Henry Molleston

Henry Molleston (born January 1, 1762 in Kent County , Delaware Colony , † November 11, 1819 in Dover , Delaware ) was an American politician ( Federal Party ). He was elected governor of the state of Delaware in 1819 , but died before he could take office.

Henry Molleston, whose ancestors probably came from the Netherlands and were among the early settlers in Lewes , embarked on a professional career as a doctor, but also worked as a miller . He owned two mills along the St. Jones River . Molleston also acted as the curator of Union Academy , a private school in Camden .

In 1792 he was a member of the congregation that drafted and ratified the Delaware Constitution. In 1799 he was elected to the Delaware House of Representatives, where he remained until 1808; then he held the post of Treasury Secretary ( State Treasurer ) in Delaware until 1813 . Another year in the House of Representatives followed, then Molleston was State Senator from 1815 to 1819 . From 1817 he was a speaker of the Senate .

Finally, in 1819, he was elected Governor of Delaware. With 55 percent of the vote, he defeated Manaen Bull, the Democratic-Republican Party candidate . Only a short time later, however, Henry Molleston died without having taken office. Since this scenario was not provided for in the constitution, Delaware briefly fell into a political crisis. Finally, the representatives agreed that the outgoing Governor John Clark should resign shortly before the end of his term, so that the new Speaker of the Senate, Jacob Stout, could succeed him. However, an agreement was made that Stout would resign the post after a year in order to enable an official by-election.

Web links

• The governors of Delaware