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 Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

in both the Continental Congress and the

United States House of Representatives 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 ...

Early life

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. He rose to become first mate of a vessel and eventually a captain who made his fortune in the West India trade.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 He married Mehithabel Russell (1734–1817) in 1767.

During the American Revolution

Plaque dedicated to George Washington and 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). 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. 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. He is said to have turned a good profit for himself in his transactions for supplies. Wadsworth was a good friend of

Nathanael Greene Nathanael Greene (June 19, 1786, sometimes misspelled Nathaniel) was a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. He emerged from the war with a reputation as General George Washington's most talented and dependab ...

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.

After the Revolution

Wadsworth became a "pioneer in banking, insurance, and the breeding of cattle" after the war, according to historian North Callahan. 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.
"WADSWORTH, Jeremiah, (1743 - 1804)" Web page at the Web site of the "Biographical Directory of the United States Congress," accessed August 6, 2006 He was appointed Treaty Commissioner, by

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

, at the

Treaty of Big Tree The Treaty of Big Tree was a formal treaty signed in 1797 between the Seneca Nation and the United States, in which the Seneca relinquished their rights to nearly all of their traditional homeland in New York State—nearly 3.5 million acres. In ...

between the U.S. and the Seneca nation in 1797. He died in Hartford, Connecticut, April 30, 1804, and is interred in the Ancient Burying Ground. His domestic arrangements were described by Lydia Sigourney in her memoirs. 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 Daniel Wadsworth (1771–1848) of Hartford, Connecticut, was an American amateur artist and architect, arts patron and traveler. He is most remembered as the founder of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in his native city. Early life and e ...

Legacy

Footnotes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wadsworth, Jeremiah People of Connecticut in the American Revolution 1743 births 1804 deaths Continental Congressmen from Connecticut 18th-century American politicians Members of the Connecticut General Assembly Council of Assistants (1662–1818) Politicians from Hartford, Connecticut Pro-Administration Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut American Congregationalists Wadsworth family Members of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut