John Stevens (New Jersey politician)
John Stevens Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Vice-President of the New Jersey Legislative Council | |
| In office 1776–1781 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | John Cox |
| Vice-President of the New Jersey Provincial Council | |
| In office 1770–1782 | |
| Member of the New Jersey Provincial Council | |
| In office 1762–1770 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1715 Perth Amboy, Province of New Jersey, British America |
| Died | May 10, 1792 Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Spouse |
Elizabeth Alexander (m. 1748) |
| Relations | |
| Children | John Stevens III Mary Stevens |
| Parent(s) | John Stevens Sr. Ann Campbell |
| Occupation | Landowner, merchant, politician |
John Stevens Jr. (c. 1715 – May 10, 1792) was a prominent colonial American landowner, merchant, and politician.[1]
Early life
Stevens was born in 1715 at Perth Amboy in the Province of New Jersey in what was then British America.[1] He was the son of John Stevens Sr., who came to America in 1699 at the age of 17 as an indentured clerk, and his wife Ann Campbell.
Career
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With his brother Richard, he owned mercantile vessels and commanded them on voyages to Madeira and the Caribbean between 1739 and 1743. He then settled in Perth Amboy, where he was a vestryman at St. Peter's Church from 1749 to 1752. He was a large landowner in the New Jersey counties of Hunterdon, Union, and Somerset, and he owned a copper mine at Rocky Hill that was later abandoned.[2]
Colonial politics
Stevens was a member of the New Jersey General Assembly in 1751. He served as paymaster of the 1st New Jersey Regiment (the "Jersey Blues") under Colonel Peter Schuyler from 1756 to 1760. In 1758, he was appointed by the Assembly of New Jersey to serve as a commissioner to the state's Indian tribes. In 1762, he was named a member of the New Jersey Provincial Council, a position that he resigned in 1770.[2]
Stevens was a vocal opponent of the Stamp Act.[3] When the act went into effect in 1765, he was one of a committee of four (with Robert Livingston, John Cruger Jr., and Beverly Robinson) to prevent the issue of stamps in New York City.[3] In 1770, he was appointed a commissioner, along with Walter Rutherfurd, to establish the partition line between New York and New Jersey.[2]
Post-independence politics
In 1776, after the Provincial Congress had become the
Personal life
In 1748, he married Elizabeth Alexander (1720–1800), daughter of
- John Stevens III (1749–1838), who married Rachel Cox, a descendant of the Langeveldts who originally settled New Brunswick, New Jersey.[5] Rachel was the daughter of John Cox, Esq. of Bloomsbury, New Jersey, and the sister of Elizabeth Cox, who married Horace Binney.[4]
- Mary Stevens (1751–1814), who married Chancellor Robert R. Livingston (1746–1813), negotiator of the Louisiana Purchase.[6]
His later years were spent with his son at Hoboken, where he died in May 1792. He was buried at the Frame Meeting House in Bethlehem Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey.[7]
Descendants
Through his son John, he was the grandfather of thirteen grandchildren, including
References
- ^ a b "STEVENS, John - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
- ^ a b c d Rutherfurd, Livingston. Family Records and Events (1894), pp. 72–80.
- ^ a b Dunlap, William; Donck, Adriaen van der (1839). History of the New Netherlands, province of New York, and state of New York, to the adoption of the federal Constitution: by William Dunlap. Printed for the author by Carter & Thorp. p. 420. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
- ^ a b c The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. XI. New York City: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. 1880. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
- ^ Cox, Henry Miller (1912). The Cox Family in America: A History and Genealogy of the Older Branches of the Family from the Appearance of Its First Representative in this Country in 1610. pp. 223–227. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
- Knickerbocker Press. p. 557. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
- ^ New Jersey Archives, Vol. XX: New Jersey Colonial Documents (2005), pp. 568–9.
External links
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