Caesar Rodney

Caesar Rodney was a man with wit and humor of the pleasing kind.

He never married and had no children.

He suffered from a disfiguring facial cancer in the last 10 years of his life.

Caesar Rodney was born on October 7, 1728, on his family farm in East Dover Hundred, Kent County, Delaware, to Caesar and Elizabeth Crawford Rodney. He had one brother, named Thomas Rodney.

Rodney received no formal education and was mainly home schooled and tutored by his parents.

When he was 17, his father passed away. Caesar was placed in the care of Nicholas Ridgely.

In 1755, at the age of 22, Caesar was appointed to the office of High Sheriff of Kent County, Delaware, where he served for the required 3 years until 1758.

Thereafter, he was appointed to many other offices, such as the Registrar of Wills, Recorder of deeds, Clerk of the Orphans Court, and Justice of the peace.

In 1756, he was appointed to the position of military Captain of the Kent County Militia.

He worked as a Captain until 1759, and thereafter he became superintendent of the Delaware printing press and delegated the printing of Delaware currency.

Caesar then shifted his focus back to politics by becoming a member of the State Assembly. He served as a member of the Stamp Act in 1765 as well as a leader in the Committee of Correspondence.

He was an officer of the Delaware militia during the French and Indian War and the American Revolution.

He was a Continental Congressman from Delaware.

He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and President of Delaware during most of the American Revolution.