Jeremiah Wadsworth

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Jeremiah Wadsworth |image = Jeremiah Wadsworth and His Son Daniel John Trumbull 1784.jpeg |state = Connecticut |district = at-large |term_start = March 4, 1789 |term_end = March 3, 1795 |predecessor = ''Position established'' |successor = |birth_date = {{Birth date|1743|7|12|mf=y}} |birth_place = Hartford, Connecticut Colony, British America |death_date = {{Death date and age|1804|4|30|1743|7|12|mf=y}} |death_place = Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |occupation = |spouse = {{marriage|Mehithabel Russell|1767|1804|reason=died}} |children = Daniel Wadsworth |parents = |relations = |citizenship = {{US}} |party = |other_party =  |alma_mater = }}

'''Jeremiah Wadsworth''' (July 12, 1743 – April 30, 1804) was an American sea captain, merchant, and statesman from Hartford, Connecticut who profited from his position as a government official charged with supplying the Continental Army. He represented Connecticut in both the Continental Congress and the United States House of Representatives.

==Early life== He was a son of Daniel Wadsworth and Abigail ({{nee}} Talcott) Wadsworth. He was a descendant of William Wadsworth, one of the founders of Hartford and a pastor of the town's Center Congregational Church. He went to sea in 1761 at the age of 18 for health reasons, starting as a regular sailor on one of his uncle's ships.<ref name=Callahan/>

==Career== Wadsworth eventually rose to become first mate of a vessel and eventually a captain who made his fortune in the West India trade.<ref name=Callahan>Callahan, North, ''Connecticut's Revolutionary War Leaders'' A publication of the American Bicentennial Commission of Connecticut (Pequot Press: Chester, Connecticut), 1973, chapter on ''Jeremiah Wadsworth'' pp. 36-37</ref>

===During the American Revolution=== thumb|right|Tablet dedicated to George Washington and honoring Jeremiah Wadsworth When the war started, Wadsworth was appointed to a committee charged with buying 5,000 pairs of yarn stockings for the army (which had already been sent to Canada). He served on another committee to procure 1,800 pounds of "lawful money in specie" in exchange for bills for use by the army. The Connecticut General Assembly later commissioned him and Col. Jonathan Fitch to find a large number of tin kettles for the army. The next assignment was to buy up as much pork as he could (both to furnish the American army and to keep it out of the hands and stomachs of the British forces).<ref name=Callahan/>

Having served effectively in these assignments in Connecticut, Congress elected him Deputy Commissary General of Purchases on June 17, 1777, but he resigned in August. When Congress reorganized the supply system, he became Commissary General in April 1778, resigning in December 1779.<ref name=Callahan/>

Reaching the rank of colonel, he became commissary for Comte de Rochambeau's army until the war's end. In the summer of 1783, he went to Paris to report to the French on his activities.<ref name=Callahan/> He is said to have turned a good profit for himself in his transactions for supplies.<ref name="Callahan" />

Wadsworth was a good friend of Nathanael Greene and during the time Greene was Quarter-master General they formed some investment partnerships.

Like many of Connecticut's elite at the time, Wadsworth owned slaves. He bought an entire family, including Peleg Nott, who went on to become a Black Governor of Connecticut, presiding over the state's Black community. Wadsworth freed Nott circa 1780. For a time, Wadsworth owned a 6,600-acre plantation in South Carolina, along with the 129 slaves who farmed it.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lang |first=Joel |date=2002-09-29 |title=Chapter Three: The Sins of Our Fathers |url=https://www.courant.com/news/special-reports/hc-sherman.artsep29-story.html |access-date=2022-05-18 |website=Hartford Courant |language=en}}</ref>

===After the Revolution=== Wadsworth became a "pioneer in banking, insurance, and the breeding of cattle" after the war, according to historian North Callahan.<ref name=Callahan/> He served as the second President of the Bank of New York from 1785 to 1786.<ref name="Domett1884">{{cite book |last1=Domett |first1=Henry Williams |title=A History of the Bank of New York, 1784-1884 |date=1884 |publisher=G. P. Putman's Sons |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_the_Bank_of_New_York_1784_1/ja9LAQAAIAAJ |access-date=5 December 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

He was a member of the Continental Congress in 1788 and a member of the Connecticut convention which ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1788. From 1789 to 1795 he served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Wadsworth initially lost reelection in 1790 but was specially reelected when his initial successor Pierpont Edwards declined to take his seat. He was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1795 and of the state Executive Council from 1795 to 1801,<ref name=congress>[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000013] "WADSWORTH, Jeremiah, (1743 - 1804)" Web page at the Web site of the "Biographical Directory of the United States Congress," accessed August 6, 2006</ref> and simultaneously served as a judge of the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TLtLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR7|title=Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Errors, of the State of Connecticut, in the years 1805, 1806, and 1807|year=1809|volume=2|last=Day|first=Thomas|page=xii-xiii}}</ref>

He was appointed Treaty Commissioner, by George Washington, at the Treaty of Big Tree between the U.S. and the Seneca nation in 1797.

==Personal life== In 1767, Wadsworth married Mehithabel Russell, a daughter of William H. Russell and Mary ({{nee}} Pierpont) Russell. His domestic arrangements were described by Lydia Sigourney in her memoirs.<ref name="Letters of Life">{{cite book|last1=Sigourney|first1=Lydia|title=Letters of Life|chapter=Letter IV. First Grief and First Journey |date=1866|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Letters_of_Life/IV|accessdate=July 19, 2017}}</ref> He built two mansions near his own house, one for his daughter Catharine, who had married Nathaniel Terry, and one for his son, Daniel Wadsworth.<ref name="Letters of Life"/>

He died in Hartford, Connecticut, April 30, 1804, and is interred in the Ancient Burying Ground.<ref name=congress/>

==Legacy== {{Libship honor|name=Jeremiah Wadsworth|type=his}}

==Footnotes== {{Reflist}}

==External links == {{CongBio|W000013}} * {{cite web|url=http://www.connecticutsar.org/patriots/wadsworth_jeremiah.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111004959/http://www.connecticutsar.org/patriots/wadsworth_jeremiah.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=November 11, 2007|title=Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth|publisher=Connecticut Sons of the American Revolution}}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box |state=Connecticut |district=AL |before=''District created'' |after=Nathaniel Smith |years=March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1795 }} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wadsworth, Jeremiah}} Category:People of Connecticut in the American Revolution

Category:American sea captains Category:1743 births Category:1804 deaths Category:Continental Congressmen from Connecticut

Category:Sailors from Connecticut Category:Members of the Connecticut General Assembly Council of Assistants (1662–1818) Category:Politicians from Hartford, Connecticut Category:Pro-Administration Party United States representatives from Connecticut Category:American Congregationalists Jeremiah Category:United States representatives from Connecticut Category:United States representatives who owned slaves Category:Justices of the Connecticut Supreme Court Category:18th-century American merchants Category:18th-century United States representatives