Delaware, U.S., Marriage Records, 1750-1954
Past In Review from 06-17-2004
This week in Delaware history
By Roger A. Martin
Middletown
June 3, 1785: The General Assembly, after major complaints by Quakers, passed a law banning fairs because they had gotten out of hand with the sale of strong liquors, quarrels, vices, and immoralities. 1876: The Delaware State building on the Centennial grounds in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park was completed and requests were made of Delawareans for about $500 worth of furniture with which to furnish it. 1935: Governor C. Douglass Buck officially dedicated the opening of the Rehoboth Airport. 1968: The Educational Advancement Act consolidated the state's 50 school districts into 23 with most of the consolidation below the C & D Canal. Unsuspected by many, the ground was set above the canal for school integration in New Castle County through busing 10 years later.
June 4, 1897: The fourth state constitution was adopted giving more representation to upstate over downstate. 1932: Edgar Hoopes Reservoir, a source of water supply for the City of Wilmington, was dedicated near Greenville. One hundred feet deep in some places, the water inundated the Old Mill, T. Coleman du Pont’s summer home built in 1732. 1954: The new suburban Brookside Park homes southeast of Newark were advertised. With model homes on the Kirkwood Highway, the Coronet model mortgage was $58.81 per month while the twin bath El Dorado went for $74.02 per month. 2000: With additional seats added, NASCAR drivers brought in 140,000 fans, the highest number in Dover Downs's 31-year history.
June 5, 1846: A tornado wreaked damage in Wilmington with two people killed, buildings unroofed, and trees uprooted, especially below 7th Street. 1942: Donnie Holzmueller, Jr. of Milford was killed when his patrol boat was sunk by a German torpedo in the Atlantic Ocean. 1951: Chief Justice Clarence S. Southerland, Justice James M. Tunnel, Jr. and Justice Daniel F. Wolcott were sworn in as the first members of a separate Delaware Supreme Court. Delaware was the last state to do so. 1962: A suit was brought in the US District Court to correct the underrepresentation in Delaware's General Assembly of some of the most populated districts upstate. Example: Eighteen of the least populated districts which represented 20 percent of the state's population had a majority of the 35 State House seats.
June 6, 1864: Pvt. Charles Carr, Co E, 3rd Delaware Infantry, one of the many brutal casualties at Cold Harbor outside Richmond, was buried there on the battlefield. 1933: In a local option vote in all three counties on whether we should license beer and alcohol sales, only one district of 86 in the entire state voted against it. This was in Gumboro. 1944: Colonel Norman M. Lack of New Castle helped plan the D-Day invasion in northern France and later served on General Eisenhower's staff at Allied Supreme Headquarters. Twelve Delawareans died on that first day of the landings. 1999: On the 55th anniversary of D-Day the Riverfront Development Corporation in Wilmington inaugurated Dravo Plaza along the Christina River. In its heyday during World War II, the Dravo Corporation, one of the state's largest employers, employed 10,500 shipyard workers, one of the state's largest employers.
June 7, 1859: Dover jail was emptied of Negroes convicted in the last court term. They were sold for periods of 4-7 years and for amounts of $10-$215 apiece. 1864: Pvt. John Callahan, Co B., 1st Delaware Infantry died of diarrhea and was buried at Andersonville Prison in Georgia. 1938: Their Royal Highnessess Gustaf Adolf and Louise, crown prince and crown princess of Sweden, arrived off Lewes to help celebrate the landing of the Swedes in Delaware in 1638. 1973: Police arrested 105 people at Smith's Bridge in upper New Castle County for hanging out, harassing people, and obstructing traffic across the bridge.
June 8, 1776: The state Committee of Inspection and Observation grudgingly approved Virginia Representative Richard Henry Lee's resolution in Congress recommending each colony form its own state. 1833: President Andrew Jackson debarked the ship Ohio at New Castle and was met by Governor Caleb Bennett. After which Jackson proceeded to Philadelphia. 1849: A dinner was given for returning soldiers from Mexico at John Springer's Hotel at 9th and Shipley streets in Wilmington. The state voted $100 for a sword for Lt. Robert C. Rogers. 1918: As anxiety grew over World War I on the homefront, Delaware College (U/D) voted to drop the teaching of the German language.
June 9, 1824: Sixty-eight year old Joseph Harper, Dover Revolutionary War veteran of nine engagements who lived at the junction of King and North streets in Dover, died. 1843: President John Tyler passed through Wilmington with his cabinet on the way to Boston to commemorate the Bunker Hill monument. 1851: Elizabeth Ginn of Pencader Hundred was killed by lightning. 1987: US Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. announced his candidacy for President of the US.
June 10, 1833: Black Hawk, the Sauk Indian Chief, passed through New Castle on a "good will" tour of eastern cities sponsored by the US Government. 1968: Returning from a vacation in Europe, H. Rodney Sharp died. Between 1950 and his death, a Sharp Trust made $32,589,183.84 available to the University of Delaware. No person has ever provided so much financial assistance to the institution. 1998: President Clinton’s daughter Chelsea and several of her friends spent their high school graduation week in Rehoboth. 2001: Peter Tome, a skydiver from Rising Sun, Md., fell 13,000 feet to his death over Laurel Airport when his main and emergency chutes tangled.
