Winthrop Sargent

{{Short description|American politician and military officer (1753–1820)}} {{for|his first cousin the Nova Scotia politician|Winthrop Sargent (politician)}} {{distinguish|Winthrop Sargeant}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Winthrop Sargent | image = Gilbert Stuart Portrait of Winthrop Sargent.jpg | caption = Portrait by Gilbert Stuart, {{circa|1805}} | office = Governor of Mississippi Territory | term = May 7, 1798 – May 25, 1801 | predecessor = ''Position established'' | successor = William C. C. Claiborne | office1 = Secretary of Northwest Territory | term1 = July 9, 1788 – May 31, 1798 | predecessor1 = ''Position established'' | successor1 = William Henry Harrison | office2 = Adjutant General of the U. S. Army (Acting) | term2 = September 4, 1791 – November 4, 1791 | predecessor2 = John Pratt (Acting) | successor2 = Ebenezer Denny (Acting) | birth_date = {{birth date|1753|5|1|mf=y}} | birth_place = Gloucester, Province of Massachusetts Bay | death_date = {{death date and age|1820|6|3|1753|5|1}} | death_place = New Orleans, Louisiana | party = Federalist | alma_mater = Harvard College | profession = | parents = Winthrop Sargent Judith Saunders | spouse = {{marriage|Roewena Tupper |1789|1790|reason=her death}} Mary McIntosh Williams | children = | relations = Judith Sargent Murray (sister) Benjamin Tupper (father-in-law) Paul Dudley Sargent (uncle) | signature = }}

'''Winthrop Sargent''' (May 1, 1753 – June 3, 1820) was an American politician, military officer and writer, who served as Governor of Mississippi Territory from 1798 to 1801, and briefly as acting Adjutant General of the U. S. Army in 1791. He was a member of the Federalist party.<ref name="Mississippi1905"/>

==Early life== Sargent was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on May 1, 1753. He was one of eight children born to Winthrop Sargent (1727–1793) and Judith Saunders. His elder sister was Judith Sargent Murray (1751–1820), an essayist, playwright, and poet.<ref name="Sargent1923">{{cite book|last1=Sargent|first1=Emma Worcester|title=Epes Sargent of Gloucester and His Descendants|date=1923|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AxJCnQEACAAJ|access-date=23 August 2017|language=en}}</ref>

He was the grandson of Colonel Epes Sargent, one of the largest landholders in Gloucester.<ref name="Copley">{{cite web|last1=Copley|first1=John Singleton|title=Epes Sargent|url=https://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.45881.html|website=nga.gov|access-date=24 August 2017|date=1760}}</ref> Sargent was also the nephew of Daniel Sargent Sr. (1730–1806), a prominent merchant, Paul Dudley Sargent (1745–1828), who also served in the Continental Army, and John Sargent (1750–1824), a Loyalist during the Revolution.<ref name="Sargent1920">{{cite book|last1=Sargent|first1=Winthrop|title=Colonel Paul Dudley Sargent|date=1920|publisher=Printed for Private Collection|location=Philadelphia|url=https://archive.org/details/colonelpauldudle01sarg|access-date=23 August 2017|language=en}}</ref>

He graduated from Harvard College Class of 1771<ref name="c192">{{cite book | last=Thayer | first=W.R. | title=The Harvard Graduates' Magazine | publisher=Harvard Graduates' Magazine Association | issue=v. 28 | year=1920 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XSxYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA253 | access-date=2024-08-04 | page=253}}</ref> before the Revolution. He spent some time at sea, as captain of a merchantman owned by his father.<ref name="Farrell1993">{{cite book|last1=Farrell|first1=Betty|title=Elite Families: Class and Power in Nineteenth-Century Boston|date=1993|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=9780791415931|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WOuGvTXpsLgC|access-date=23 August 2017|language=en}}</ref>

==Career== thumb|left|230px|{{center|''~ Mississippi Territory ~'' ~ Winthrop Sargent ~ Issue of 1948}} Shortly after the outbreak of the American Revolution, Sargent was commissioned in Gridley's Regiment of Massachusetts Artillery on July 7, 1775, as a lieutenant, and later that year was promoted to captain lieutenant of Knox's Regiment, Continental Artillery, on December 10. He was with his guns at the siege of Boston, and later served in the battles of Long Island, White Plains, Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. He was promoted to captain in the 3rd Continental Artillery on January 1, 1777, and brevetted major on August 25, 1783, and was discharged from the Continental Army later that year.<ref name="Mississippi1905"/> In 1783 he became an Original Member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.

