Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1894-03-22

| N.sst " "ANot Oh tuG tOllll OI november,
ls25, he died at tho age OF forty-two of
pulmonary consumption, while in the
command OF the American squadron in
the Mediterranean.
HE had married lady of Middle
town, Connecticut, and there he made
his home, and his children were born,
most OF whom had died in infancy. He
has, however, one son now livingin this
city, and a grandson living In Boston.
Numerous relatives of the family still
live in Delaware.
Ills remains were brought back to
his country and q monument with APP
propriate inscriptions attest the resting
place OF his body in the Riverside
cemetery at Middletown, Conn.
MY quest for relics of this famous
man in the neighborhood where his boy
hood was spent brought to light an old
portrait of him which had been slowed
away in q garret until ii was beyond re-
pair.
ut has been pronounced as originally
OF excellent workmanship and there is
little doubt it was presented to him by
his sister Mrs. Roberts after his return
from Mediterranean voyage about the
beginning of this century. II shows a
young man of square, firm face ,clear, blue
eyes, auburn hair and of most pleas
ing appearance. You have no doubt as
you look into his face, that he would
never turn from what he conceived to
be his duty.
SEARCHING FOR MEMENTos.
"On the same occasion learned, by
the purest accident, of an old house in
hot hua a .Ie,-
sible attic above the garrot, and that
here some eleven years before, my in
formant had seen an old hair trunk with
about an hundred letters in it from
Macdonough to lady well-known in
those early days.
"The house was still owned by her
descendants, and, although surprised at
TINS information, they were willing to
give me access to the loft. With the
use OF an axe and candle l made my
way into fog of cobwebs only to find
the trunk gone. searched back among
all the tenants of the past eleven years,
and at last fixed the liability upon the
one who had taken the trunk and de-
stroycd what he thought was trash, and
this only two or three years before. =
These letters written likely from all
parts of the world had lain secure in this
almost safe retreat for more than eighty
years and just as they were about to be
appreciated had been destroyed.
My disappointment may be imag-
ined. When thought | was so close
upon what would probably give me %,
fuller insight into the character OF this
interesting man than anything else
could do, the information seemed to just
elude my grasp.
"As small boy l myself was init
mately acquainted with an aged lady Of
lovely appearance and character, who
in her early days had been at least the
intimate friend OF Commodore Mac
dohough. 1t is commonly reported in
her family that they were engaged. II IS
known, however, that they visited at the
same time at the house of Chancellor
Johns in New Castle after the return of
Commodore Macdonough from q voy.
age to the Mediterranean.
at was then currently reported he
was engaged to an Italian lady and that
thereafter the Delaware lady suppressed
all her feelings that bordered upon any
thing warmer than friendship. Before
his return again to his native State she
had engaged herself to marry another
man. 1t is known that he called upon
her and after long interview the pros
pect of any closer relations was ut an
end. 1t is undoubtedly true that the
relations above mentioned very nearly
ripened into marriage, and if il had
done so the subject of this sketch could
not nave obtained lovelier bride.
"lf such had been the case Mac
donough would in all probability have
died native of the State of Delaware
and his children would still have been
identified with the interests Of the com.
munity whom their forefathers for three
generations had been so valiant in pro-
tecting.
"The last visit of Macdonough to the
State OF Delaware was probably few
years before his death and after he had
become celebrated as a naval hero.
About three years ago inquired of
another lady of advanced age who had
lived in the vicinity of and been CON
nected with the Macdonough family by
marriage, if she had ever seen the COM |
modore and was informed that as a girl |
she dined with him ON the Derrickson
farm near McDonough. This must
have been during the last 10 years of his |
life, and it was probably the last time |
he ever set foot upon the soil of Della
ware.
"Ebeling in giving an account Of |
Delaware in his history printed in Ham.
burg in 1900 and recently translated,
says Its size, its position, its natural |
condition; everything designates it as |
meant to play only subordinate part |
in the Union.' Compare this with the
assertions of a writer Of many years
later who says:
"'No State in the Union has produced |
as many eminent patriots and statesman,
in proportion to its population as Della
ware; and large proportion of its
clergymen have risen to eminence. Della
ware furnished five thousand officers
and soldiers during the American Reyo-
luton, Of whom hut one out of hun
dred ever returned
Run your mind back over the names
of those men who We're leaders during
the Revolutionary war and in the i'm.
portant moments in our Nations history
since, and then conclude your compari-
son between these two statements and
decide which is correct.
"Among the numerous famous men
whom Delaware has produced few of
them surpass the man in whom we are
now interested, either in courage, dar-
ing, character, or ability.
"rhe family burying ground is upon
the old homestead and the tombs within
the walled enclosure mark the graves of
ancestors. The bricks
are beginning to crumble and the stone
copings to fall from their places. A
graceful walnut tree casts its shadows
over the remains of those resting there