Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-06-22
THE late WILLIAM c. LODGE.

| communicated
| 1t is not sin to wish the spirit free
From the dull bondage ofthis suffering clay.
The author of the above lines,
William g. Lodge, passed quietly away
on Tuesday evening, June 18th, 1899,
at his home, The Naples, near Clay
mont. 1t was the quiet ending of a
notable and useful life.
His ancestors, the Lodges, came over
from England with William Penn and
settled on the banks of the Delaware
in Brandywine hundred. For genera
tions they have been noted as leaders
/ In their community. The subject OF
this sketch died near the spot where
his father, grandfather, great-grand-
father and great-great- grapdfather have
lived in the generations passed, loved
and honored OF oil who knew them.
sionately attached to the soil and to
that calling which has given to our
country so many of her stalwart men.
George Lodge, the father, was a man
of commanding presence and of great
dignity and capacity. Prudent and
thrifty, he gathered together many
broad acres of land and became one OF
the largest iandholders in the hun
dred. His was the immortal instinct.
AT his house neighbors and friends
met and were delightfully."- entertained.
He was one OF the most courteous men
of his day; altogether a gentleman OF
| the old school and of unadulterated
| English blood. His broad acres, and
his fat cattle grazing upon his many
hills, showed the thoughtful care and
thrift of the country gentleman, the
lover of rural life.
Ann Cloud, the mother, was of the
well-known Cloud family. Contempt
raneously with the Lodges they
migrated to Delaware, and like them
were Of good old English ancestry. Lot
| Cloud. maternal uncle of the de-
ceased. was one of the best known
men of that end OF the State. He
was noted for fearless devotion to duty
and sterling integrity of character,
and was held in highest repute by his
neighbors.
William g. Lodge was born Septem-
Der 10th, 1928, near the spot where he
died. His academic education was
completed in Vermont. At school be
was noted for the facility with which
he mastered his studies, and uniformly
stood at the head of his class. Here
he developed quite literary in
clination, and was strongly urged by
his teachers to follow that life. His
own inolinations were in that direction.
That was the purpose with which he
left school; but he yielded to the
earnest solicitation of devoted father,
whose ambition it was to have his only
son and child Of the fourth generation
born to the manor, lord of the
soil," following the business of his
ancestors, owning and cultivating
fatherland as they had done from
generation to generation, For the
father this had been q princely life,
but the conditions had changed. and
for the,s it had no such attraction.
and sensitive in organization, the mind
outran delicate body and lived largely
in the realm of thought and fancy. He
had a decided distaste for the tame
ness and monotony Of farm life. Filial
affection, however, induced the sacri-
flee. Later in life, both father and
son realized that the son should have
followed a literary career, for which by
natural endowments, by beauty Of
thought, felicity of expression and
intense sympathy with the true and
beautiful in nature, he was best
fitted; and in which those who knew
him most intimately believed he would
have taken high rank.
L. For many years he was q much
sought correspondent of Meals Phila-
delphia Gazette, and frequently wrote
for the Delaware Gazette, appropriating
to hinseE the Poets Corner" His
articles on peach orchards and the
oyster industry Of the peninsula were
published in Harper's Magazine and
were illustrated by his wife. They
were intensely interesting, showing a
decided capacity to see and portray
the humorous, as we'll as the useful,
side of life. Selections from his poems
were published in DIR. Watson IS
Poetical Quotations, in 1847. Many
of these poems disclose a delicacy OF
thought, wealth of imagination and
rythmic beauty of language and verse
that gave great promise for the future,
had his life been permitted to run in
that groove.
Although his life was not passed in
the wished for lines, it was neverthe-
less one of great purity and usefulness.
He possessed the unbounded confidence
of the people among whom he lived.
They delighted to honor him. In 1850,
and again in 1856. he was elected to
represent his hundred in the Legis
lature of the State, and made an
active, efficient and useful member.
In 1852 he was elected delegate to
the Constitutional Convention, and
was quite helpful in forming that
Constitution. In arbitration and in
settling disputes among his neighbors,
his counsel and services were fire.
| quently invoked and wore uniformly
acceptable; which 10 the highest test
of their merit.
! He was one of, tho founders of the
Protestant Episcopal Church of the
| Ascension of Claymont, Delaware. in
1854. He was elected the first secre-
tary of the yestry of that church, and
| held the Office up to the time of his
death-nearly half century of con-
tinuous service. During that time he
generally represented the church in the
church conventions. OF him it may
be truly said he lived blameless
Christian life.
In 1857 he was married to Emma
Lore, sister of Charles b. Lore, who
survives him, together with three
children, viz: George Lodge, the we'll
known lawyer OF this city, who has
also been member of the Legislature I;
Ann Lodge Parish, a portrait FAINTER
and artist of high merit, now of
Colorado Springs, Col, and Miss
Blanche Lodge.
| Their home on the Delaware. river
was noted for hospitality, Both hus-
band aud wife possessed that winsome
kindliness of heart and sympathetic
interest in others that at once put the
guest at ease; while the beautiful out
look upon the broad Delaware River