In 1786, he helped to survey the Seven Ranges, the first lands laid out under the Land Ordinance of 1785. With inside knowledge of the area, he went on to form the Ohio Company of Associates, was an important shareholder in the Scioto Company, and as of 1787, secretary of the Ohio Company.<ref name="ohiohistorycentral.org">{{cite web | title=Biography of Winthrop Sargent on Ohio History Central | website=ohiohistorycentral.org | date=2023-12-31 | url=https://ohiohistorycentral.org/index.html?rec=331 | access-date=2024-08-04}}</ref>

Sargent was appointed by the Congress of the Confederation as the first Secretary of the Northwest Territory, a post second in importance only to the governor, Arthur St. Clair. He took up his post in 1788. Like St. Clair, Sargent would function in both civil and military capacities; he served as acting Adjutant General of U.S. Army from September 1791 until he was wounded twice at the Battle of the Wabash, on November 4, 1791.<ref name="ohiohistorycentral.org" /><ref name="appletons"/> On August 15, 1796, he would, as Acting Governor, proclaim the establishment of Wayne County, the first American government in what is now Michigan.

President John Adams then appointed Sargent the first Governor of the Mississippi Territory, effective from May 7, 1798, to May 25, 1801.<ref name="artic">{{cite web|title=Sword of Winthrop Sargent (1753-1820), First Governor of Northwest|url=http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/117165|website=www.artic.edu|publisher=The Art Institute of Chicago|access-date=24 August 2017|language=en}}</ref> His last entry as Northwest Territory's secretary was on May 31, 1798; he arrived at Natchez on August 6, but due to illness was unable to assume his post until August 16.<ref name="Mississippi1905">{{cite book|last1=Mississippi Dept of Archives and History|title=The Mississippi Territorial Archives, 1798-18 ...|date=1905|publisher=Press of Brandon Print. Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZE8TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA130|access-date=24 August 2017|language=en}}</ref>

The subject was a cotton planter, marketing his crop in New York by Gilbert and John Aspinwall, merchants.<ref>Papers of Winthorp Sargent.(1965). Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society. Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Roll 3465, p. 58, p. 135, p. 179, and p. 212.</ref>

===Later life=== In 1788, Sargent was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite journal |title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter S |url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterS.pdf |journal=American Academy of Arts and Sciences |access-date=July 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103091900/https://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterS.pdf |archive-date=3 November 2018 |page=475}}</ref> He was also a member of the American Philosophical Society elected in 1789<ref>{{Cite web|title=Winthrop Sargent|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Winthrop+Sargent|access-date=15 December 2020|website=American Philosophical Society Member History|publisher=American Philosophical Society}}</ref> and an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati as a delegate from Massachusetts, and published, with Benjamin B. Smith, ''Papers Relative to Certain American Antiquities'' (Philadelphia, 1796), and "Boston," a poem (Boston, 1803).<ref name="appletons">{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Sargent, Paul Dudley|year=1900}}</ref>

[[File:Gloucester, Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi.jpg|thumb|Gloucester, Natchez, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, 1938. Originally known as Bellevue. Built by David Williams family, ca. 1800. Winthrop Sargent bought it from the Williams in 1808.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/csas200907160/ |title=Gloucester, Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi |last=Johnston |first=Frances Benjamin |year=1938 |access-date=14 June 2020 |work=Loc.gov}}</ref>]]

Being a Federalist, Sargent was dismissed from his position as territorial governor of Mississippi in 1801 by incoming president Thomas Jefferson. Sargent took up life in the private sector, developing his plantation Gloucester,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://misspreservation.com/101-mississippi-places-to-see-before-you-die/gloucester-natchez/ |title="Gloucester," Natchez |year=2009 |work=Miss Preservation |access-date=14 June 2020}}</ref> the earliest such establishment in Natchez. Sargent was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1813.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.americanantiquarian.org/memberlists |work=American Antiquarian Society |title=Members Directory |access-date=14 June 2020}}</ref>

