John Berrien

John Berrien (November 19, 1711 – April 22, 1772) was a farmer and merchant from Rocky Hill, New Jersey.[1][2] He was appointed a justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1764 and was a trustee of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, for eleven years.[3]

For his son, an officer in the American Revolutionary War, see John Berrien (major). For his grandson, the United States senator from Georgia, see John M. Berrien.
John Berrien
Judge John Berrien,
by Charles Willson Peale
Born(1711-11-19)November 19, 1711
Newtown, New York
DiedApril 22, 1772(1772-04-22) (aged 60)
Rocky Hill, New Jersey
Burial placePrinceton Cemetery
NationalityAmerican
OccupationJudge

Biography

Berrien was born in 1711 at Newtown on Long Island, now known as Elmhurst, Queens. He was the grandson of Cornelius Jansen Berrien.[4] Peter Berrien and Elizabeth Woodhull Edsall. He married Lady Margaret Eaton and had as their child Major John Berrien (1759–1815).[5]

On April 21, 1772, he drowned after jumping into the Millstone River. His will divided his property equally among his wife and six children.[4] He is buried in Princeton Cemetery.[3]

It was from the Berrien Mansion, Rockingham, near Rocky Hill, New Jersey that General George Washington wrote his final address to the army in 1783.[6]

References
  1. Bailey, Rosalie Fellows (1936). "House of John Berrien; Washington's Headquarters". Pre-Revolutionary Dutch Houses and Families in Northern New Jersey and Southern New York. New York: William Morrow & Company. pp. 431–3. OCLC 1464629.
  2. "DEP Officially Reopens Rockingham". New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. July 1, 2004.
  3. Keasbey, Edward Quinton (1912). "John Berrien, 1764–1772, His home called "Rockingham," Washington's headquarters at Rocky Hill". The Courts and Lawyers of New Jersey 1661–1912. Vol. I. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. pp. 303–5.
  4. Tonaszewski, Charlotte (July 1970). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Rockingham". National Park Service.
  5. Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, Volume 52. National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. 1918. p. 652.
  6. McFarlane, Kate E. (1912). "The Washington Headquarters at Rocky Hill". In Honeyman, A. Van Doren (ed.). Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society. Vol. I. pp. 85–90.


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