief interest. He did, however, find the time to produce an anthology of primary source materials on the American Revolution,[9] to participate in two national tariff conventions, and in local, state and national politics.

He first served on the First Branch of the City Council of Baltimore and participated in such varied civic groups as the Abolition Society, Fire Company, and Typographical Society. He is reported to have loved good food, wine and tobacco. He must have loved home, hearth and family–he had twelve children by his first wife, Anne, and another eight by his second wife, Sally. He died in Wilmington at sixty-one, after suffering a stroke, on April 2, 1839. The Baltimore Chronicle wrote of him:

frank, honorable, independent and truly republican spirit, simple in his manners, and habits, affectionate to his family, liberal to those who he employed in the prosecution of his business, disinterested and public spirited.[10]

[5] The major works on Niles are Lucon, op. cit.; Richard Gabriel Stone, Hezekiah Niles as an Economist, The Johns Hopkins Studies in Historical and Political Sciences, Series LI Number 5 (Baltimore, 1933. See also, Dictionary of American Biography, vol. XIII, p. 521-522).

[6] Niles' Wilmington career is discussed in John Thomas Guerther, "Hezekiah Niles, Wilmington Printer and Editor," Delaware History, XVII (Spring-Summer 1976) No. 1, pp. 37-53.

[7] John Dickinson, The Political Writings of John Dickinson (Wilmington, 1801).

[8] In 1809 Niles' partisan commentaries in the Evening Post on federalist speeches and statements were published in book form as Things As They Are; or Federalism Turned Inside Out! Being a Collection of Extracts From Federal Papers, &c and Remarks upon Them Originally Written for, and Published in the Evening Post (Baltimore, 1809).

[9] Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America (Baltimore, 1822), republished by Samuel V. Niles (New York: 1876), republished and edited by Alden T. Vaughan, supra n. 2.

[10] Quoted in Luxon, op. cit., p. 64. = Norval Neil Luxon, Niles Weekly Register; News Magazine of the Nineteenth Century (Baton Rouge, 1947)

Hezekiah Niles

1777-1839

Birth: October 10, 1777 in Pennsylvania, United States

Death: April 2, 1839

Occupation: Editor

Source: Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Biographical Essay

Further Readings

Source Citation

BIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY

Niles, Hezekiah (Oct. 10, 1777 - Apr. 2, 1839), editor, was born at Jefferis' Ford, Chester County, Pa., whither his parents had gone for safety just before the battle of the Brandywine. His father, Hezekiah Niles, a plane-maker of Philadelphia, had married Mary Way of Wilmington, Del., and moved to the latter place. Both were of the Quaker faith, though the father was "disowned" a few years after going to Wilmington. Though definite record is lacking, it is probable that the younger Hezekiah attended the Friends' School in Wilmington. At seventeen he was apprenticed to Benjamin Johnson, a printer of Philadelphia, with whom he worked for three years, until 1797, when he was released because of his master's lack of funds. Niles's first writing was done in Philadelphia; in 1794 he published in newspapers several essays favoring protection, and in 1796 arguments against Jay's Treaty. He married Ann, daughter of William Ogden, of Wilmington, May 17, 1798, and they had twelve children. She died in 1824, and two years later Niles married Sally Ann Warner, by whom he had eight children. At the time of his second marriage he was described by an acquaintance as "a short stout-built man, stooping as he walked, speaking in a high key, addicted to snuff, and with a keen gray eye, that lighted up a plain face with shrewd expression" (J. E. Semmes, John H. B. Latrobe and His Times, 1917, p. 184).

Upon returning to Wilmington in 1797 Niles assisted in publishing an almanac and did job printing. After two years he formed a partnership with Vincent Bonsal, but the partnership was dissolved because of losses incurred in the publication of The Political Writings of John Dickinson (2 vols., 1801). In 1805, following the failure of a short-lived literary magazine, the Apollo, Niles moved to Baltimore and became editor of the Baltimore Evening Post. This paper supported the Jeffersonian party in all of its policies; it was sold in June 1811, and Niles immediately issued the prospectus for his Weekly Register (later Niles' Weekly Register) which after seven years of publication had over 10,000 subscribers. This paper he edited and published until 1836, with the assistance of his son, William Ogden Niles, from 1827 to 1830, and on it his reputation is based. In these twenty-five years he made it the strongest and most consistent advocate of union, internal improvements, and protection to industry, in the country. Niles was probably as influential as any in the nationalist economic school which sponsored the American System after the War of 1812. He was the intimate associate of Mathew Carey and Henry Clay. He was a principal mover in the protectionist conventions at Harrisburg in 1827 and at New York in 1831; for the former he wrote the address to the people of the United States; of the latter he was the chief secretary (Niles' Weekly Register, Aug. 11, Oct. 13, 1827; Nov. 5, 1831). In each instance he gave spirit and form to the work of the convention, and utilized, besides, his remarkable talents and opportunities as a propagandist in its behalf. His opinions and advocacies developed as he advanced. He opposed the recharter of the first Bank of the United States in 1811, believing it to be unconstitutional and a harmful monopoly. But he espoused the recharter of the second Bank of the United States in Jackson's administration, declaring that it had become a necessity to prosperity. In politics, Niles was a Jeffersonian until 1816 or 1817, when he described himself as a no-party man. On Jan. 10, 1824, he wrote: "I cannot believe that either [Jackson or Calhoun] will be elected, and should regret votes thrown away. I esteem both, personally and politically; and though my private wish is rather for Mr. Adams, I shall be content to accept any other than Mr. Crawford" (Darlington Collection, post). When Jackson came into office in 1829, Niles differed sharply with his policies, and became a Whig.

