Preston Lea
52ndGovernor of Delaware
In office January 17, 1905 – January 19, 1909
Lieutenant	Isaac T. Parker
Preceded by	John Hunn
Succeeded by	Simeon S. Pennewill
Personal details
Born	(1841-11-12)November 12, 1841 Wilmington,Delaware, U.S.
Died	December 4, 1916(1916-12-04) (aged 75) New Castle,Delaware, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Adelaide Moore Eliza Naudain Corbit
Residence(s)	Wilmington,Delaware
Occupation	Businessman

Preston Lea (November 12, 1841 – December 4, 1916) was an American businessman and politician from Wilmington, inNew Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of theRepublican Party who served asGovernor of Delaware.

Lea was born atBrandywine Village, now a part ofWilmington, Delaware, son of William and Jane Scott Lovett Lea. His ancestors came to Pennsylvania withWilliam Penn. His grandfather, Thomas Lea, built a flour mill on theBrandywine Creek in 1811.

In 1870, he married Adelaide Moore; they had three children: Claudia Wright, Alice Moore, and Ethel Mildred. In 1897, he married again, to Eliza Naudain Corbit, with whom he had one child, Louise Corbit. Their home for many years was at 2315 17th Street in Wilmington. They were members of the Wilmington Friends Meeting of theReligious Society of Friends, or Quakers.

Wilmington, Delaware, is really a combination of two towns. Wilmington proper rises from the banks of the navigableChristina River and prospered as a convenient place to collect farm products from the interior of Delaware and central Pennsylvania. At its back, though, is a tributary of the Christina River, known asBrandywine Creek. Navigable for only a short distance, the creek quickly rises into the Piedmont and through a series of small falls, provides a dependable source of power for mills. Small boats, or shallops, sailed up to the base of these falls, unloaded their grain, and loaded back up with what became known as "Superfine" flour, some of the best flour produced in America. These mills were known as the Brandywine Mills and the town around them, Brandywine Village.

Lea's grandfather, Thomas Lea, built a flour mill in Brandywine Village on the Brandywine Creek in 1811. His father, William Lea, ran the mill until his death in 1873. After receiving an education atLawrenceville, New Jersey, Preston Lea went to work for his father at the age of eighteen. When William Lea died, the firm was incorporated as William Lea & Sons. Preston Lea became its vice president and then its president in 1876.

In addition, he became president of the Wilmington Board of Trade in 1873 and in 1888 was elected president of theUnion National Bank. Still holding these positions, he was also vice-president of Farmers Mutual Insurance Co., a director ofPhiladelphia, Baltimore & Washington Railroad, president of the Equitable Guarantee Bank, and president of the Wilmington City Railway Co.

During the 30 years following theCivil War the Republican Party was largely the party of New Castle County industrialists and theAfrican-American population. Politically opposed by large majorities of the rural population ofKent andSussex Counties, as well as much of the large Irish immigrant population in Wilmington, statewide they were a decided minority. Some years they didn't even field a ticket. However, as gas company millionaire andPhiladelphia nativeJ. Edward "Gas" Addicks poured campaign money into the Republican Party organization, young businessmen and politicians, tired of the long dominance of theDemocrats, responded and joined up.

Another reason behind the success of the Addicks effort was the resentment many had for the established Republican leaders in New Castle County. Their control of the party seemed to others to be more important than beating Democrats and correcting widely acknowledged problems. The established party leaders could not abide the thought of supporting the "carpetbagger" Addicks, and rebuffed him and the newcomers he brought into the party with him. So, with a mostly progressive agenda, and styling themselves "Union Republicans," they frequently ran their own candidates and rapidly built a large following.

While Lea was certainly an old time Republican industrialist of New Castle County, he was different in that he saw the positive side of Addicks' efforts, formed close friendships with rising young politicians from lower Delaware such asJohn G. Townsend Jr., and was counted among the Union Republicans. In 1904 he was the Union Republican candidate for governor. Popular in New Castle County Republicans circles and benefiting from the well-funded Addicks machine elsewhere, Lea won nearly all the growing number of Republicans voters, easily defeating both Joseph Chandler, the regular Republican Party candidate and Caleb S. Pennewill, the Democratic Party candidate.

Within a year after the election, Addicks suffered major personal and business setbacks and completely withdrew from Delaware politics. With no further reason to disagree, the two Republican factions came together under the political leadership ofT. Coleman du Pont. Thus formed the durable majority coalition of upstate industrialists and downstate small businessmen that governed Delaware for 60 years and is still the basis of the Republican Party.

Among its actions, theDelaware General Assembly finally outlawed the state pillory, although the whipping post remained. The long-disputed boundary with New Jersey in theDelaware River was also resolved and the now antiquatedChesapeake and Delaware Canal was sold to theFederal Government in order to provide for major improvement. Laws were also passed requiring at least three months of school attendance by children and local option legislation allowed Kent and Sussex counties to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages.T. Coleman du Pont announced his plans for a new highway, to be built the length of Delaware, in 1908.

In his later years Lea spent much of his time at his summer home "the Orchards," thought to be in the area of the refinery nearDelaware City. He died at New Castle and is buried in theWilmington and Brandywine Cemetery at Wilmington.

Elections are held the first Tuesday after November 1. The governor takes office the third Tuesday of January, and has a four-year term.

• Carter, Richard B. (2001).Clearing New Ground, The Life of John G. Townsend, Jr. Wilmington, Delaware: The Delaware Heritage Press.ISBN 0-924117-20-6.
• Conrad, Henry C. (1908).History of the State of Delaware. Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Wickersham Company.
• Martin, Roger A. (1984).History of Delaware Through its Governors. Wilmington, Delaware: McClafferty Press.
• Munroe, John A. (1993).History of Delaware. Newark, Delaware: University of Delaware Press.ISBN 0-87413-493-5.
• Sobel, Robert; J. Racino (1988).Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States 1789-1978. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.ISBN 0-930466-00-4.

• Family Photo Album

• Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States
• Delaware’s Governors
• Preston Lea atFind a Grave
• National Cyclopedia of American Biography
• The Political Graveyard
• Lea family photograph collection atHagley Museum and Library
• Morse-Lea photograph collection atHagley Museum and Library

• Delaware Historical Society;website; 505 North Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801; (302) 655-7161
• University of Delaware;Library website; 181 South College Avenue, Newark, Delaware 19717; (302) 831-2965

• 1841 births
• 1916 deaths
• American Quakers
• Burials at Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery
• Businesspeople from Wilmington, Delaware
• Politicians from Wilmington, Delaware
• Republican Party governors of Delaware
• Lawrenceville School alumni
• 19th-century American politicians
• 19th-century American businesspeople

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata