Caleb S. Layton

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Caleb Sipple Layton
Associate Justice of the Delaware Superior Court

(1836–1844)
Personal details
Born(1798-04-12)April 12, 1798
Whig
Republican
SpousePenelope Rodney
Residence(s)Georgetown, Delaware

Hon. Caleb Sipple Layton (April 12, 1798 – October 3, 1882) was at various stages of his life a

Associate Justice of the Delaware Superior Court. He was a resident of Sussex County, Delaware
.

Early life

Caleb S. Layton was born on the family homestead to Lowder Layton and Sarah, daughter of Caleb Sipple, of

clerk of the Delaware Lower House, and was admitted to practice as an attorney-at-law
in 1826. He died in Georgetown Delaware

Career in law and politics

Layton soon established a wide reputation for himself as a wise counselor and a zealous and popular advocate before the jury. In 1826 he was elected a member of the Lower House of the State Legislature, and was re-elected for several successive terms. In 1830 he was elected a member of the Delaware Senate.

During the administration of Governor

Superior Court of Delaware
, and occupied that place until July 1844, when, owing to the insufficiency of the fiscal returns from the office, he was compelled to resign. He returned to the practice of his profession in Georgetown and continued to be a respected leader of the Delaware bar.

Republican Party as the American Civil War drew closer. He was noted by local historians to have been a forcible speaker, a close and accurate reasoner and a recognized leader in political life from 1825 until within a few years of his demise. He was the author of legislation that established the free school system in Delaware, and was opposed to slavery, and, as a member of the Legislature, was instrumental in presenting the first abolition bill in the State of Delaware.[1] There is also a record of Layton assisting an unjustly enslaved woman named Ann Elliott have her freedom and that of her children recognized by the Delaware courts in 1849.[2] Despite this, he himself owned slaves according to census records in 1840, 1850, and 1860.[3][4][5] In 1864 during the American Civil War, Layton enlisted his slave George H. Mitchell into the Union's 25th United States Colored Infantry Regiment. Layton received a $300 bounty while Mitchell was granted his freedom at the end of the war.[6]

Family life

Layton was a member of the

Episcopal Church
.

His father died on June 26, 1849. Judge Layton's first wife died in July, 1855. She had nine children, as follows:

For his second wife Judge Layton married Anna M., daughter of Dr. William Morris, of Dover, Delaware. She died in the fall of 1886.

References

  1. ^ Scharf, John Thomas (1888). General history: Volume 1 of History of Delaware: 1609-1888. L. J. Richards & Company. pp. 538–39.
  2. ISBN 9780875863382
    .
  3. ^ "Caleb Sipple Layton", United States census, 1840; Cedar Creek Hundred, Sussex County, Delaware; page 409,, National Archives film number M704 34. Retrieved on 2023-07-14.
  4. ^ "Caleb S Layton", United States census, 1850; Georgetown, Broadkill Hundred, Sussex County, Delaware; page 143,, National Archives film number M432. Retrieved on 2023-07-14.
  5. ^ "C S Layton", United States census, 1860; Broadkill Hundred, Sussex County, Delaware; page 16,. Retrieved on 2023-07-14.
  6. ^ "USCT Album Donated to Smithsonian". Military Images Magazine. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
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