Niles devoted many editorials to the institution of slavery, which he declared should be abolished, though gradually. While in Delaware he was an officer of the state abolition society. In his arguments for the protective tariff, he exerted himself with much ingenuity to win the agricultural interest to his side. His writing was characterized by vigor and decision. He was a tireless worker, and supplied statistical evidence where many in his group were content with eloquence. Besides a number of pamphlets, he published the Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America (1822). He never held national office, but in Wilmington was twice town clerk and twice assistant burgess; in Baltimore he served two terms in the first branch of the city council. He was elected and reëlected (1818-19) grand high priest by the Masonic Order in Maryland. He was a leading figure in the Baltimore Typographical Society. He died in Wilmington.

-- Broadus Mitchell

FURTHER READINGS

[R. G. Stone, Hezekiah Niles as an Economist (1933); biographical notices in Niles' National Register (as it was then called), Apr. 6, 13, 1839; Philadelphia North American, Apr. 4, 1839; Baltimore Patriot and Commercial Gazette, Apr. 3, 1839; "Village Record, West Chester, Pa., Notae Cestrienses, No. 34," in Genealogical Soc. of Pa. Colls. The Register is the best source for his opinions and activities. See also Clay and Darlington collections in MSS. Div., Lib. of Cong.; E. T. Schultz, Hist. of Freemasonry in Md., II (1855); J. S. Futhey and Gilbert Cope, Hist. of Chester County, Pa. (1881); Edward Stanwood, Am. Tariff Controversies in the Nineteenth Century (1903), vol. I.]

SOURCE CITATION

"Hezekiah Niles."Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936.

Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2004. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC

Notes for Hezekiah Niles Jr.:

General Notes:

Founder and editor of Niles' Weekly Register, of Baltimore, MD

He and his father are mentioned in Wilmington, DE MM records:

NILES

Hezekiah Dis 7-16-1777

Mary Way d 11- 2-1806

m 7-17-1766, Wilmington MM

Ch: Hezekiah b

"has so far deviated fr our principles as to be active

as an assistant to the commissary of the army, & not

withstanding friends labour to convince him of the

inconsistancy thereof with the peaceable principles we

profess in (although he says he has declined the service

on account of outward convenience). Yet he continues to

justify his conduct in the said business."--Statement of

Disownment

Hezekiah s Hezekiah & Mary

Cert, as a minor, to Philadelphia MM, 7-16-1794

(Herbert Standing, Delaware Quaker Records: Wilmington, (Wilmington, DE 1900), p. 230.)

Hezekiah Niles was a publisher who advocated a nationalist economics in order to assure the States an economic self-sufficiency in keeping with its political independence. Niles was born in 1777 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where his parents had sought refuge from advancing British troops in their native Wilmington. Apprenticed to a printer in Philadelphia at the age of 17, Niles worked there and in Wilmington until 1805, when he moved to Baltimore to become editor of the Evening Post. In 1811, he began to publish the Weekly Register, the single most popular periodical of its time, and considered the world over to be an indispensable source of information on the United States for the next twenty-five years. Although a Jeffersonian Democratic Republican, Niles ardently supported Carey and Hamilton's vision of an industrial-based economic self-sufficiency. Intensely patriotic, he also advocated protectionism as the means to encourage American industry.

Niles' literary output was prolific; he wrote essays and articles on almost every conceivable subject, including the tariff, protection, banking, politics, emancipation of the slaves, the Erie canal, as well as a valuable sourcebook, Principles and Acts of the American Revolution. He never held office, but was influential in Maryland politics for many years before returning to Wilmington at the end of his life. He died in 1839.

(source: http://archives.mse.jhu.edu/mss/mshut014.txt)

The Editor who Tried to Stop the Civil War

Hezekiah Niles and the New South

We know a great deal about the many people and forces pulling the nation apart in the decades before the Civil War; but more attention is certainly due t

NILES, Hezekiah

Date: 04-01-1839

04-04-1839 - Nat'l Intelligencer - Obit Notice

NILES, Hezekiah, editor of Niles' Weekly, died at Wilmington, Delaware, where he had resided for a year or 2, April

1, 1839. (April 4, 1839).

[Abstracts of Marriages and Deaths from National Intelligencer, 1839, Page 1126]

Possibly a daughter named Elizabeth:

1 ISRAEL CONVERSE YORK, born in Rochester, Vt., 15 March 1807; married, 1st, in 1832, Elizabeth Niles of Baltimore, Md., who died in 1834

Extract from article (Niles Register and the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Morris) published inthe Supreme Court Historical Society 1978 Yearbook:

Hezekiah Niles began his Register before 'he was thirty-four years old.[5] Born October 10, 1777, Niles' early years were spent in 'Wilmington, Delaware. At seventeen he was apprenticed to a printer in Philadelphia, then the nation's capital, where he spent several years learning typesetting and bookbinding. Breathing the air of budding party rivalries, he became a Jeffersonian Republican, writing articles supporting Jefferson in the 1796 election.

Niles returned to Wilmington where he spent a decade as a printer.[6] Along with typical job printing, he produced a two-volume edition of the political writings of the prominent Delaware Republican, John Dickinson.[7] He also edited and published the state's first literary magazine, Apollo, or, Delaware Weekly Magazine, which survived eight months, about average for magazines of the time. Involved with the Democratic Republican Party, he was elected town clerk and Assistant Burgess of Wilmington, holding each office twice.

