Smyrna times., 1904-02-03
INTERESTING OLD LETTER
PRESERvEOAT belmont"
MRS. c. E. SPEAKMAN HAS ONE WHICH
WAS WRITTEN IO7 YEARS AGO.
its Connection With a Recent and Interesting
Paper on "SeuatOr White and His Father
Judge White Read by II. c. Conrad.

Judge White Read by II. c. Conrad.
Through the courtesy of Hon. Hen
nv G. Conrad of Wilmington, and
with the assistance of Mrs. Caroline
E. Speakman, of Belmont Hall" of
this town, who furnishes some inter
esting local data, we publish extracts
from paper read before the HistOr
ical Society of Delaware on September
the 2lst last by Mr.. Conrad entitled:
"Samu ell White, an almost forgotten
senator, and HIS Father Judge ThOm-
as White, Who was a Follower OF
Bishop Asbury in the Early Days of
Methodism." Mrs. Speakman thought
it might be of some local interest to
know "that Judge Thomas Whites
daughter, Miss Sarah White married
DR.. Robert Cook. The latter was
Governors Cooks eldest son and a
brother to Elizabeth Cook the grand
mother of Mrs. Speakman of Belmont
Hail." Mrs. Speakman has now in her
possession letter dated 1891 written
by DIR. Robert Cook to her grand
mother wherein he urges her to let
him adept her son John Cloak father
of Mrs. speakman) claiming that his
wife(S Sarah White was anxious to
raise young Cloak and give him a
was made after Mrs. .Speakman's grand
mother was left widow but of course
was never consented to. The letter
was kept in perfect state of preserva-
tion and passed down to Eben Cloak,
and after his death was given to his
niece Mrs. Speakman. DR.. Robert
Cook, the author of the letter was the
first president of the Medical Society
of Delaware, a prominent and inhuen-
tial man, an enthusiastic churchman
and devout christian. The tone of
the four PACED letter is that Of brother
~ love and christian affection for his
widowed sister and is highly priced
by Mrs. Speakmau. DR.. Cook, during
his married life with Sarah White
lived near Smyrna where he practiced
his profession. One child Mary Cook
an invalid daughter was born of the
marriage and died in early life. Sarah
Cook also died early and afterwards
Doctor Cook married Nancy Rogers
of Milford and moved to the large
mansion in south Milford, now owned
-.bY Joseph E, Holland.
Two Distinguished Whites, Father and SOr.
''Just one hundred and two years
ago." says Mr.. Conrad, Samuel
White was appointed United States
Senator by Governor Richard Bassett,
to succeed DR.. Henry Lattimer, who
had resigned the Office, and after the
lapse of century it is with difficulty
that enough information can be gotten
together to make respectable biogra-
ply of this man who held the exalted
position of United States Senator from
Delaware.
Investigation establishes the fact
that Samuel White was a son of
Thomas White, and that he was born
in ITO, on the farm of his father in
Mispillion Hundred, Kent County,
Delaware, few miles from the village
of Whiteleysburg. The father, Thomas
White, was known as Judge White,
having from 1777 until 1892 served as
one of the Justices of the Court oi
Common Pleas and Orphans Court oi
Kent county, during the last two years
of that time as Chief Justice. This
Court existed under the first constitu.
tion of the State, adopted in 1916, but
was abolished by the constitution o.
1892. Judge White, at the time of his
death, was Register of Wills for Ken
County. He was one of the large lanC
ywners in Kent county and an infiuen
tjal citizen.
Judge White a Friend of Bishop Asbury.
In 1777 when Francis Asbury mad
his advent into Delaware as the pionee
preacher of Methodism, Judge Whit
and his brother DR.. Edward White be
came much inter ested in him and il
the cause which he represented, an
in time, both became converts, ant
afterwards warm adherents of hi
faith. Asbury spent much time at tn
home of the two White brothers, bu
he became particularly attached I
Thomas White, and in his journi
speaks of him as his dearest friend i
America, and says that Judge White
home was the only home he ever ha,
Asbury never married, and being
the Methodist itinerancy from h
early days, had no permanent place
abode. Most of the Methodist preac
ers were English-born, and one
tenets was a refusal to bear arm
Denounced by other sects as t'nois