James Sykes (governor)

James Sykes was born near Dover, Delaware, the son of James and Agnes Sykes. His father was a member of the Delaware General Assembly and a delegate to the Continental Congress. James Jr. studied medicine under Dr. Joshua Clayton and first practiced in Cambridge, Maryland. While there he married Elizabeth Goldsborough, daughter of Judge Robert Goldsborough. After four years they returned to Dover living on The Green. They had three children; James, Anna Matilda, and William, and were members of Christ Episcopal Church. Their house is now an office building.

In 1791 the Delaware General Assembly appointed Sykes to help manage a lottery to raise one thousand pounds to defray expenses incurred in constructing a new state house. After serving as clerk for the State House in 1796, he was elected to the State Senate in 1793. He served one term for the 1794, 1795, and 1796 sessions. Returning a year later, he served six more terms from the 1798 session through the 1812 session. He was Speaker in 1801, and then in every session from 1804 through 1812. He was also the Democratic-Republican nominee in all three of Delaware's U.S. Senate elections in 1798 and 1799.{{Cite web |title=Delaware 1798 U.S. Senate, Special |url=https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/tufts:de.ussenator.special.1798 |access-date=February 5, 2018 |work=Tufts Digital Collations and Archives |series=A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787–1825 |publisher=Tufts University}}, citing Journal of the Delaware House of Representatives, 1798. 36.{{Cite web |title=Delaware 1799 U.S. Senate, Special |url=https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/tufts:de.ussenator.special.1799 |access-date=February 5, 2018 |work=Tufts Digital Collations and Archives |series=A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787–1825 |publisher=Tufts University}}, citing Journal of the Delaware House of Representatives, 1799.{{Cite web |title=Delaware 1799 U.S. Senate |url=https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/tufts:de.ussenator.special.1799 |access-date=February 5, 2018 |work=Tufts Digital Collations and Archives |series=A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787–1825 |publisher=Tufts University}}, citing Journal of the Delaware House of Representatives, 1799.

On February 20, 1801, Governor Richard Bassett resigned following his appointment as U.S. Circuit Court Judge by U.S. President John Adams. As the Speaker of the State Senate, Sykes was next in line of succession and took office as governor. He chose not to run for election in his right, and returned to the State Senate on January 19, 1802.

In the meantime, Sykes had become one of the state's most renowned surgeons. From his office at 45 The Green in Dover, he specialized in treating gallstones and yellow fever. In 1814 he moved his practice to New York City for six years, but then returned to the Dover practice with his son, James. In 1822 he became President of the Delaware Medical Society.

Sykes died at Dover and is buried there in the Christ Episcopal Church Cemetery. His son, James, was a physician in Dover and his son, William, was the father of Major General George Sykes, a commander at Gettysburg in the American Civil War.

Elections were held the first Tuesday of October, and members of the General Assembly took office the first Tuesday of January. State senators had a three-year term. The governor took office the third Tuesday of January and had a three-year term. However, Sykes served as State President, only filling the vacancy caused by the resignation of Richard Bassett.

• Delaware Historical Society; [https://web.archive.org/web/19961231010053/http://hsd.org/ website]; 505 North Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801; (302) 655-7161
• University of Delaware; [http://www.lib.udel.edu/ Library website]; 181 South College Avenue, Newark, Delaware 19717; (302) 831–2965

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |title=History of the State of Delaware |last=Conrad |first=Henry C. |publisher=Wickersham Company |location=Lancaster, Pennsylvania |year=1908 }}
• {{cite book |title=A History of Delaware Through its Governors |last=Martin |first=Roger A. |publisher=McClafferty Press |location=Wilmington, Delaware |year=1984 }}
• {{cite book |title=Memoirs of the Senate |last=Martin |first=Roger A. |publisher=Roger A. Martin |location=Newark, Delaware |year=1995 }}
• {{cite book |title=Federalist Delaware 1775–1815 |last=Munroe |first=John A. |publisher=Rutgers University |location=New Brunswick, New Jersey |year=1954 }}
• {{cite book |title=History of Delaware 1609–1888. 2 vols |last=Scharf |first=John Thomas |publisher=L. J. Richards & Co |location=Philadelphia |year=1888 |isbn=0-87413-493-5}}
• {{cite book |title=Forgotten Heroes of Delaware |last=Wilson |first=Emerson |publisher=Deltos Publishing Company |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |year=1969 }}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930041220/http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=a0da224971c81010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States]
• [http://www.russpickett.com/history/delgov2.htm#sykes Delaware's Governors]
• {{Find a Grave|7367725}}
• [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/sword-szymczak.html#RKD0I7E40 The Political Graveyard]

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{{s-bef|before=Richard Bassett}}

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{{Governors of Delaware}}

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Category:1761 births

Category:1822 deaths

Category:People from Dover, Delaware

Category:American surgeons

Category:Delaware Federalists

Category:Delaware state senators

Category:Governors of Delaware

Category:Federalist Party state governors of the United States

Category:Physicians from Delaware

Category:People from colonial Delaware

Category:19th-century American Episcopalians

Category:19th-century members of the Delaware General Assembly

Category:Candidates in the 1798 United States elections

Category:Candidates in the 1799 United States elections