Handy, Thomas, 1777-1851

Thomas Winder Handy was born at “Pemberton” in Somerset County, Maryland on March 17, 1777, to Henry Handy, Sr. and Jane Winder. He attended the Washington Academy and began practicing medicine in 1800 in Dorchester, Maryland, studying under Dr. Levin Irving. He later moved to Princess Anne where he continued his practice. On May 6, 1806, he was appointed an Elder of the Manokin Presbyterian Church, replacing William Polk, deceased. He left the congregation and the county in 1810, when he moved his family to Newark, Delaware. He married his cousin, Matilda Henry, on January 8, 1801, and together they had seven children. After Matilda’s death, he married her sister, Sarah Henry Roberts, on October 4, 1814, and together they had three children. He was paralyzed a few years before his death on June 27, 1851.