During the last decades of Winthrop's life he became major plantation owner in [Natchez, Mississippi]. He acquired extensive plantations due to his marriage to wealthy widow Mary (McIntosh) Williams.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LSBUCwAAQBAJ&dq=plantation+winthrop+sargent+mary+williams+natchez&pg=PR10 | title=Yankee Colonies across America: Cities upon the Hills | isbn=9781498519847 | last1=Rosenberg | first1=Chaim M. | date=24 December 2015 | publisher=Lexington Books }}</ref> In Natchez alone Winthrop owned over 300 slaves and 11,000 acres.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HSx0TYbayYYC&dq=winthrop+sargent+natchez&pg=PA190 | title=Agrarian Elites: American Slaveholders and Southern Italian Landowners, 1815--1861 | isbn=9780807130872 | last1=Lago | first1=Enrico Dal | date=November 2005 | publisher=LSU Press }}</ref>

==Personal life== In 1789, he married Roewena Tupper (1766–1790), a daughter of Gen. Benjamin Tupper, at the settlement of Marietta in the first marriage ceremony held under the laws of the Northwest Territory.<ref>Zimmer, L: ''True Stories from Pioneer Valley'', Broughton Foods Co., Marietta, Ohio (1987) p. 20.</ref> After her death, he married Hannah Ober of Massachusetts on 13 Feb 1791. They had a daughter, Hannah born 25 August 1791 in Massachusetts, and Hannah Ober died the next day.<ref>[https://search.findmypast.com/record?id=https%3a%2f%2ffamilysearch.org%2fpal%3a%2fmm9.3.1%2fth-267-12116-82460-65&parentid=us%2ffs%2fm%2f071639427%2f2 Unknown]{{deadlink|date=August 2024 | fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRSJ-SVN?i=431&cc=2061550|title=FamilySearch: Sign In|website=FamilySearch }}</ref> Then he married Mary McIntosh Williams (1760–1823) shortly after moving to Natchez.<ref name="masshist"/> They were the parents of:<ref name="masshist"/>

* Caroline Augusta Sargent (1795–1844), who married Fielding Lewis Turner (1776–1843) * William Fitz-Winthrop Sargent (b. 1799) * George Washington Sargent (1802–1864), who married Margaret Isabella Jessie Percy (1802–1865).<ref name="masshist">{{cite web|title=Winthrop Sargent Papers, 1771-1948|url=http://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0261|website=www.masshist.org|publisher=Massachusetts Historical Society|access-date=24 August 2017|language=en}}</ref>

Winthrop established a series of laws in 1799 in Mississippi that were informally known as Sargents Code.<ref> https://books.google.com/books?id=-fblpaYn2lcC&pg=PA245&dq=winthrop+sargent+natchez+bank&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiB_e3e5siUAxX6NoYAHc8RNKMQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=winthrop%20sargent%20natchez%20bank&f=false</ref> The territorial laws of Mississippi enacted a county code, criminal court system, probate code and regulations for the militia.

