Nathaniel Peaslee Sargent (frequently also spelled Sargeant, November 2, 1731 – October 12, 1791) was a justice of the

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously func ...

from 1782 to 1791. He was the second Chief Justice of the court from 1790 to 1791,The Political Graveyard: Sargeant, Nathaniel Peaslee
/ref> after the American revolution.

Life

Nathaniel Peaslee Sargent was born in

Methuen, Massachusetts Methuen () is a 23 square mile (60 km2) city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 53,059 at the 2020 census. Methuen lies along the northwestern edge of Essex County, just east of Middlesex County and just south of ...

on November 2, 1731 to Reverend Christopher Sargent and Susanna (Peaslee) Sargent. His father was descended from early settlers of Massachusetts.Appletons' cyclopaedia of American biography, Volume 5
/ref> He entered

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

, graduating in 1750, and receiving a master's degree in 1753. He then began practicing law in Haverhill. In 1759 he married Rhoda Barnard of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

, with whom he had seven children. Sargent was elected in 1775 to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress (the ''de facto'' government of the province at the time). He was offered a position on the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature (the province's highest court) by the congress' council, where he would serve for the rest of his life. He was a charter member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

(1780). Following the independence of the United States, he was appointed to be chief justice in 1790 by Governor

John Hancock John Hancock ( – October 8, 1793) was an American Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor o ...

. He died in 1791 in Haverhill.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sargent, Nathaniel Peaslee 1731 births Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Harvard College alumni Chief Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justices of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature 1791 deaths People from Methuen, Massachusetts People of colonial Massachusetts