Jacob Crowninshield (March 31, 1770 – April 15, 1808) was a
U.S. Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
from
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
and appointee to the position of
U.S. Secretary of the Navy, which he never filled. His brother
Benjamin Williams Crowninshield
Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (December 27, 1772 – February 3, 1851) served as the United States Secretary of the Navy between 1815 and 1818, during the administrations of Presidents James Madison and James Monroe.
Early life
Crownins ...
did successfully hold the post; the
Crowninshield family in general was prominent in early American maritime affairs. His ancestor, Johann Casper Richter von Kronenscheldt, immigrated from
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
. (Ambiguous entry) He was the grandfather of
Arent S. Crowninshield.
Biography
Jacob Crowninshield was born March 31, 1770, in
Salem in the
Province of Massachusetts Bay
The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in British America which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of ...
. As a young man, he went into partnership with three of his brothers commanding trade ships between the United States and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
["Jacob Crowninshield", ''National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Volume 3''. New York: James T. White & Co., 1893; p. ]
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In 1796, Crowninshield married Sarah Gardner, daughter of John (a direct descendant of an Thomas Gardner (planter), old planter) and Sarah (Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
, daughter of Richard (1712–1783)). Their daughter Sarah later married the Salem merchant Richard Saltonstall Rogers
Richard Saltonstall Rogers (January 13, 1790 – June 11, 1873) was an early American shipping merchant and was possibly the inspiration for a character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's ''The Scarlet Letter''.
Early life
Rogers was born on January 13, ...
.
Crowninshield was an unsuccessful candidate for election to Congress in 1798, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Dwight Foster, but was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate
The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the st ...
in 1801.
In November 1802, he was elected as a Democratic-Republican
The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...
to Congress and served in the 8th
8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9.
In mathematics
8 is:
* a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2.
* a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...
, 9th and 10th Congresses. During the 9th Congress, he was chairman of the United States House Committee on Commerce and Manufactures The United States House Committee on Commerce and Manufactures was a standing committee of the U.S. House from 1795 until 1819, when the two initially related subjects were split into the Committee on Commerce and the Committee on Manufactures. . He died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
on April 15, 1808, near the end of his third term. Crowninshield was 38 years old at the time of his death.
In 1805, Crowninshield was nominated to the position of U.S. Secretary of the Navy by President Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...
, and was confirmed by the Senate, but he declined to take up the position, and continued to serve in Congress.
Crowninshield is buried in Harmony Grove Cemetery
Harmony Grove Cemetery is a rural cemetery in Salem, Massachusetts. It was established in 1840 and is located at 30 Grove Street. The cemetery is approximately 35 acres in size and was designed by Francis Peabody and Alexander Wadsworth.
...
in his hometown of Salem.
See also
* List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899)
* George Crowninshield Jr., brother
Footnotes
External links
Jacob Crowninshield
at Miller Center of Public Affairs
The Miller Center is a nonpartisan affiliate of the University of Virginia that specializes in United States presidential scholarship, public policy, and political history.
History
The Miller Center was founded in 1975 through the philanthrop ...
Jacob Crowninshield
at Find A Grave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crowninshield, Jacob
1770 births
1808 deaths
Crowninshield family
Massachusetts state senators
Politicians from Salem, Massachusetts
Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts
People of colonial Massachusetts
Burials at Harmony Grove Cemetery
19th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis deaths in Washington, D.C.