After his second publishing partnership and his literary magazine failed, Niles moved to Baltimore, then a major commercial center, the nation's third largest city (and soon to be its second), a city with genuine cultural aspirations. There, he operated a book and stationery store from 1805 to 1811 and became editor of the four-page daily (three pages were ads) Evening Post, Baltimore mouth of the Democratic Republican Party, a newspaper typical of the partisan press of its time.[8]

The Evening Post was sold in June 1811. Two weeks later, Niles issued a prospectus for a new newspaper. The first issue of Niles Register was published on September 7, 1811. For twenty-five years, his editorial responsibilities and relations with his readers were Niles' chief interest. He did, however, find the time to produce an anthology of primary source materials on the American Revolution,[9] to participate in two national tariff conventions, and in local, state and national politics.

He first served on the First Branch of the City Council of Baltimore and participated in such varied civic groups as the Abolition Society, Fire Company, and Typographical Society. He is reported to have loved good food, wine and tobacco. He must have loved home, hearth and family–he had twelve children by his first wife, Anne, and another eight by his second wife, Sally. He died in Wilmington at sixty-one, after suffering a stroke, on April 2, 1839. The Baltimore Chronicle wrote of him:

frank, honorable, independent and truly republican spirit, simple in his manners, and habits, affectionate to his family, liberal to those who he employed in the prosecution of his business, disinterested and public spirited.[10]

[5] The major works on Niles are Lucon, op. cit.; Richard Gabriel Stone, Hezekiah Niles as an Economist, The Johns Hopkins Studies in Historical and Political Sciences, Series LI Number 5 (Baltimore, 1933. See also, Dictionary of American Biography, vol. XIII, p. 521-522).

[6] Niles' Wilmington career is discussed in John Thomas Guerther, "Hezekiah Niles, Wilmington Printer and Editor," Delaware History, XVII (Spring-Summer 1976) No. 1, pp. 37-53.

[7] John Dickinson, The Political Writings of John Dickinson (Wilmington, 1801).

[8] In 1809 Niles' partisan commentaries in the Evening Post on federalist speeches and statements were published in book form as Things As They Are; or Federalism Turned Inside Out! Being a Collection of Extracts From Federal Papers, &c and Remarks upon Them Originally Written for, and Published in the Evening Post (Baltimore, 1809).

[9] Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America (Baltimore, 1822), republished by Samuel V. Niles (New York: 1876), republished and edited by Alden T. Vaughan, supra n. 2.

[10] Quoted in Luxon, op. cit., p. 64. = Norval Neil Luxon, Niles Weekly Register; News Magazine of the Nineteenth Century (Baton Rouge, 1947)

Hezekiah Niles

1777-1839

Birth: October 10, 1777 in Pennsylvania, United States

Death: April 2, 1839

Occupation: Editor

Source: Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Biographical Essay

Further Readings

Source Citation

BIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY

Niles, Hezekiah (Oct. 10, 1777 - Apr. 2, 1839), editor, was born at Jefferis' Ford, Chester County, Pa., whither his parents had gone for safety just before the battle of the Brandywine. His father, Hezekiah Niles, a plane-maker of Philadelphia, had married Mary Way of Wilmington, Del., and moved to the latter place. Both were of the Quaker faith, though the father was "disowned" a few years after going to Wilmington. Though definite record is lacking, it is probable that the younger Hezekiah attended the Friends' School in Wilmington. At seventeen he was apprenticed to Benjamin Johnson, a printer of Philadelphia, with whom he worked for three years, until 1797, when he was released because of his master's lack of funds. Niles's first writing was done in Philadelphia; in 1794 he published in newspapers several essays favoring protection, and in 1796 arguments against Jay's Treaty. He married Ann, daughter of William Ogden, of Wilmington, May 17, 1798, and they had twelve children. She died in 1824, and two years later Niles married Sally Ann Warner, by whom he had eight children. At the time of his second marriage he was described by an acquaintance as "a short stout-built man, stooping as he walked, speaking in a high key, addicted to snuff, and with a keen gray eye, that lighted up a plain face with shrewd expression" (J. E. Semmes, John H. B. Latrobe and His Times, 1917, p. 184).

Upon returning to Wilmington in 1797 Niles assisted in publishing an almanac and did job printing. After two years he formed a partnership with Vincent Bonsal, but the partnership was dissolved because of losses incurred in the publication of The Political Writings of John Dickinson (2 vols., 1801). In 1805, following the failure of a short-lived literary magazine, the Apollo, Niles moved to Baltimore and became editor of the Baltimore Evening Post. This paper supported the Jeffersonian party in all of its policies; it was sold in June 1811, and Niles immediately issued the prospectus for his Weekly Register (later Niles' Weekly Register) which after seven years of publication had over 10,000 subscribers. This paper he edited and published until 1836, with the assistance of his son, William Ogden Niles, from 1827 to 1830, and on it his reputation is based. In these twenty-five years he made it the strongest and most consistent advocate of union, internal improvements, and protection to industry, in the country. Niles was probably as influential as any in the nationalist economic school which sponsored the American System after the War of 1812. He was the intimate associate of Mathew Carey and Henry Clay. He was a principal mover in the protectionist conventions at Harrisburg in 1827 and at New York in 1831; for the former he wrote the address to the people of the United States; of the latter he was the chief secretary (Niles' Weekly Register, Aug. 11, Oct. 13, 1827; Nov. 5, 1831). In each instance he gave spirit and form to the work of the convention, and utilized, besides, his remarkable talents and opportunities as a propagandist in its behalf. His opinions and advocacies developed as he advanced. He opposed the recharter of the first Bank of the United States in 1811, believing it to be unconstitutional and a harmful monopoly. But he espoused the recharter of the second Bank of the United States in Jackson's administration, declaring that it had become a necessity to prosperity. In politics, Niles was a Jeffersonian until 1816 or 1817, when he described himself as a no-party man. On Jan. 10, 1824, he wrote: "I cannot believe that either [Jackson or Calhoun] will be elected, and should regret votes thrown away. I esteem both, personally and politically; and though my private wish is rather for Mr. Adams, I shall be content to accept any other than Mr. Crawford" (Darlington Collection, post). When Jackson came into office in 1829, Niles differed sharply with his policies, and became a Whig.

