The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1892-07-15
THE DELAWARE sAULsBURYs.
Three Brothers Candidates ioF 'hi''u
states senator Ia one Legislature

Three Brothers Candidates tor tnlted
states senator Ia One L"Ei-'ht"re'
The recent death OF Willard Sauls-
bu1-y. chancellor of Delaware and Tor
two terms a United States senator re
calls soInc remarkable incidents IN the
history of his little state. says the bAi-
falo Courier. 1t seems 10 be the rn'S
that small states should BE- ruled by
families, For many years the SpraSu'H
contested the control OF Rhode l"ldhh
with Brown Ives X Co. and IN the same
WAY for a long the SaUlsburys GlNputeu
with the house ~ Rayard the leader
ship in Delaware. Although the Sauio-
buIvs did not hand down political hon
ors from father to son, aS the BaydfuS
did. they too were an old family, ana
the late chancellor had in his possession
title deeds to the ancestral farm. Whlch
went back two hundred years. HIS
father. a farmer, was a prominent man
in Kent county and had been its sheriff.
Willard was educated in Delaware ana
Dickinson colleges. began Pract'clhE
law in Georgetown, Sussex county ana
soon obtained such Il hold upon the pco-
Dle through his good looks. rcmarlIa BILE
learning. brilliant oratory and popular
manners that at twenty-ninc he became
attorney general bI liz 9l>tAN- -NAA4N
wears later. in 1858. he was elected to
the United States senate, and when hls
term expired he was reelected He bore
Il prominent part in the senate and was
a stanch union man, but he drank 50
hard that he became a national scandal:
! the exhibitions of the late II. IL. Riddle
| berger never attracted onc-tcnth as
much attention as did those of the bril-
| liant Delawarcan.
| ia the meantime one of his brothers,
| Cove Salisbury. physician. had he
| come speaker Of the Delaware senate OF
| nine members. and by the death of the
| republican war governor. William Can
| non. had succeeded in 1SG: to the chief
! magistracy. the office of lieutenant gov
crnor not existing in Delaware In
| 1860 ne had been elected governor. The
| Delaware legislature consists of three
| senators and seven representatives, from
| each of the three counties. and when
| the time came in 1870 for the election of
| United States senator at the eXplra-
| tipn of Wizards second term. fourteen
! were for his reelection. fifteen Were for
| Cove. and one for the third brother of
| the family. Eli. a Dover lawyer whose
| public services had been confined to u
| single term in the legislature Nobody
| but the three brothors was even men
| toned. Finally Eli got another vote.
| \ delegation went across Dover green
| 10 his office to see If he would accept.
| At first he would nOt hear of IL. but at
| length he was persuaded, and in ten
| minutes had been elected by a combina-
! tion Of New Castle aRd kcut counties,
| Sussex standing Stanchly by Willard.
Willard warmly welcomed Eli as his
| successor. and the latter served three
| terms. and when he finally retired in
| I-N2 pulled down the democratic con-
| troll OF the legislature with kim, making
way for Anthony Higgins, a republican.
| Cove returned to the practice of mcdi-
| cine in Dover. where he died in le6l-
| In 1873 Willard was appointed chancel-
| lor of the state by his brother-in-iaT,
| Gov Ponder \ promise to abstain en-
| tirelv from drink was first Obta med
| from him. and this was kept except for
| one or two lapscs of which people gen
| llv did not hear. He worked hard
| and Is said to have made an excellent
| chancellor, Though very infirm phySi-
| cally during the last portion of his life,
! his legs having been paralyZed for
| many years. He was the seventh
! chancellor which the state had in one
! hundred years. Ex-senator Eli Sauls-
bury Is still living in Dover near his
| brothers house. but is in poor health.
! When he passes away the power of the
| Saulsburys will probably be as extinct
| in Delaware as that OF the Claytons.
| although there is second generation
| which has cut some figure at the bar
and in politics. OF the three brothers
| Willard was the youngest. having been
born in 1870; Cove was born in 1918, and
| Eli in 1917.