History of Cecil County Maryland United States of America

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Biographies:

William S. Fulton, senator, was born in Cecil county, Md., June 2, 1795. He was graduated at Baltimore college in 1813; studied law; served in defence of Fort McHenry, 1812-13; removed with his father to Tennessee in 1814, and was military secretary to General Jackson in the Florida campaign of 1818. He then settled in Alabama where he practised law and in 1829 was appointed by President Jackson secretary of the territory of Arkansas and in 1835 its governor. When the state government was formed in 1836 he was elected a U.S. senator and drew the long term which expired March 3, 1841. He was reelected in 1841 for a second term, serving until March 3, 1847. He died at "Rosewood," near Little Rock, Ark., Aug. 15, 1844.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

David Davis, jurist, was born at the Rounds, Sassafras Neck, Cecil county, Md., March 9, 1815; son of David Davis, a physician of Cecil county; and grandson of Naylor Davis of Prince George county. He attended the schools of his native county, an academy in Delaware, and Kenyon college, from which last he was graduated in 1832. He then studied law with Judge Henry W. Bishop at Lenox, Mass., and at the law school at New Haven, Conn., under Judges Daggett and Hitchcock, and was admitted to practice in 1835. He located in Pekin, Ill., but ill health soon led him to remove to Bloomington, Ill. In 1844 he was elected to the legislature of Illinois as a Henry Clay Whig, and in 1847 was a delegate to the state constitutional convention. Upon the adoption of the new constitution in 1848 he was elected judge of the eighth judicial district of Illinois, without opposition, and at a time when the circuit was strongly Democratic. He gained the friendship of Abraham Lincoln and for years they rode the circuit, which extended over fourteen counties He was re-elected judge in 1855; supported Mr. Lincoln in his canvass against Judge Douglass for U.S. senator in 1858, and in 1860 was sent by the Republican state convention to Chicago as a delegate-at-large to the national convention, where his leadership brought about the nomination of Mr. Lincoln. After the election Judge Davis was a chief councillor of the President and accompanied him to Washington in February, 1861. After the inauguration he returned to his duties on the circuit and used his efforts toward a peaceable adjustment of the questions at issue between the states. He was re-elected a second time judge of the eighth circuit in 1861. President Lincoln appointed him with Hugh Campbell of St. Louis and Joseph Holt, former secretary of war in Buchanan's cabinet, as a committee to adjust the war claims against the department of Missouri and to investigate the conduct of General Fr?mont in the administration of the affairs of the department. In 1862 President Lincoln appointed Judge Davis a visitor to the U.S. military academy and the same year to the seat on the bench of the United States supreme court made vacant by the death of Mr. Justice McLean. He became a firm friend of Chief Justice Taney and this friendship was maintained up to the time of the death of the latter. He administered the estate of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. In 1870 he signed the minority report of the supreme court, giving as his opinion that the act of congress making government notes a legal tender for the payment of debts, was constitutional. At this time the ex parte Mulligan case, one of the most important cases of the period and one exciting wide public interest, was assigned to him. It involved the question of individual liberty and the power of the government in times of war. The leading thoughts of Mr. Justice Davis's decision are: "The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people in war and in peace and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men at all times and under all circumstances. The government within the constitution has all the powers granted to it which are necessary to preserve its existence, as has been happily proved by the result of the great effort to overthrow it." In 1872 he accepted the nomination of the Labor Reform party as its candidate for President, and his name was also presented at the Liberal Republican national convention at Cincinnati, where he received ninety-two and a half votes on the first ballot. On the nomination of Mr. Greeley, however, he withdrew from the field as the candidate of the Labor Reform party. It was in first accepting the nomination that Justice Davis made use of the oft-quoted expression: "The chief magistracy of the republic should neither be sought nor declined by any American citizen." In1876 the Independents in the Illinois legislature united with the Democrats and elected Justice Davis to the United States senate. He resigned his seat on the bench of the U.S. supreme court and took his seat in the senate, March 4, 1877. He served on the committee of the judiciary and in 1881, on the reorganization of the senate, under the administration of President Garfield, he declined the chairmanship of the judiciary committee. Upon the accession of Vice-President Arthur to the presidency, Senator Davis was elected president of the senate at the convening of the 47th congress, Dec. 5, 1881, and accepted the position with the frank statement that "if the least party obligation had been made a condition, directly or indirectly, be would have declined the compliment." He resigned from the senate in 1883 and retired to his farm near Bloomington, Ill. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Beloit college in 1863; from the Illinois Wesleyan university in 1865; from Williams college in 1873; and from St. John's college in 1874. He was married, Oct. 30, 1838, to Sarah W., daughter of Judge William Perrin Walker of Lenox, Mass., and had one son, George Perrin, who was graduated from Williams in 1864 and from the University of Michigan law school in 1867, practising in Bloomington, Ill.; and one daughter, Mrs. Sarah D. Swayne. Mrs. Davis died Nov. 9, 1879, and on March 14, 1883, Judge Davis was married to Adeline E. Burr of Fayetteville, N.C. He died in Bloomington, Ill., June 26, 1886.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Nathan Covington Brooks, educator, was born in Cecil county, Md., Aug. 12, 1819. He was graduated at St. John's college in 1837. He removed to Baltimore in 1839, where he accepted the principalship of the high school, remaining in that position for nine years, when he resigned to establish the Baltimore female college. He is the author of "Scripture Anthology" (1837); "The Literary Amaranth" (1840); "History of the Church" (1841); "Complete History of the Mexican War" (1865); "Viri Americ?" (1864), and "Passion Week, with an Horology of the Passion" (1886). He wrote "The South Sea Islander." He died in Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 6. 1898.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Joshua Clayton, senator, was born in Cecil county, Md., in 1744; son of James and Grace Clayton, grandson of John and Grace Clayton, and great-grandson of Joshua Clayton, a Quaker preacher who came to America in 1682. He became a physician of skill and reputation, and practised in his native place. In 1776 he was first major in the Bohemia battalion of the Maryland line and served as aid on the staff of General Washington at the battle of Brandywine. He was a delegate to the provincial congress, 1782-84; judge of the court of appeals; state treasurer, 1786; president of Delaware under the first constitution from May 30, 1789 to Jan. 13, 1793; governor of Delaware by election of the people from Jan. 13, 1793, to Jan. 13, 1796; and U.S. senator from Delaware from January 19, 1798, until his death. He was married to Mrs. Rachel McCleary, an adopted daughter of Richard Bassett, an early governor of Delaware. He left three sons, the youngest of whom, Thomas, became U.S. senator and chief justice of the state. He died in Bohemia Manor, Md., Aug. 11, 1798.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Cecil County Maryland

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