Niles devoted many editorials to the institution of slavery, which he declared should be abolished, though gradually. While in Delaware he was an officer of the state abolition society. In his arguments for the protective tariff, he exerted himself with much ingenuity to win the agricultural interest to his side. His writing was characterized by vigor and decision. He was a tireless worker, and supplied statistical evidence where many in his group were content with eloquence. Besides a number of pamphlets, he published the Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America (1822). He never held national office, but in Wilmington was twice town clerk and twice assistant burgess; in Baltimore he served two terms in the first branch of the city council. He was elected and reëlected (1818-19) grand high priest by the Masonic Order in Maryland. He was a leading figure in the Baltimore Typographical Society. He died in Wilmington.

-- Broadus Mitchell

FURTHER READINGS

[R. G. Stone, Hezekiah Niles as an Economist (1933); biographical notices in Niles' National Register (as it was then called), Apr. 6, 13, 1839; Philadelphia North American, Apr. 4, 1839; Baltimore Patriot and Commercial Gazette, Apr. 3, 1839; "Village Record, West Chester, Pa., Notae Cestrienses, No. 34," in Genealogical Soc. of Pa. Colls. The Register is the best source for his opinions and activities. See also Clay and Darlington collections in MSS. Div., Lib. of Cong.; E. T. Schultz, Hist. of Freemasonry in Md., II (1855); J. S. Futhey and Gilbert Cope, Hist. of Chester County, Pa. (1881); Edward Stanwood, Am. Tariff Controversies in the Nineteenth Century (1903), vol. I.]

SOURCE CITATION

"Hezekiah Niles."Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936.

Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2004. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC

Notes for Robert Duer Niles:

General Notes:

THE SCHENECTADY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE

a service of the Schenectady County Public Library

Index to Obituaries in Schenectady County, New York Newspapers: misc. 1812-1820, 1822 - 1834

Niles, Robert Duer - CB Sep 14, 1831:3 / Sep 2, 1831 [in Baltimore, MD]

CB= Schenectady Cabinet, AKA Cabinet

Notes for Robert Duer Niles:

General Notes:

THE SCHENECTADY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE

a service of the Schenectady County Public Library

Index to Obituaries in Schenectady County, New York Newspapers: misc. 1812-1820, 1822 - 1834

Niles, Robert Duer - CB Sep 14, 1831:3 / Sep 2, 1831 [in Baltimore, MD]

CB= Schenectady Cabinet, AKA Cabinet

Notes for William Henry Ogden:

General Notes:

He and his brother Robert231 were on their way home from California, and after crossing the Isthmus of Panama had sailed

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 77)

from Aspinwall for New York, when their steamer, the Central America, Capt. Wm. Lewis Herndon, U. S. Navy, in command, foundered in a gale in latitude 31º 45' N., and nearly all on board perished.

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 78)

Note: Aspinwall is former name of Colon, Panama

From Blanchard and Company (coin dealer) Website:

On August 20, 1857, the steamer SS Sonora sailed from San Francisco harbor bound for the Isthmus of Panama. On board were 578 passengers and crew, as well as a commercial shipment of gold. Valued at $1.6 million, the gold came in all forms - dust, nuggets, coins and, of course, ingots. In the days of the gold rush, such a cargo was not at all unusual.

The passengers on board came from all walks of life: merchants, tradesmen, journalists, engineers, miners, housewives and children. Some were returning to the eastern U.S. via Panama permanently. Others were just headed back east for a visit. The Sonora's voyage to Panama was unremarkable. She arrived in Panama on September 2.

While the Sonora was transiting from San Francisco to the Pacific coast of Panama, the steamer SS Central America was making a similar journey from New York to the Atlantic coast of Panama. Just like the Sonora, the Central America cast off on August 20 and arrived in Panama on September 2. Operated by the United States Mail Steamship Company, the Central America was a 272-foot long sidewheel steamship launched 5 years earlier as the SS George Law. By August of 1857, she had 43 round trips between New York and Panama to her credit.

While the Sonora's passengers debarked with their possessions and the gold shipment in the Pacific port city of Chagres, the Central America was refueled and provisioned at Aspinwall on the Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama.

The passengers and heavily-insured gold were then loaded on the narrow-gauge rail of the recently established Panama railroad. The three and a half hour train ride was a marked improvement over the weeklong trek through the jungle, which travelers had to endure prior to the railroad's completion in 1855.

The Central America's 102-man crew wasted little time in loading the passengers and gold on board their ship. On the afternoon of September 4, she left Panama bound for New York. No one could know, at the time, that this was to be the ship's final voyage. After 4 days of steaming in calm seas, the Central America dropped anchor in Havana harbor to take on more coal and provisions. On the morning of September 9, she weighed anchor and set off for New York. She would never reach safe harbor again. The stage was set for a tragic calamity.

Very early into the final leg of her voyage, the Central America was pushed by a stiff southerly breeze. By the time the sun went down in an ominous red sunset, the wind was strong enough to prompt one passenger to ask the ship's captain, Commander William Lewis Herndon, about shipwrecks. "If she goes down, I go under her keel," retorted Herndon.

By the next morning, the weather had grown even worse. As a squall line approached, the passengers were forced to beat a hasty retreat below decks. By early evening, the Central America was rolling in deep swells as waves pounded the sides of her hull and high winds howled through her rigging. The passengers were now in utter misery as the effects of seasickness took a fearful toll in the cramped quarters below deck.

