DELAWARE
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DELAWARE
twelve years. In the war of 1S12 Delaware was well
represented in both the land and naval forces, her best-
known representative in the latter Ix'ing Commodore
Thomas Macdonough, the hero of Lake C'hamplain.
Prior to the Civil War, Delaware was classed with the
Southern, or slave-holding. States. In the election of
November, 1S60, the State's electoral vote was given
to John C. Breckinridge, who stood for the constitu-
tional rights of the Southern States, while at the same
time all the political parties within the State pledged
1 lirir loyalty to tlie Union. In January, 1861, a com-
missioner from Mississippi appeared before the Dela-
ware legislature and invited the State to join the
Southern Confederacy. The House unanimously,
and the Senate by a majority vote, expressed their
ilisapproval of such a remedy for existing difficulties.
W hile there was considerable respect and some sym-
pathy for the rights of the seceding States, there was at
ill times constant adherence to the National Govern-
imnt. Delaware being a border State, there was
^' mie distrust on the part of the Government, particu-
larly as to the southern portion, and at times martial
law prevailed. Out of a total white population in the
State in 1800 of 90,589, the aggregate number of
i roops furnished to the Union army during the war by
Hi'Iaware was l.'i,().51. Admiral Samuel F. Dupont
was one of the ranking officers in the Union service
f rcdited to Delaware. On 5 Feb., 1867, the State leg-
islature in accordance with the Governor's recom-
mendation rejected the Fourteenth Amendment to the
Federal Constitution. At the legislative session of
1869 the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution
was also rejected.
PoPDL.\TioN. — The estimated population of the State in 1906 was 194.479. Wilmington, with an esti- mated population in 1906 of 8.5,140, is the largest city. In 1900, in a population of 184,735 there were 94,158 males and 90,577 females. Classified by race, there were 15.3,977 whites, .30,697 negroes and 61 persons of other races; 170,925 of the population v/ere natives, and 13,810 were foreign born. There were 40,029 males of military age, and 54,018 males of voting age, of whom 45,592 were whites, and 8,374 were negroes. The total number of families was 39,446 and the aver- age number of persons to a family was 4.7.
Education. — The first school in the State was opened before 1700, under the direction of the pastor of Old Swedes' Church. During the last half of the eighteenth century, the leading educational institu- tion in the State was the Wilmington Academy, which was built in 1765. Prior to the constitution of 1791, no provision was had for free schools in the State. In that instrument provision was made "for establishing schools and promoting the arts and sciences", and in 1796 an act was passed by the legislature applying all the moneys received from marriage and tavern li- censes to a school fund. This was the beginning of the public school system in the State. In 1829 a "Free School Law" was passed, which divided the counties into many self-governing school districts, each district being the judge of the tax requisite for its own needs. The present school law was passed in 1875, and provided for a fixed tax to be raised annu- ally in each district for the support of the schools therein. Each county has a superintendent of schools, who as such is a member of the State Board of Education. In addition to the tax rai.sed in each school district, there is the income of a large perma- nent school fund, and regular legislative appropria- tions. The Constitution ordains that not less than $100,000 annually shall be provided by the legisla- ture, which, with the income of the permanent school fund, shall be used exclusively for pajTiient of teach- ers' salaries, and for furnishing free text-l)Ooks. Sep- arate schools are provitled for coloured children. In 1900 the total attendance in the free schools of the State was 28,753, nearly equally divided as to sex, of
which number 24,868 were whites, and 3883 were ne-
groes. The total amount expended on the free
schools of the State for the school year 1905-1906, in-
cluding amounts derived from school tax, legislative
appropriations, and income from school fund, was
$501,745.80.
In 1907 a compulsory education law was passed providitig for the continuous attendance for at least five months in each year, at either public or private school in which the common English branches are taught, of all children between the ages of seven and fourteen years, unless excused for certain reasons specified. Delaware College, the chief institution of learning in the State, is located at Newark. Chartered in 1833, it was opened in 1834, and has had a very suc- cessful career. It is governed by a board of trustees, one-half of whom are named by the State. In 1869 the legislature adopted this college as the institution to be provided as an Agricultural College in accord- ance with the Congressional Enabling Act of 1862. Technological and agricultural, as well as classical, courses of instruction are provided. The number of professors and teachers is twenty-two, and the num- ber of students in attendance is 158. Women are ex- cluded from attendance at the college. Wilmington Conference Academy (Methodist), located at Dover, was founded in 1873. St. Mary's College, founded in Wilmington in 1841, by the Rev. Patrick Reilly, be- came a well-known institution, and numbered some of the best-known Catholics in the country among its graduates. In 1857 there were 120 resident students. It prospered till the opening of the Civil War, and in 1866 closed its doors. There are a number of excel- lent private schools and academies scattered through the State. A State College for coloured students, founded in 1892, is located at Dover. Manual and agricultural, as well as classical and technical, instruc- tion is there furnished. Reform schools for both boys and girls are supported in part by the State- There is also a State Hospital and Insane Asylimi. Delaware having no institution for the instruction of the deaf and dumb or the blind, the State bears the expense of having a certain number of them cared for and instructed in proper institutions in other States.
Catholic Proghes.s. — Prior to 1772 no definite rec- ords are obtainable regarding any regularly estab- lished Catholic church in the present State of Dela- ware. The Catholics in the State prior to the latter part of the eighteenth century were verj"^ few in number. In 1730 Cornelius Hallahan, an Irish Cath- olic, settled in Mill Creek Himdred, in New Castle County, on an estate called by him Cuba Rock, near the present location of Mount Cuba. The first Cath- olic services in the State were probably held at his house. The Apoquiniminck Mission, in the lower part of New Castle County, was established before 1750 by Jesuits from St. Xavier's Mission in Cecil County, Maryland. The latter mi.ssion, founded in 1706 by Father Thomas Man.sell, S.J., near the junction of the Cireat and Little Bohemia Rivers, is still in existence, and known as Bohemia Manor. In a report from the Episcopal Mission at Dover (Kent Covmty) to the clergjTnen of the Pennsylvania province, made in 1748, it is .stated that the "(Quakers and Roman Catholics were long accustomed to burj' their dead at their own plantations." Again in 1751 a like report from the Dover Mis.sion .states: "There are about five or si.x families of Piipists, who are attended once a month from Maryland with a priest." In Januarj', 1772, Father Matthew .Sittcnsperger, a Jesuit known at the Bohemian -Mission under the name of Manners, pur- chased a fann in Mill Creek Hundred, which was known as Coffee Run, and here a log chapel called St. Mary's and a residence were erected. Father .sittensperger was succeeded by the Rev. Stephen Faure, who, with other Frenchmen, driven from St. Domingo by negro
