John Teunis Bergen (1786 – March 9, 1855) was an American slave owner, law enforcement officer, newspaperman, and politician who served one term as a

United States 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 ...

from New York from 1831 to 1833.

Biography

Born in Gowanus,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, Bergen was the son of Teunis Hans and Antje Cornelius Vanderve, and second cousin to Teunis Garret Bergen, U.S. Representative from New York as well as a historian. He married Margaret Donald Mcleod who died in 1814. His second wife was Maria F. Mcleod. Appointed a lieutenant in the

New York State Militia The New York Guard (NYG) is the state defense force of New York State, also called The New York State Military Reserve. Originally called the New York State Militia it can trace its lineage back to the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Th ...

in 1812, Bergen was promoted to captain in 1815 and served in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

Early career

Bergen was Sheriff of Kings County, New York, from 1821 to 1825 and again from 1828 until 1831 when he resigned. He purchased the ''Long Island Patriot'' in 1829, the name of which was subsequently changed to the ''Brooklyn Advocate'', and which ultimately became the ''

Brooklyn Daily Eagle :''This article covers both the historical newspaper (1841–1955, 1960–1963), as well as an unrelated new Brooklyn Daily Eagle starting 1996 published currently'' The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''King ...

''.

Congress

Elected as a Jacksonian to the twenty-second Congress, Bergen was U. S. Representative for the second district of New York from March 4, 1831, to March 3, 1833. While in the House he was chairman of the Committee on Accounts.

Later career and death

Not a candidate for renomination in 1832, Bergen engaged in agricultural pursuits near

Bay Ridge Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights to the east, the Narrows and the Belt Parkway to the west, and Fort Hamilton Army Base an ...

, New Utrecht (now part of Brooklyn). He moved to Brooklyn and engaged in the grocery business. In 1837, with his sons, he conducted a planing mill in New York City. He moved to Genesee County and engaged in agricultural pursuits. Bergen died in Batavia, New York, on March 9, 1855 (age about 68 years). He is

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

Batavia Cemetery Batavia Cemetery is located on Harvester Avenue in Batavia, New York, United States. It opened in 1823 and contains over 8,000 graves, mostly from the 19th century. In 2002 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the first of t ...

in Batavia, New York.

References

External links