George Read (1733-1798), was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a signer of the Constitution of the United States, a delegate from Delaware to the Constitutional Convention, as well as a U.S. Senator and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Delaware.

As a youth, George Read studied at the seminary of the Rev. Dr. Allison at New London.  At the age of seventeen he began reading law with John Moland Esq., and two years later was admitted to the bar.¹

In 1769, he married the daughter of Reverend George Ross, who was the pastor of Immanuel Church in Newcastle for fifty years. George Read's wife was described as:

"Beautiful, her manners elegant her piety exemplary." ²

Known as "the father of Delaware," George Read wrote "the first edition of her laws" ³ as well as the Constitution of the State of Delaware.  The requirements stated in the Delaware Constitution necessary for holding office include:

"DELAWARE 1776.  Article XXII.  Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust... shalI... make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit: "I _____ do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration." 4

¹ J.C. Judson, A Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (Philadelphia: Dobson & Thomas, 1839), p. 85. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), pp.179-180.

² R.P. Bristol, The American Bibliography of Charles Evans, Vol. 14 (Portsmouth [1785] Broadside: LOC Microfilm Library, November 24, 1785), #01291, Reel 224.  Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), p180.

³ Martha J. Lamb, ed., The Framers of the Constitution, A Magazine of American History, Vol. XIll (New York: Historical Publishing Co., 1885), p. 326. Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), p.179.

4 Constitution of the State of Delaware, Article 22.  Francis Newton Thorpe, The Federal and State Constitutions (St. Clair, MI: Scholarly Press), Vol. I, p. 142.  Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc., 1987), p.180-181.  Church of the Holy Trinity v. U.S., 143 U.S. 457, 469-470 (1892).  David Barton, The Myth of Separation (Aledo, TX: WallBuilder Press, 1991), p. 23.