Nicholas Ridgely (September 30, 1762 – April 1, 1830)''Biographical and Genealogical History of the State of Delaware'', Vol. 1 (1899), p. 85-86."Domestic Items", ''Vermont Intelligencer'' (April 26, 1830), p. 3. was a Delaware lawyer, politician, and judge who served as

Attorney General of Delaware The attorney general of Delaware is a constitutional officer of the U.S. state of Delaware, and is the chief law officer and the head of the State Department of Justice. On January 1, 2019, Kathy Jennings was sworn in as the 46th attorney general o ...

and as the second Chancellor of Delaware. He was a member of the Electoral College in the 1820 presidential election, voting for James Monroe.

Early life, education, and career

Born in

Dover, Delaware Dover () is the capital and second-largest city of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County and the principal city of the Dover, DE, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County and is part of ...

, Ridgely belonged to a family of public and social prominence which "for many successive generations in Delaware has furnished judges and lawyers of marked ability". He was the eldest son of John Charles Greensburg Ridgely and Mary Wynkoop Ridgeley, the father being an accomplished physician of

Kent County, Delaware Kent County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Delaware. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851, making it the least populous county in Delaware. The county seat is Dover, the state capital of Delaware. It i ...

, who was himself the son of the earlier Judge

Nicholas Ridgely Nicholas is a male given name and a surname. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the name and its ...

and a descendant of Colonel Henry Ridgley. Ridgeley

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

under Judge Robert Goldsborough at Cambridge, Maryland, and was admitted to the Delaware bar at Newcastle in 1787. He quickly "attained a conspicuous standing at the bar even among such distinguished members as the elder James A. Bayard,

Caesar Augustus Rodney Caesar Augustus Rodney (January 4, 1772 – June 10, 1824) was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, who served in the Delaware General Assembly, ...

, and Nicholas Van Dyke Jr." and "was repeatedly elected a member of the general assembly, and drafted the principal legislation required by the changes wrought" by the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

and the recently adopted

Constitution of the United States 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, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

. In 1791, Ridgeley was appointed attorney general of Delaware and held that office for 10 years. He was leading member of the state constitutional convention of 1791–92,

Chancellor of Delaware

In December 1801, Chancellor William Killen resigned his office, and Ridgely was appointed to succeed him on December 6, 1801.''Biographical and Genealogical History of the State of Delaware'', Vol. 1 (1899), p. 81. This development marked a substantial evolution of the office: In 1802, the orphans court jurisdiction was transferred from the court of common pleas to the chancellor by an amendment to the constitution of 1792, effected mainly by Ridgely's influence. He thereby became sole judge of the orphans court.

Personal life and death

Although he lived until the 1830s he still adhered to the manners and garb of the olden times. Towards the close of his life, he suffered from ill health, although he sturdily discharged his judicial duties to the end. He died of heart disease at the age of 67, within a half hour after he had adjourned his court at Georgetown, and was buried in the Episcopal churchyard at Dover. In 1932, a commemorative plaque was installed at his burial site.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridgely, Nicholas 1762 births 1830 deaths People from Dover, Delaware American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law Members of the Delaware General Assembly Delaware attorneys general Chancellors of Delaware