Ignatius Cooper Grubb

Ignatius Cooper Grubb (April 12, 1841 – June 20, 1927) was a Delaware politician, jurist and historian who served as an associate justice of the Court of Errors and Appeals from 1886 to 1897 and as the Associate Justice at large of the Delaware Supreme Court from 1897 to 1909. As Secretary of State under Governor John P. Cochran from 1875 to 1879, he became involved in a boundary dispute with New Jersey that was not resolved until 1935. He is best remembered as the champion for legislative reapportionment in Delaware in the 1880s and 90s and as the author of an 1896 history of the Delaware judiciary.

Biography

Born in Brandywine Hundred, Delaware, Ignatius was the son of Wellington and Beulah (Allmond) Grubb, farmers north of Wilmington on the Delaware River. His family lived in the area since the early 1680s when John Grubb settled at a place still known as Grubb's Landing. Orphaned at age 11, Ignatius and his sister Louisa where under the guardianship of Wilmington lawyer, Victor du Pont. After graduating from Yale, Grubb studied law under his guardian and was admitted to the bar in 1862.

A Democrat, Ignatius Grubb was appointed clerk of the Delaware Assembly in 1867, Deputy Attorney General in 1869 and Wilmington City solicitor in 1871. Three years later, he was John P. Cochran's campaign manager and was appointed Secretary of State after Cochran was elected Governor. During the Cochran administration, New Jersey and Delaware disputed fishing rights in the Delaware River south of the state's border with Pennsylvania. At Grubb's suggestion, the controversy was referred to the Supreme Court,

Personal life

Ignatius was a bachelor and extensively traveled in Europe and Asia. In 1895, while returning from Japan, he was asked by the President of Hawaii to intercede with his political friends to help reduce senatorial opposition to the annexation of Hawaii. In 1902, he made a trip on the first modern submarine, the Holland. During World War I, despite being in his 70s, Grubb served in a gun crew on a British merchant ship. In 1919, he flew to Wilmington on an early seaplane.

Interested in history, Grubb was a director of the Delaware Historical Society and in 1896 delivered a paper on history of the Delaware Judiciary from Colonial times. He also compiled an extensive family genealogy and met with his distant cousin, Civil War General Edward Burd Grubb to share research. Both the General and the Judge believed that the family was descended from some notable British ancestors including a 16th-century member of Parliament. More recent research has disproved these claims. Grubb died in an accident at home while preparing to leave for a vacation and his tomb has become a stop on the tours at Old Swedes' Church.