George Read (signer)
| George Read | |
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| Chief Justice of Delaware | |
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In office September 30, 1793 – September 21, 1798 |
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| Preceded by | William Killen |
| Succeeded by | Kensey Johns |
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United States Senator from Delaware |
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In office March 4, 1789 – September 18, 1793 |
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| Preceded by | new office |
| Succeeded by | Henry Latimer |
| President of Delaware | |
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In office October 20, 1777 – March 31, 1778 |
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| Preceded by | Thomas McKean |
| Succeeded by | Caesar Rodney |
| Continental Congressman from Delaware |
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In office August 2, 1774 – December 17, 1777 |
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| Preceded by | new office |
| Succeeded by | Caesar Rodney |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
September 18, 1733 Cecil County, Province of Maryland |
| Died | September 21, 1798 (aged 65) New Castle, Delaware |
| Resting place | Immanuel Episcopal Churchyard, New Castle |
| Political party | Federalist |
| Spouse(s) | Gertrude Ross Till |
| Residence | New Castle, Delaware |
| Profession | lawyer |
| Religion | Episcopalian |
| Signature |  |
George Read (/riːd/; September 18, 1733 – September 21, 1798) was an American lawyer and politician from New Castle in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a Continental Congressman from Delaware, a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, President of Delaware, and a member of the Federalist Party, who served as U.S. Senator from Delaware and Chief Justice of Delaware. Read was one of only two statesmen who signed all three of the great State papers on which the country’s history is based: the original Petition to the King of the Congress of 1774, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States.
George Read was the son of John and Mary (Howell) Read. George's father was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of an Englishman of large fortune belonging to the family of Read of Berkshire, Hertfordshire, and Oxfordshire. The death of his beloved having left George's father bereft, John Read came to the American colonies and, with a view of diverting his mind, entered into extensive enterprises in Maryland and Delaware.
Soon after his arrival in America, John Read purchased a large landed estate in Cecil County, Maryland, and founded, with six associates, the city of Charlestown, on the headwaters of Chesapeake Bay, twelve years after Baltimore was begun, with the intention of creating a new market for the northern trade, and thus developing northern Maryland and building up the neighboring iron works of the Principio Company, in which the older generations of the Washington family, and at a later period General George Washington himself, were also largely interested.
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