Richard Dale - Retirement & Death

Retirement & Death

Dale had done well for himself as a merchant seaman. Upon his return to Philadelphia, he changed the focus of his career and became a director of the Insurance Company of North America. Six months later, he shifted allegiance to the Union Insurance Company, and remained there as one of its directors for over twenty years. He served as its president from September 1824 to July 1825.

Back in 1785, George Washington signed a certificate that admitted Dale into the Society of the Cincinnati, which honored officer veterans of the Revolutionary War. Dale remained an active member for the rest of his life, and became involved in the effort to construct a monument dedicated to George Washington in Philadelphia, which ultimately never materialized. He was also active in the Society for the Relief of Poor and Distressed Masters of Ships, Their Wives and Children (est. 1765), and served in the Washington Benevolent Society of Pennsylvania. During the War of 1812, he was a member of the General Committee, formed to protect Philadelphia from potential attack by the British military.

A Protestant Episcopalian, he devoted himself to the religious affairs of the church in Philadelphia. In 1816, he served as president of the Marine Bible Association of the City of Philadelphia, founded by the Philadelphia Bible Society with the intention to further the spiritual welfare of American merchant seamen. He was a co-founder of the Mariner’s Church, a non-denominational church located right off the docks of the city port to cater to traveling seamen. Designed by William Strickland, it was one of the largest churches in the city at the time. He also served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Diocese, a Trustee of the Episcopate Fund, and participated in various conventions dedicated to the perpetuation of the Episcopalian message. He closely followed the construction and affairs of the St. Stephens Church in Philadelphia during its construction and until his death. Dale was sixty-nine when he died in Philadelphia. Originally laid to rest in the Christ Church Burial Ground, and followed by Dorethea with her death four years later, they were both reinterred in the Laurel Hill Cemetery, located in the then-suburbs of the city, in 1888.