Year Honored: 2008
Biography
Little personal information survives about Elizabeth Empson Battell, also known as the “Godmother of the First State.” Battell ran the Golden Fleece Tavern on the Dover Green from 1777 until 1792. She and her husband, French Battell, a Quarter Master in the local militia, ran it as partners throughout the Revolutionary War until his death in 1781.
The Golden Fleece Tavern, sometimes called Battell’s Tavern, had a long history as a place of political importance. During the Revolutionary War, the tavern had served as a vital point of communications exchange. It also hosted the meetings of the Committee of Inspection and Observation, and when the State Government moved from New Castle to Dover in 1777, the tavern hosted the meetings of the Assembly’s Upper House until the State House was completed in 1791.
In 1787, when 30 delegates from around the state met to review the Constitution put forth by the Philadelphia Convention, they did so at the Golden Fleece Tavern. When it was unanimously approved on December 7, 1787 – making Delaware the First State – it occurred under Battell’s stewardship. The legislatures, in their excitement to spread the news about statehood, skipped out on the bill. The unpaid invoice is in the Delaware Archives, and a copy hangs in the modern incarnation of the Golden Fleece. In 1790, delegates also ratified the Bill of Rights at the tavern.
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Sources and Additional Readings
Golden Fleece Tavern. AMERICAN HERITAGE. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://www.americanheritage.com/content/golden-fleece-tavern
Golden Fleece Tavern. Delaware Public Archives - State of Delaware. (2020, January 2). Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://archives.delaware.gov/historical-markers-map/golden-fleece-tavern/
In the Council Chamber of Elizabeth Battell's Golden Fleece Tavern Historical Marker. Historical Marker. (2018, November 30). Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=39074
Productions, M. (n.d.). First to ratify the Constitution. DELMARVA ALMANAC. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from http://delmarva-almanac.com/index.php/content/article/first_to_ratify_the_constitution/
- Collections: 2008