Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs PDF
Preview Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs
Gc iil L. 974.8 C71.1 V.2 1317990 I I GENEALOGY COLLECTION 3 1833021438160 Colonia and Revolutionary l Families of Pennsylvania ^mrabgical anb personal Pcmoirs JOHN W. JORDAN, LL.D. Historical Society of Pennsylvania Ex-General Registrar of Sons of the Revolution and Registrar of Pennsylvania Society VOLUME II Copyright TheLewisPublishingCompany 1317990 WILLIAM SERGEANT BLIGHT, JR. The maternal ancestors of the subject of this sketch, probably of Scotch \ origin, were among the early settlers of Connecticut. Jonathan Sergeant was v^ oneofthefoundersofBrampton,Connecticut,anddied therein 1652. His son -^ Jonathan Sergeant was one of the Connecticut Colony who formed the first \ English settlement at Newark, New Jersey in 1667, and from that date, down to and including the period of the Revolutionary war, his descendants were , v^ prominently identified with the afifairs of that province and state. John Ser- v geant,abrother of the immediate ancestor of the subject of this sketch, was a "") missionary to the Stockbridge Indians, about the middle of the eighteenth cen- *^ turyand aprominent minister of thegospel. Jonathan Sergeant, thegreat-great-great-grandfatherof the subject of this sketch,aresidentof Newark, NewJersey,married (first) Hannah, daughterof James Nutman, of Hanover, New Jersey, and widow of Jonathan Dod. She ,^,Y^died in 1743, leaving two daughters, Hannah, who became the wife of Rev. John Ewing, D. D., and Sarah, who married Jonathan Baldwin, one of the ^^eAbairglayilg,ra(dbu.at1e7s11o)f,dthaeugChotlelregoefotfheNReewv.JJeornseayt.hanHDeicmkairnrsione,do(fseEcloinzda)betihn,1N7e45w, >K Jersey, longone of the most eminent divines of America, one of the founders 'v and firstpresidentofthe Collegeof New Jersey, now Princeton University, by _ hisThwiefeHoJno.anJnaonMaetlhyann. Dickinson Sergeant, eldest son ofJonathan and Ab- igail (Dickinson) Sergeant, and one of the most prominent and influential pa- triots of the Revolution in New Jersey, was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1746. Soon after his birth his parents removed to Princeton, New Jersey, where he resided until the beginning of the Revolutionary struggle. He grad- uated at the College of New Jersey in 1762, at the age of sixteen, and took upthe studyoflaw at Princeton under the Hon. Richard Stockton, the Signer \ of the Declaration of Independence, and was admitted to the New Jersey bar, ataboutthetimethepassageofthe StampActarousedthe indignationand op- position of the liberty-loving American colonists. In the opposition to the en- forcement of this obnoxious measure, the young lawyer took an active and strenuous part. With the beginning of the real struggle against continued English oppression, he came prominently to the front, and was clerk of the Provincial convention held at New Brunswick, July 21, 1774, to elect delegates to the Continental Congress held at Philadelphia, July 15, 1774. He was delegate to and the principal secretary of the convention held at Trenton, May23, 1775,andinAugust, 1775,becameamemberandtreasurerofthe New Jersey Committeeof Safety. His active and earnest work in the patriot cause attracted the attention of John Adams of Massachusetts, who referred to him as "acordial friendofAmerican liberty,"and with him he was in closecorres- pondence during the formative period of free American statehood, and for many years thereafter. On February 14, 1776, Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant — 658 BLIGHT was one of the delegation sent to the Continental Congress from the State of NewJersey,andhetookanactivepartinthedeliberations,ofthenationalbody untilMay, 1776,when,havingbeenelectedamemberofthe Provincialcongress, or legislative body of his native state, he resigned his seat in the national con- gress, feeling that he could be of more use to the cause in the state body, in which he distinguished himself as an able and eloquent advocate of measures fortheprosecutionofthewar. OnJune24, 1776,hewasnamedbytheProvin- cial congress, one of thecommittee to formulate a state constitution, whose re- port waspresentedonJune26, and adoptedJuly 2, thesame day on which his formercolleagues in the Continental Congressaffixed their signature to the im- mortal Declaration of Independence. He was again chosen as a representative in the Continental Congress, by the Provincial Congress November 30, 1776, with Richard Stockton, his old preceptor, John Witherspoon, Abraham Clark, andJonathanElmer. Duringthe followingyear hebecamea resident of Phil- adelphia,andonJuly 28, 1777,was appointedattorney-generalof Pennsylvania, bytheSupremeExecutiveCouncil,andwasre-appointedtothesamepositionby Congress, February 8, 1778. He resigned this position November 20, 1780, but continued his active work for the patriot cause until the close of the Rev- olution, when he resumed the practice of law in Philadelphia. He was agent and counsellor for the Supreme Executive council 1782-1790. When Philadel- phia was visited by the terrible scourge of yellow fever in 1792-3, he was an active member of the Committee of Health, appointed to take measures to stamp out the scourge, but died of the disease October 8, 1793, in his forty- eighthyearandintheprimeofabrilliantandsuccessfulcareer. He married (first) March 14, 1775, Margaret, sixth child of the Rev. Elihu Spencer, D. D., then of Trenton, but formerly of Elizabeth, New Jersey, the successorof the Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, as president of the College of New Jersey, by his wife Joanna Eaton, daughter of John and Joanna Eaton, of Shrewsbury, N.J. Mrs. SergeantwasbornJanuary5, 1759, anddiedJune 17, h1i7s87f.irstHweifmearhreiehdad(fsievceoncdh)ildDreenc:e—mbWeirlli2a0,m,1o7f88,whEolimzapbreetshenRtilty;tenShaoruashe,.maBry- ried Samuel Miller, D. D., of New York; John (1779-1852), the eminent law- yerandstatesman;Thomas, (1782-1860),aneminent lawyerandJusticeof the SupremeCourt;ElihuSpencer, born 1787,alsoanhonoredmemberofthePhil- adelphiabar.Byhissecondwife,ElizabethRittenhouse,hehadthreechildren: Esther (1789-1870), wife of Dr. W. P. C. Barton, founder and first chief of theMedicalandSurgicalBureauoftheUnited States Navy;David Rittenhouse (1791-1872); Frances (1793-1847), wife of John C. Lowber, of the Philadel- phia bar. WiLUAM Sergeant, eldest son of Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant by his first wife, Margaret Spencer, was born January i, 1776, and died March 7, 1807. He studied law and during his brief adult carer was a member of the Philadelphiabar and in active practice in that city. He married, September 3, 1801. Elizabeth, daughter of Colonel Jacob Morgan, Jr., and his wife Bar- bara Jenkins, and granddaughter of Colonel Jacob Morgan, Sr., and his wife Rachel Piersol. Col. Thomas Morgan, Sr., born in the year 1716, was a son of Thomas Morgan, said to have been anative of Wales, to whom was surveyed, Septem-
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