George Read III (June 4, 1788 – November 1, 1836) was an American lawyer who served as the second

U.S. Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the District of Delaware taking over for his father.

Family

George Read III was born in the Read mansion on June 4, 1787, in

New Castle, Delaware New Castle is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The city is located six miles (10 km) south of Wilmington, Delaware, Wilmington and is situated on the Delaware River. As of 2020, the city's population was 5,551. New Cast ...

. His father was George Read, a lawyer and politician who would go on to sign both the

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and the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constituti ...

. Read's great uncle

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was an officer in the

Continental Navy The Continental Navy was the navy of the United Colonies and United States from 1775 to 1785. It was founded on October 13, 1775 by the Continental Congress to fight against British forces and their allies as part of the American Revolutionary ...

during the Revolution and his great uncle James was an officer in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

and later active in managing the navy under the

Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation, officially the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement and early body of law in the Thirteen Colonies, which served as the nation's first Constitution, frame of government during the Ameri ...

. His paternal grandmother was Gertrude Ross Read, the daughter of Rev. George Ross (the first rector of the

Immanuel Episcopal Church on the Green Immanuel on the Green (Episcopal) is an historic church in New Castle, Delaware, New Castle, Delaware, listed as a contributing property in the New Castle Historic District (New Castle, Delaware), New Castle Historic District. The church is sit ...

) and the sister of lawyer George Ross, another future signatory to the Declaration. When his father, George Read II was born, Read's grandfather was serving as both the Crown Attorney General for the

Delaware Colony The Delaware Colony, officially known as the three Lower Counties on the Delaware, was a semiautonomous region of the proprietary Province of Pennsylvania and a '' de facto'' British colony in North America. Although not royally sanctioned, ...

as well as a member of the Delaware Assembly. By the time his father turned ten, his grandfather was serving in the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. George Read II was admitted to the bar in 1785 and opened a law office in New Castle. Four years later, he would become the first United States Attorney for the District of Delaware. His uncle, John Read was a noted lawyer and banker of Philadelphia. His mother, Mary Thompson, was the daughter of General William Thompson. George Read III married on 19 April 1810, Louisa Ridgeley Dorsey, whose family resided near

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, her father being Dr. Nathan Dorsey, a

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

in the Continental Navy, who afterwards became an eminent physician in Philadelphia and an original member of The

Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a lineage society, fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of milita ...

in the state of Pennsylvania.

Biography

After graduating in 1806 from

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with honors, he studied law with his father, and was called to the bar in Delaware.He served as United States district attorney, during the administrations of three of Presidents. George Read III died in his family's mansion, in New Castle, on November 1, 1837, the same night of his nomination to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

References

First State National Historical Park

Read House and Gardens at the Delaware Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Read, George 03 1788 births 1836 deaths People from New Castle, Delaware United States attorneys for the District of Delaware Delaware lawyers Delaware Democratic-Republicans 19th-century American lawyers