Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/778

 774 DELAWARE grant of 90,000 acres of land for an agricultural college has been given to this institution, and an agricultural department with 3 professors has been organized. In 1870 there were 473 libraries in the state, containing 183,423 vol- umes, of which 221, with 91,148 volumes, were private; 223, with 55,851 volumes, Sabbath school ; 23, with 9,400 volumes, church ; 5, with 23,024 volumes, circulating libraries ; and 1, with 4,000 volumes, the state library. There were 17 newspapers and periodicals, having an aggregate circulation of 20,860. Of these, 1 was daily, 3 were semi-weekly, 12 weekly, and 1 monthly. The number of church organiza- tions was 267, having edifices, sittings, and property as follows : DENOMINATIONS. Edifices. Sittings. Value of property. Baptist 7 2,950 $181,000 27 8.975 246,850 Friends 8 &425 64,600 Lutheran ...... .... 1 800 5,000 Methodist 166 51.924 781,000 New Jerusalem Presbyterian. 1 82 300 13,875 20,000 884,500 Roman Catholic 8 6000 170,000 Unitarian 1 800 17,000 Universalist 1 350 4,000 Total 252 87,899 $1,828,950 Delaware takes its name from Lord De la Ware or Delawarr, governor of Virginia, who entered the bay in 1610 ; but the discovery of the Delaware was made by Hudson in 1609. In 1629 one Godyn, a director in the Dutch West India company, in whose service Hudson had sailed, purchased of the natives a tract of land near the mouth of the river ; and next year De Vries, with 30 colonists from Holland, settled near Lewes. Three years later the whole colony was destroyed by the natives. In 1637 the Swedish West India company sent out a colony of Swedes and Finns, which ar- rived at Cape Henlopen early in 1638, and, after purchasing all the lands from the cape to the falls near Trenton, erected a fort at the mouth of Christiana creek. They named the country Nya Sveriga, or New Sweden. The subsequent settlements of the Swedes were mostly within the present limits of Pennsyl- vania, and in 1643 their headquarters were erected on the island of Tinicum, a few miles below Philadelphia. These proceedings were protested against by the Dutch of New Am- sterdam, who claimed the country by right of discovery and settlement, and with a view to the expulsion of the intruders built Fort Casi- mir (now New Castle), 5 m. S. of Fort Chris- tiana. This, however, was captured by the Swedes in 1654; but the next year the Dutch from New Netherlands attacked and reduced the Swedish forts, and sent to Europe all the colonists who refused allegiance to Holland. Thus ended the transient connection of Sweden with the colonial history of the United States. From this period to 1664, when New Nether- lands was conquered by the English, the Del- aware settlements continued under the control of the Dutch authorities. The duke of York now came into possession of all the Dutch had occupied, and the English laws were establish- ed on both sides of the river. In the mean time, however, Lord Baltimore asserted his claim to the country on the west side of the river as a part of his grant, which extended to lat. 40 N., but excepted tracts then already occupied ; and frequent incursions were made from Maryland with the view of driving away the settlers. At length William Penn, having obtained a grant of Pennsylvania, and being desirous of owning the land on the west bank of the Delaware to the sea, procured from the duke of York a release of all his title and claim to New Castle and 12 m. round it, and to the land between this tract and the sea. In Octo- ber, 1682, he arrived at New Castle, and in the presence of the inhabitants produced his deeds and accepted the surrender of the territory. Lord Baltimore still asserted his claim, but Penn resisted it on the ground that at the tune of the grant of Maryland the territory was oc- cupied, and in 1685 the lords of trade and plan- tations decided in Penn's favor. The conflict- ing claims, however, were subsequently adjust- ed by compromise. The tracts now constituting the state Penn called the " territories or three lower counties on the Delaware." For 20 years they were governed as a part of Pennsylvania, each county sending six delegates to the gen- eral assembly. In 1703 the territories obtained liberty to secede, and were ever afterward al- lowed a distinct assembly. But the proprieta- ry retained all his rights until the commence- ment of the revolution, and the same governor uniformly presided over Pennsylvania and Del- aware. Sheltered by the surrounding colo- nies, Delaware enjoyed entire exemption from wars, except those in which as a part of the British empire she was obliged to participate. In the war with France which terminated in 1763, she was second to none in active zeal; and in the revolutionary war the Delaware regiment was one of the most efficient of the continental army. In 1776 the inhabitants de- clared themselves an independent state, and framed a constitution. In 1792 a second con- stitution was established, which, as amended in 1831, still forms the fundamental law of the state. Delaware was the first state to ratify the federal constitution, its approval being given Dec. 7, 1787. Though a slave state, it refused to secede at the outbreak of the civil war, and during its continuance furnished sev- eral regiments to the Union armies. DELAWARE, the name of five counties in the United States. I. A S. E. county of New York, bounded N". W. by the E. branch of the Sus- quehanna and S. W. by Delaware river, which separates it from Pennsylvania ; area, 1,550 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 42,972. It is drained by the head streams of the Delaware, has a hilly sur- face, and the soil in the valleys is exceedingly fertile. The Delaware and Susquehanna rivers