By Friday, September 11, the sheets of rain and mountainous waves had put the Central America in critical danger. She was taking on water and began to list. As she settled to port, it became impossible to get coal to the engine room to fire the boilers. The ship lost her ability to maneuver and the bilge pumps shut down. The flooding grew progressively worse and the Central America became a helpless, storm-tossed hulk. Commander Herndon ordered the 3rd officer to set the massive storm sail, but the wind tore the sail to pieces. The Central America was losing its battle with the sea.

The final day for the Central America, September 12, 1857, began with an ominous sign: Commander Herndon had the ensign hoisted upside down to indicate that the ship was in distress.

Just before noon, the brig Marine came upon the Central America. Realizing that his ship was doomed, Commander Herndon loaded the women and children into the lifeboats. The boats' crews rowed across nearly 3 miles of stormy seas to the relative safety of the Marine.

The men on the Central America realized that the ship could not survive the night. Herndon came to grips with his ship's fate, donned his dress uniform and climbed atop the paddlewheel. His last act was to fire off a set of rockets to indicate that the ship was sinking rapidly.

At about 8:00 p.m., the Central America lurched and succumbed to the hurricane's fury. She slipped beneath the waves at a 45-degree angle. All of the men left aboard had managed to locate life preservers, but the enormous suction created by the sinking vessel pulled many below. Many of those who survived the draw of the ship subsequently drowned in the storm-driven waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

Shortly after midnight, the sea calmed and the hurricane moved on. The Norwegian ship Ellen arrived on the scene and her crew began pulling men from the sea. By mid-morning the crew of the Ellen had saved 50 people. Of her 578 passengers and crew and golden cargo, the SS Central America took 425 souls along with over $1.6 million in gold coins, dust, nuggets, and assay bars with her to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

The sinking of the SS Central America is America's worst peace-time maritime disaster. The loss of life and the immense gold shipment did more than provide fodder for newspapers of the era; it sparked a nationwide financial panic that exacerbated economic shock-waves throughout the global markets.

The press dwelled on the news for months, speculating about the cause of the tragedy and calling for investigations. The news of the Central America tragedy also fanned the sparks of a financial crisis. The United States was in a recession during most of the 1850s, a recession that grew worse in August, 1857 when the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company failed, leaving vast debts. Banks that had loaned money to Ohio Life found themselves overextended. Depositors demanded payment in gold from banks and the domino effect set in. Bankers were concerned about their solvency and had high hopes that the expected gold shipment aboard the Central America would ease the economic pressure. The shipwreck dashed those hopes and the Panic of 1857 took hold, ruining many men and businesses.

In 1981, marine biologist Tommy Thompson and a group of highly trained associates set out to find the Central America. After years of diligent research, a well-coordinated effort was made to see if her resting-place could be found.

The search began in 1986 and encompassed an area off of the Carolina coast larger that the state of Rhode Island. In 1987 Thompson's team investigated a promising site 8,000 feet down.

After just three hours, an unmistakable image filled the video screens from a camera attached to an underwater robot (nicknamed Nemo): a rusting sidewheel lying flat on the bottom of the ocean. Shortly thereafter, the robot discovered the ship's bell from the Central America, confirming the wreck's identity. And so began one of the most sophisticated salvage operations in history.

The complete story of the tragedy and the salvage operations can be found in the book "Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea" by Gary Kinder, The Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, NY, 1998

Notes for William Henry Ogden:

General Notes:

He and his brother Robert231 were on their way home from California, and after crossing the Isthmus of Panama had sailed

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 77)

from Aspinwall for New York, when their steamer, the Central America, Capt. Wm. Lewis Herndon, U. S. Navy, in command, foundered in a gale in latitude 31º 45' N., and nearly all on board perished.

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 78)

Note: Aspinwall is former name of Colon, Panama

From Blanchard and Company (coin dealer) Website:

On August 20, 1857, the steamer SS Sonora sailed from San Francisco harbor bound for the Isthmus of Panama. On board were 578 passengers and crew, as well as a commercial shipment of gold. Valued at $1.6 million, the gold came in all forms - dust, nuggets, coins and, of course, ingots. In the days of the gold rush, such a cargo was not at all unusual.

The passengers on board came from all walks of life: merchants, tradesmen, journalists, engineers, miners, housewives and children. Some were returning to the eastern U.S. via Panama permanently. Others were just headed back east for a visit. The Sonora's voyage to Panama was unremarkable. She arrived in Panama on September 2.

While the Sonora was transiting from San Francisco to the Pacific coast of Panama, the steamer SS Central America was making a similar journey from New York to the Atlantic coast of Panama. Just like the Sonora, the Central America cast off on August 20 and arrived in Panama on September 2. Operated by the United States Mail Steamship Company, the Central America was a 272-foot long sidewheel steamship launched 5 years earlier as the SS George Law. By August of 1857, she had 43 round trips between New York and Panama to her credit.

While the Sonora's passengers debarked with their possessions and the gold shipment in the Pacific port city of Chagres, the Central America was refueled and provisioned at Aspinwall on the Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama.

The passengers and heavily-insured gold were then loaded on the narrow-gauge rail of the recently established Panama railroad. The three and a half hour train ride was a marked improvement over the weeklong trek through the jungle, which travelers had to endure prior to the railroad's completion in 1855.