He died on June 3, 1820, in New Orleans.<ref name="Skates">{{cite book|last = Skates|first = John Ray|year = 1979|title = Mississippi: A Bicentennial History|publisher = W.W. Norton & Co.|location = New York City|isbn = 0-393-05678-3|url-access = registration|url = https://archive.org/details/mississippibicen00skat}}</ref> His grandson was the writer Winthrop Sargent (1825–1870). A 1848 Louisiana Supreme Court case decided that the Louisiana portion of Winthrop's estate which included real estate, timber, agricultural properties in Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Virginia and Massachusetts would be divided between his son George Washington Sargent as well as his stepchildren through his marriage to Mary Williams. These step children included Mary (Williams) Urquhart and Mary Sargents grandchildren through her deceased son James C Williams, namely David Percy Williams.<ref>{{cite web|title=Louisiana Reports. Cases Argued and Decided in the Supreme Court of Louisiana|year = 1848|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=tfVOAAAAYAAJ&dq=winthrop+sargent+supreme+court+state+of+louisiana&pg=PA197}}</ref> Some of the properties of Winthrop Sargent were passed through the Natchez David Williams family who arrived in the 1700s according to Supreme Court case.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=85pDAAAAcAAJ&dq=louisiana+supreme+court+winthrop+sargent&pg=PA201 | title=Reports of cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of Louisiana and in the Superior Court of the Territory of Louisiana: Annotated edition, unabridged, with notes and references by the editorial corps of the National reporter system | last1=Court | first1=Louisiana (State) Superior | year=1848 }}</ref> The Winthrop Sargent estate was worth several million dollars in 1700s currency and valued at nearly 10 million dollars in the mid-1800s when his heirs divided his estate.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-08-02-0165 | title=Founders Online: To Alexander Hamilton from William Playfair, 30 March 1791 }}</ref> Archie Percy Williams was a mix race planter and third generation heir of Sargent. A.P Williams became a millionaire in 1800s dollars via inheritance from his father David Percy Williams. In the 1850s D.P. Williams allotted A.P. Williams share to the 1/4th division of Sargents estate <ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OxstAQAAMAAJ&dq=winthrop+sargent+williams+court&pg=PA201 | title=Louisiana Reports: Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Louisiana | last1=Supreme Court | first1=Louisiana | last2=Thorpe | first2=Thomas H. | last3=Gill | first3=Charles G. | year=1848 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20779943/archie-p-williams-natchez-bi-racial/ | title=Archie P. Williams - Natchez MS Bi-Racial Millionaire Heir in the 1800s, Planter and Executive | newspaper=The Weekly Democrat | date=24 October 1888 | page=4 }}</ref><ref> https://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/people/11085912/petitioner/</ref>The majority of the Winthrop Sargent estate today is owned by one of the Williams heirs, Anton R Williams.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.arwhc.com/legacy-each-of-9-generations|title=ARWHC - Legacy- Each of 9 generations|website=www.arwhc.com}}</ref><ref> https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/records/courthouse-records-dec-30-2014-jan-8-2015-456593</ref> Anton Williams Holding Company of 136 E. Michigan Ave. Kalamazoo, Michigan and its funding arm continues legacy business operations.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.antonrwilliamsfoundation.org/historical-precedence | title=ARWF - Historical Precedence }}</ref>

Sargent's son George Washington Sargent graduated from Harvard College, class of 1820, and was killed in 1864.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Winthrop |first=Robert C. |date=1869 |title=June Meeting. Address of President Winthrop; Memorial to George Peabody; Letter of Benjamin Franklin; An Early Paper of Daniel Webster; Lines to the Besieged Inhabitants of Boston |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25079416 |journal=Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society |volume=11 |pages=322–332 [324] |issn=0076-4981}}</ref>

==Legacy== Although there are at least two Sargent Townships (in Illinois and Nebraska) and one Sargent County, it is not known if these are named after Winthrop Sargent. However, a former township of the Northwest Territory's Wayne County was designated as Sargent Township or the District of Sargent; this apparently encompassed the settlements downriver from Detroit and at the River Raisin in what is now Monroe County, Michigan. This township apparently ceased to function after the organization of Michigan Territory, being replaced by the District of Erie. A student dormitory at Ohio University (founded in 1804) in Athens, Ohio, is named Sargent Hall in his honor. This is the first university in the Northwest Territory and the first in Ohio.

== References == {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-new | rows=2}} {{s-ttl | title=Secretary of Northwest Territory | years=July 9, 1788 – May 31, 1798}} {{s-aft | after=William Henry Harrison}} |- {{s-ttl | title=Governor of Mississippi Territory | years=May 7, 1798 – May 25, 1801}} {{s-aft | after=William C. C. Claiborne}} {{s-mil}} {{succession box|title=Adjutant General of the U. S. Army|before=John Pratt (acting) |after=Ebenezer Denny (acting)|years=September 4, 1791 – November 4, 1791 (acting)}} {{end}}

== External links == * [http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=331 Winthrop Sargent] at ''Ohio History Central.''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sargent, Winthrop}} Category:1753 births Category:1820 deaths Category:Adjutants general of the United States Army Category:American surveyors Category:Continental Army officers from Massachusetts Category:Governors of Mississippi Territory Category:Northwest Territory officials Category:American people of the Northwest Indian War Category:Massachusetts Federalists Category:Harvard College alumni Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:Winthrop family Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society