READ, Thomas, clergyman, born in that part of Maryland that is now part of Chester county, Pennsylvania, in March, 1746 ; died in Wilmington, Delaware, 14 June, 1823. He was the son of a farmer, who came to the United States from Ireland several years before Thomas's birth. After his graduation at Philadelphia academy in 1764, the son became a tutor in a classical school at Newark, Delaware, was licensed to preach in 1768, and was installed as pastor of a Presbyterian church at Drawyer's Creek, Delaware In 1797 he accepted the pastorate of the 2d Presbyterian church at Wilmington, Delaware He was an ardent patriot in the Revolutionary war. In 1776 he marched with a company of neighbors and members of his church to Philadelphia for the purpose of volunteering in the American army, arriving just after the victories of Trenton and Princeton, which rendered its services unnecessary. In August, 1777, he performed an important service for the American cause by drawing for General Washington a map that showed the topography of the country and a route by which he could retreat from Stanton, and avoid a conflict with the superior British force that had landed at Elk ferry, and was advancing on the American camp. He received the degree of D. D. from Princeton in 1796, and exercised his pastoral functions with great success till 1817, when bodily infirmities impelled him to resign his charge. }]yen after that he supplied the pulpit of the 1st Presbyterian church in Wilmington.