The Central America's 102-man crew wasted little time in loading the passengers and gold on board their ship. On the afternoon of September 4, she left Panama bound for New York. No one could know, at the time, that this was to be the ship's final voyage. After 4 days of steaming in calm seas, the Central America dropped anchor in Havana harbor to take on more coal and provisions. On the morning of September 9, she weighed anchor and set off for New York. She would never reach safe harbor again. The stage was set for a tragic calamity.

Very early into the final leg of her voyage, the Central America was pushed by a stiff southerly breeze. By the time the sun went down in an ominous red sunset, the wind was strong enough to prompt one passenger to ask the ship's captain, Commander William Lewis Herndon, about shipwrecks. "If she goes down, I go under her keel," retorted Herndon.

By the next morning, the weather had grown even worse. As a squall line approached, the passengers were forced to beat a hasty retreat below decks. By early evening, the Central America was rolling in deep swells as waves pounded the sides of her hull and high winds howled through her rigging. The passengers were now in utter misery as the effects of seasickness took a fearful toll in the cramped quarters below deck.

By Friday, September 11, the sheets of rain and mountainous waves had put the Central America in critical danger. She was taking on water and began to list. As she settled to port, it became impossible to get coal to the engine room to fire the boilers. The ship lost her ability to maneuver and the bilge pumps shut down. The flooding grew progressively worse and the Central America became a helpless, storm-tossed hulk. Commander Herndon ordered the 3rd officer to set the massive storm sail, but the wind tore the sail to pieces. The Central America was losing its battle with the sea.

The final day for the Central America, September 12, 1857, began with an ominous sign: Commander Herndon had the ensign hoisted upside down to indicate that the ship was in distress.

Just before noon, the brig Marine came upon the Central America. Realizing that his ship was doomed, Commander Herndon loaded the women and children into the lifeboats. The boats' crews rowed across nearly 3 miles of stormy seas to the relative safety of the Marine.

The men on the Central America realized that the ship could not survive the night. Herndon came to grips with his ship's fate, donned his dress uniform and climbed atop the paddlewheel. His last act was to fire off a set of rockets to indicate that the ship was sinking rapidly.

At about 8:00 p.m., the Central America lurched and succumbed to the hurricane's fury. She slipped beneath the waves at a 45-degree angle. All of the men left aboard had managed to locate life preservers, but the enormous suction created by the sinking vessel pulled many below. Many of those who survived the draw of the ship subsequently drowned in the storm-driven waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

Shortly after midnight, the sea calmed and the hurricane moved on. The Norwegian ship Ellen arrived on the scene and her crew began pulling men from the sea. By mid-morning the crew of the Ellen had saved 50 people. Of her 578 passengers and crew and golden cargo, the SS Central America took 425 souls along with over $1.6 million in gold coins, dust, nuggets, and assay bars with her to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

The sinking of the SS Central America is America's worst peace-time maritime disaster. The loss of life and the immense gold shipment did more than provide fodder for newspapers of the era; it sparked a nationwide financial panic that exacerbated economic shock-waves throughout the global markets.

The press dwelled on the news for months, speculating about the cause of the tragedy and calling for investigations. The news of the Central America tragedy also fanned the sparks of a financial crisis. The United States was in a recession during most of the 1850s, a recession that grew worse in August, 1857 when the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company failed, leaving vast debts. Banks that had loaned money to Ohio Life found themselves overextended. Depositors demanded payment in gold from banks and the domino effect set in. Bankers were concerned about their solvency and had high hopes that the expected gold shipment aboard the Central America would ease the economic pressure. The shipwreck dashed those hopes and the Panic of 1857 took hold, ruining many men and businesses.

In 1981, marine biologist Tommy Thompson and a group of highly trained associates set out to find the Central America. After years of diligent research, a well-coordinated effort was made to see if her resting-place could be found.

The search began in 1986 and encompassed an area off of the Carolina coast larger that the state of Rhode Island. In 1987 Thompson's team investigated a promising site 8,000 feet down.

After just three hours, an unmistakable image filled the video screens from a camera attached to an underwater robot (nicknamed Nemo): a rusting sidewheel lying flat on the bottom of the ocean. Shortly thereafter, the robot discovered the ship's bell from the Central America, confirming the wreck's identity. And so began one of the most sophisticated salvage operations in history.

The complete story of the tragedy and the salvage operations can be found in the book "Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea" by Gary Kinder, The Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, NY, 1998

Notes for William Henry Ogden:

General Notes:

He and his brother Robert231 were on their way home from California, and after crossing the Isthmus of Panama had sailed

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 77)

from Aspinwall for New York, when their steamer, the Central America, Capt. Wm. Lewis Herndon, U. S. Navy, in command, foundered in a gale in latitude 31º 45' N., and nearly all on board perished.

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 78)

Note: Aspinwall is former name of Colon, Panama

From Blanchard and Company (coin dealer) Website:

On August 20, 1857, the steamer SS Sonora sailed from San Francisco harbor bound for the Isthmus of Panama. On board were 578 passengers and crew, as well as a commercial shipment of gold. Valued at $1.6 million, the gold came in all forms - dust, nuggets, coins and, of course, ingots. In the days of the gold rush, such a cargo was not at all unusual.

The passengers on board came from all walks of life: merchants, tradesmen, journalists, engineers, miners, housewives and children. Some were returning to the eastern U.S. via Panama permanently. Others were just headed back east for a visit. The Sonora's voyage to Panama was unremarkable. She arrived in Panama on September 2.

While the Sonora was transiting from San Francisco to the Pacific coast of Panama, the steamer SS Central America was making a similar journey from New York to the Atlantic coast of Panama. Just like the Sonora, the Central America cast off on August 20 and arrived in Panama on September 2. Operated by the United States Mail Steamship Company, the Central America was a 272-foot long sidewheel steamship launched 5 years earlier as the SS George Law. By August of 1857, she had 43 round trips between New York and Panama to her credit.

While the Sonora's passengers debarked with their possessions and the gold shipment in the Pacific port city of Chagres, the Central America was refueled and provisioned at Aspinwall on the Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama.

The passengers and heavily-insured gold were then loaded on the narrow-gauge rail of the recently established Panama railroad. The three and a half hour train ride was a marked improvement over the weeklong trek through the jungle, which travelers had to endure prior to the railroad's completion in 1855.

The Central America's 102-man crew wasted little time in loading the passengers and gold on board their ship. On the afternoon of September 4, she left Panama bound for New York. No one could know, at the time, that this was to be the ship's final voyage. After 4 days of steaming in calm seas, the Central America dropped anchor in Havana harbor to take on more coal and provisions. On the morning of September 9, she weighed anchor and set off for New York. She would never reach safe harbor again. The stage was set for a tragic calamity.

Very early into the final leg of her voyage, the Central America was pushed by a stiff southerly breeze. By the time the sun went down in an ominous red sunset, the wind was strong enough to prompt one passenger to ask the ship's captain, Commander William Lewis Herndon, about shipwrecks. "If she goes down, I go under her keel," retorted Herndon.

By the next morning, the weather had grown even worse. As a squall line approached, the passengers were forced to beat a hasty retreat below decks. By early evening, the Central America was rolling in deep swells as waves pounded the sides of her hull and high winds howled through her rigging. The passengers were now in utter misery as the effects of seasickness took a fearful toll in the cramped quarters below deck.

By Friday, September 11, the sheets of rain and mountainous waves had put the Central America in critical danger. She was taking on water and began to list. As she settled to port, it became impossible to get coal to the engine room to fire the boilers. The ship lost her ability to maneuver and the bilge pumps shut down. The flooding grew progressively worse and the Central America became a helpless, storm-tossed hulk. Commander Herndon ordered the 3rd officer to set the massive storm sail, but the wind tore the sail to pieces. The Central America was losing its battle with the sea.

The final day for the Central America, September 12, 1857, began with an ominous sign: Commander Herndon had the ensign hoisted upside down to indicate that the ship was in distress.

Just before noon, the brig Marine came upon the Central America. Realizing that his ship was doomed, Commander Herndon loaded the women and children into the lifeboats. The boats' crews rowed across nearly 3 miles of stormy seas to the relative safety of the Marine.

The men on the Central America realized that the ship could not survive the night. Herndon came to grips with his ship's fate, donned his dress uniform and climbed atop the paddlewheel. His last act was to fire off a set of rockets to indicate that the ship was sinking rapidly.

At about 8:00 p.m., the Central America lurched and succumbed to the hurricane's fury. She slipped beneath the waves at a 45-degree angle. All of the men left aboard had managed to locate life preservers, but the enormous suction created by the sinking vessel pulled many below. Many of those who survived the draw of the ship subsequently drowned in the storm-driven waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

Shortly after midnight, the sea calmed and the hurricane moved on. The Norwegian ship Ellen arrived on the scene and her crew began pulling men from the sea. By mid-morning the crew of the Ellen had saved 50 people. Of her 578 passengers and crew and golden cargo, the SS Central America took 425 souls along with over $1.6 million in gold coins, dust, nuggets, and assay bars with her to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

The sinking of the SS Central America is America's worst peace-time maritime disaster. The loss of life and the immense gold shipment did more than provide fodder for newspapers of the era; it sparked a nationwide financial panic that exacerbated economic shock-waves throughout the global markets.

The press dwelled on the news for months, speculating about the cause of the tragedy and calling for investigations. The news of the Central America tragedy also fanned the sparks of a financial crisis. The United States was in a recession during most of the 1850s, a recession that grew worse in August, 1857 when the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company failed, leaving vast debts. Banks that had loaned money to Ohio Life found themselves overextended. Depositors demanded payment in gold from banks and the domino effect set in. Bankers were concerned about their solvency and had high hopes that the expected gold shipment aboard the Central America would ease the economic pressure. The shipwreck dashed those hopes and the Panic of 1857 took hold, ruining many men and businesses.

In 1981, marine biologist Tommy Thompson and a group of highly trained associates set out to find the Central America. After years of diligent research, a well-coordinated effort was made to see if her resting-place could be found.

The search began in 1986 and encompassed an area off of the Carolina coast larger that the state of Rhode Island. In 1987 Thompson's team investigated a promising site 8,000 feet down.

After just three hours, an unmistakable image filled the video screens from a camera attached to an underwater robot (nicknamed Nemo): a rusting sidewheel lying flat on the bottom of the ocean. Shortly thereafter, the robot discovered the ship's bell from the Central America, confirming the wreck's identity. And so began one of the most sophisticated salvage operations in history.

The complete story of the tragedy and the salvage operations can be found in the book "Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea" by Gary Kinder, The Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, NY, 1998

Notes for William Henry Ogden:

General Notes:

He and his brother Robert231 were on their way home from California, and after crossing the Isthmus of Panama had sailed

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 77)

from Aspinwall for New York, when their steamer, the Central America, Capt. Wm. Lewis Herndon, U. S. Navy, in command, foundered in a gale in latitude 31º 45' N., and nearly all on board perished.

(The Quaker Ogdens in America p. 78)

Note: Aspinwall is former name of Colon, Panama

From Blanchard and Company (coin dealer) Website:

On August 20, 1857, the steamer SS Sonora sailed from San Francisco harbor bound for the Isthmus of Panama. On board were 578 passengers and crew, as well as a commercial shipment of gold. Valued at $1.6 million, the gold came in all forms - dust, nuggets, coins and, of course, ingots. In the days of the gold rush, such a cargo was not at all unusual.

