Editing Caesar Rodney (section)

==Rodney family and early years==
{{see also |Rodney family of Delaware}}
[[File:Coat of Arms of Caesar Rodney.svg|175px|thumb|left|Coat of Arms of Caesar Rodney]]
Rodney was born on October 7, 1728, on his family's plantation, "[[Byfield Historic District|Byfield]]", on St. Jones Neck in [[East Dover Hundred]], Kent County, Delaware. Caesar was the eldest son of 2 children of Caesar and Elizabeth Crawford Rodney and grandson of William Rodney. William Rodney emigrated to the American colonies in 1681–1682, along with [[William Penn]],<ref name="Dssi">{{cite web|last1=Jackson|first1=Thomas Clark|date=2011-11-30|title=Caesar Rodney|url=http://www.dsdi1776.com/signers-by-state/caesar-rodney/|access-date=14 January 2016|website=2016 The Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence}}</ref> and was speaker of the Colonial Assembly of the [[Delaware Colony|Delaware Counties]] in 1704.<ref name=Dssi /><ref name="Unvel">{{cite book |last1=Bayard |first1=Thomas |title=Proceedings on Unveiling the Monument to Caesar Rodney, and the Oration Delivered on the Occasion by Thomas F. Bayard, at Dover Delaware, October 30th, 1889 |date=30 October 1889 |publisher=Delaware Printing Company |location=Dover Delaware |page=13}}</ref> Rodney's mother was the daughter of the Rev. Thomas Crawford, Anglican rector of Christ Church at Dover.<ref name=Dssi /> Among the Rodney family ancestors were the prominent Adelmare family in [[Treviso|Treviso, Italy]],<ref name=Ital>{{cite journal|last1=McCormick|first1=David|title=Freedom's Ride|journal=Italian America|date=1 October 2014|pmid=59123|volume=2|issue=7975|pages=51|doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(76)93018-x|s2cid=36237366}}<!--|access-date=14 January 2016--></ref> as attested by genealogy studies.<ref>''The Italic Way'', Vol. XLII, p. 12, 2016</ref>

Byfield was an 849-acre farm worked by enslaved labor.<ref>Delaware Public Archives, Sheriff's sale April 9, 1791 confirms acreage but does not include mention of enslaved persons associated with the property.</ref> The Rodneys were, by the standards of the day, prosperous members of the local [[gentry]].  The farm earned sufficient income from the sale of wheat and barley to the [[Philadelphia]] and [[West Indies]] markets to provide enough cash and leisure to allow members of the family to participate in the social and political life of Kent County.<ref name="Dssi" /> At Rodney's death, he enslaved 18 people. His will manumitted three of advanced age upon his death, and held the others to a manumission schedule he devised.<ref>Public Archives picture of Caesar Rodney's will</ref> 

Caesar was educated when he was 13 or 14 years old. He attended The Latin School, part of the academy and the [[College of Philadelphia]] (now known as University of Pennsylvania) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Latin School and the College of Philadelphia, 1751–1791 &#124; Department of Classical Studies|url=https://www.classics.upenn.edu/department-history/latin-school-and-college-philadelphia-1751%E2%80%931791}}</ref> until his father's death. Caesar was the only one of the Rodney children to receive anything approaching a formal education.<ref name="Deck" /> Caesar Rodney's father died in 1746, and Caesar's guardianship was entrusted to Delaware Supreme Court Justice [[Nicholas Ridgely (born 1694)|Nicholas Ridgely]] by the Delaware Orphan's Court.<ref name="Dssi" />