Thomas Rodney papers (Ms.Rodney)

Biographical note

Thomas Rodney was born on June 4, 1744, the eighth and youngest child of Caesar and Elizabeth (Crawford) Rodney, on his father's farm in St. Jones Neck, in Kent County, Delaware. When Thomas was about a year old, his father died. His mother subsequently married Thomas Wilson. Three years before he attained his majority, Thomas left his childhood home to live with his elder brother, Caesar. In 1764, the two brothers moved to Dover when Caesar was appointed a county officer. Thomas Rodney was married on April 8, 1771, to Elizabeth Fisher of Philadelphia. With the exception of two years spent in Philadelphia as a shopkeeper (1772-1774) and two years in Wilmington in a business partnership for the export of flour (1781-1783), Thomas was engaged principally in farming, both as a manager of Caesar's lands (when the latter was absent in Philadelphia on public business) and as a landowner himself.

Thomas was appointed a justice of the peace for Kent County in 1770, a position to which he was reappointed in 1774. Elected in 1775 as a member of the Assembly for Delaware colony, he participated in the legislative steps taken to transform the Delaware from a colony into a state during the summer of 1776.

In 1775, Thomas Rodney organized a volunteer militia force and was elected a member of the Council of Safety and the Committee of Observation for Kent County. While Washington's army was retreating across New Jersey in 1776, Rodney, as commander of a company of Kent County militia, joined his unit to the division of General Cadwalader. He subsequently led his men in the second battle of Trenton on January 2, 1777 and in the battle of Princeton the following day. He also served as adjutant to his brother Caesar, who was by then in command of the Delaware militia encamped near the British posts outside Philadelphia.

From 1778 to 1785 Thomas Rodney served Delaware as Judge of the Admiralty Court. From 1781 to 1788 he was five times elected to membership in the Confederation Congress, and twice to membership in the lower house of the Delaware General Assembly (1786 and 1787). In December 1802, he was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Delaware, but resigned in August 1803 to accept an appointment by President Jefferson as Federal judge for Mississippi Territory. He remained in this position until his death at Natchez in 1811.

His son, Caesar Augustus Rodney (1772-1824), served as a member of Congress (House of Representatives, 1803-1805; Senate 1822-1823) and as Attorney General of the United States under Presidents Jefferson and Madison.