The passengers on board came from all walks of life: merchants, tradesmen, journalists, engineers, miners, housewives and children. Some were returning to the eastern U.S. via Panama permanently. Others were just headed back east for a visit. The Sonora's voyage to Panama was unremarkable. She arrived in Panama on September 2.

While the Sonora was transiting from San Francisco to the Pacific coast of Panama, the steamer SS Central America was making a similar journey from New York to the Atlantic coast of Panama. Just like the Sonora, the Central America cast off on August 20 and arrived in Panama on September 2. Operated by the United States Mail Steamship Company, the Central America was a 272-foot long sidewheel steamship launched 5 years earlier as the SS George Law. By August of 1857, she had 43 round trips between New York and Panama to her credit.

While the Sonora's passengers debarked with their possessions and the gold shipment in the Pacific port city of Chagres, the Central America was refueled and provisioned at Aspinwall on the Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama.

The passengers and heavily-insured gold were then loaded on the narrow-gauge rail of the recently established Panama railroad. The three and a half hour train ride was a marked improvement over the weeklong trek through the jungle, which travelers had to endure prior to the railroad's completion in 1855.

The Central America's 102-man crew wasted little time in loading the passengers and gold on board their ship. On the afternoon of September 4, she left Panama bound for New York. No one could know, at the time, that this was to be the ship's final voyage. After 4 days of steaming in calm seas, the Central America dropped anchor in Havana harbor to take on more coal and provisions. On the morning of September 9, she weighed anchor and set off for New York. She would never reach safe harbor again. The stage was set for a tragic calamity.

Very early into the final leg of her voyage, the Central America was pushed by a stiff southerly breeze. By the time the sun went down in an ominous red sunset, the wind was strong enough to prompt one passenger to ask the ship's captain, Commander William Lewis Herndon, about shipwrecks. "If she goes down, I go under her keel," retorted Herndon.

By the next morning, the weather had grown even worse. As a squall line approached, the passengers were forced to beat a hasty retreat below decks. By early evening, the Central America was rolling in deep swells as waves pounded the sides of her hull and high winds howled through her rigging. The passengers were now in utter misery as the effects of seasickness took a fearful toll in the cramped quarters below deck.

By Friday, September 11, the sheets of rain and mountainous waves had put the Central America in critical danger. She was taking on water and began to list. As she settled to port, it became impossible to get coal to the engine room to fire the boilers. The ship lost her ability to maneuver and the bilge pumps shut down. The flooding grew progressively worse and the Central America became a helpless, storm-tossed hulk. Commander Herndon ordered the 3rd officer to set the massive storm sail, but the wind tore the sail to pieces. The Central America was losing its battle with the sea.

The final day for the Central America, September 12, 1857, began with an ominous sign: Commander Herndon had the ensign hoisted upside down to indicate that the ship was in distress.

Just before noon, the brig Marine came upon the Central America. Realizing that his ship was doomed, Commander Herndon loaded the women and children into the lifeboats. The boats' crews rowed across nearly 3 miles of stormy seas to the relative safety of the Marine.

The men on the Central America realized that the ship could not survive the night. Herndon came to grips with his ship's fate, donned his dress uniform and climbed atop the paddlewheel. His last act was to fire off a set of rockets to indicate that the ship was sinking rapidly.

At about 8:00 p.m., the Central America lurched and succumbed to the hurricane's fury. She slipped beneath the waves at a 45-degree angle. All of the men left aboard had managed to locate life preservers, but the enormous suction created by the sinking vessel pulled many below. Many of those who survived the draw of the ship subsequently drowned in the storm-driven waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

Shortly after midnight, the sea calmed and the hurricane moved on. The Norwegian ship Ellen arrived on the scene and her crew began pulling men from the sea. By mid-morning the crew of the Ellen had saved 50 people. Of her 578 passengers and crew and golden cargo, the SS Central America took 425 souls along with over $1.6 million in gold coins, dust, nuggets, and assay bars with her to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

The sinking of the SS Central America is America's worst peace-time maritime disaster. The loss of life and the immense gold shipment did more than provide fodder for newspapers of the era; it sparked a nationwide financial panic that exacerbated economic shock-waves throughout the global markets.

The press dwelled on the news for months, speculating about the cause of the tragedy and calling for investigations. The news of the Central America tragedy also fanned the sparks of a financial crisis. The United States was in a recession during most of the 1850s, a recession that grew worse in August, 1857 when the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company failed, leaving vast debts. Banks that had loaned money to Ohio Life found themselves overextended. Depositors demanded payment in gold from banks and the domino effect set in. Bankers were concerned about their solvency and had high hopes that the expected gold shipment aboard the Central America would ease the economic pressure. The shipwreck dashed those hopes and the Panic of 1857 took hold, ruining many men and businesses.

In 1981, marine biologist Tommy Thompson and a group of highly trained associates set out to find the Central America. After years of diligent research, a well-coordinated effort was made to see if her resting-place could be found.

The search began in 1986 and encompassed an area off of the Carolina coast larger that the state of Rhode Island. In 1987 Thompson's team investigated a promising site 8,000 feet down.

After just three hours, an unmistakable image filled the video screens from a camera attached to an underwater robot (nicknamed Nemo): a rusting sidewheel lying flat on the bottom of the ocean. Shortly thereafter, the robot discovered the ship's bell from the Central America, confirming the wreck's identity. And so began one of the most sophisticated salvage operations in history.

The complete story of the tragedy and the salvage operations can be found in the book "Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea" by Gary Kinder, The Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, NY, 1998