John Shreve | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1762-04-08)April 8, 1762 Burlington County, Province of New Jersey, British America |
| Died | September 8, 1854(1854-09-08) (aged 92) Alliance, Ohio, US |
| Buried | Mount Union Cemetery, Alliance, Ohio |
| Allegiance | Continental Army |
| Branch | 2nd New Jersey Regiment |
| Service years | Autumn 1775 to March 20, 1781 |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Conflicts | American Revolutionary War • Battle of Short Hills • Battle of Brandywine • Battle of Germantown • Battle of Springfield • Battle of Monmouth |
| Relations | Half-brother ofHenry Miller Shreve |
John Shreve (April 8, 1762 – September 8, 1854) began hismilitary service during theAmerican Revolutionary War when he was thirteen years old.[1][2][3]
John Shreve was born on April 8, 1762 toIsrael Shreve and Grace Curtis, his wife.[4] John was welcomed into a large family ofQuaker farmers that had settled in 1699 at Mount Pleasant inMansfield Township,Province of New Jersey.[5][6] The former Shreve homestead,Mount Pleasant, and the former Curtis homestead,Ogston, are still close neighbors on Mount Pleasant Road.[7]
While living nearSalem, Ohio, John wrote his autobiography on April 8, 1853: "My mother died when I was about nine years old. My father married again in about three years after." After Grace died on December 12, 1771, Israel married Mary Cokely inChrist Church, Philadelphia on May 10, 1773.[8][9]
Prior to the outbreak of war in 1775, John was reportedly living with his father on a farm near the village ofRancocas in southern Burlington County.[10]
The2nd New Jersey Regiment, orJersey Line, was raised on October 9, 1775 with Israel Shreve appointedLieutenant colonel.[11] Israel brought John into his regiment where he received the rank of ensign.[12][13][14] Three of Israel's brothers (Caleb, Samuel and William) and two of his nephews (Caleb's son, Benjamin, and William's son, Richard) also enlisted as volunteers and served during the Revolutionary War.[15] They were all members of theSociety of Friends, a religious group that supportedpacifism.
On November 21, 1775, Israel and John were quartered in the nearby town ofBurlington.[16]
During March of 1776, Israel and John were stationed atAlbany, New York where they were preparing for the planned invasion ofCanada.[17]
On June 12, 1776, Israel wrote a letter to John directing him to return home to Philadelphia and to attend school.[18] Here he would receive the care and supervision of Mary, hisstepmother.[19]
After a new regiment was raised, Israel was appointedColonel and John was appointed First Ensign.[20] After theBattle of Short Hills, that occurred on June 26, 1777, John was promoted to the rank ofLieutenant on July 1.[21]
During theBattle of Brandywine, on September 11, 1777, Israel was shot in the thigh. After spending the night inDarby, Pennsylvania, John accompanied him through Philadelphia to the residence of his uncle in New Jersey.[22] He then escorted his father toReading, Pennsylvania where Mary and their family were living.[23] Subsequently, John rejoined the regiment atWhitemarsh.[24]
During the winter of 1777-1778, John and Israel joined 12,000 members of theContinental Army in encampment atValley Forge, seventeen miles west of Philadelphia.[25]
During June of 1778, Israel's farm homestead nearGeorgetown, where John and the Shreve family lived before the war, was set ablaze and destroyed by British soldiers.[26][27]
John resigned from military service on March 20, 1781.[28]
John and Israel were admitted as original members in theSociety of the Cincinnati in the State of New Jersey when it was established in 1783.[28][29]
In mid-1784, John explored the territory between theMonongahela andYoughiogheny rivers of northwesternFayette County, Pennsylvania. During September of 1784, John returned to New Jersey where he remained until 1788.[30]
Abigail Ridgway, daughter of Solomon and MaryBurr Ridgway,[31] was born on January 4, 1765 in Burlington County. On September 9, 1786, John and Abigail were joined in marriage by Quaker ceremony in Burlington County. They would become the parents of nine children.[32]
In 1788, John, Abigail and their infant son Joseph[33] removed to northwestern Fayette County where John "purchased a small farm of one hundred acres"[34] of forested land about 33 miles south ofPittsburgh.[35] Here they lived in a small log cabin that sat close to the Little Redstone Creek as it flowed to the southwest of present-dayPerry Township before it merged with theMonongahela River at present-dayFayette City.[36] The Shreve family were members of the nearbyProvidence Monthly Meeting.[37]
On July 31, 1788, the Israel Shreve family, having removed from New Jersey, finally reached their destination inRostraver Township in southwesternPennsylvania. Here they resided in a farm homestead that Israel had leased.[38] During fall of 1789, Israel Shreve and his family relocated to a farm homestead at present-dayPerryopolis that he had leased fromGeorge Washington.[39] John's family and his father's family would reside a few miles apart. After Israel died on December 14, 1799, John's family may have cared forHenry Miller Shreve, Israel's son and John's half brother, who was just 14 years old at the time.
John Jr. was born on November 15, 1789. Abigail died on June 4, 1808. John Jr. died on March 23, 1813. Mother and son were interred in theProvidence Meeting House Cemetery.[40]
The 1790 U.S. Federal Census lists "John Shreeves” as a resident ofWashington Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. In 1790, Washington Township included present-day Perry Township. John's farm homestead, sitting where the Little Redstone Creek flowed between the Monongahela River and present-day Perry Township, was about ten miles north ofBrownsville, a village on the east bank of theMonongahela River at the mouth ofRedstone Creek.
On November 17, 1812,The Patriot newspaper reported that John Shreve was elected to the House of Representatives and would serve as a representative for Fayette County.[41]
John Shreve, after clearing his land, made a modest living by farming. However, after shipping flour to foreign port cities, he was able to trade it for other commodities that he ultimately sold atNew York City for a substantial profit. In his own words:
"I went three times with flour down the rivers Monongahela, Ohio and Mississippi toNew Orleans, and took flour from New Orleans to theWest Indies, one time toHavana, in the Island ofCuba; one time toKingston in the Island ofJamaica. Took sugar from Cuba and rum from Jamaica toNew York and paid six thousand seven hundred dollars duty on the sugar and rum."[42]
Interestingly, local port officials made a record in theNew Orleans Wharf Register of one unnamed boat with an arrival date of June 6, 1815, a fee of "$6", and theNoms des Proprietaires as "Shreve & Brown".[43][44]
On January 25, 1814,The Patriot newspaper reported, "Mr. Shreve presented a petition from the shareholders of the Monongahela Bank of Brownsville, in Fayette County, praying for a charter of incorporation."[45] The charter was granted and the bank would play a significant role in the growth of the economy of Brownsville.[46][47]
On October 31, 1815,The Patriot newspaper reported that John Shreve had been re-elected to the House of Representatives to serve as a representative for Fayette County.[48]
During late-May of 1825, theMarquis de Lafayette visited Brownsville.[49] After noticing John in the large crowd, the Marquis "held out both arms to embrace his old friend."[50]
On November 5, 1829, John was granted a certificate of acceptance by Salem Monthly Meeting.[51] Subsequently, he joined six of his children who had removed to the vicinity ofSalem in Columbiana County, Ohio.[52]
On June 1, 1840, John Shreve was listed as a pensioner for his military service in the Revolutionary War. The record shows that John was a resident in the home of his son, Joseph Shreve. Furthermore, they were both listed as residents ofLexington Township, Stark County, Ohio.[53]
On February 24, 1841, the Salem Monthly Meeting of Friends terminated the membership of John Shreve for receiving a "pension for his services as an officer in the American Army in the Revolutionary War".[54]
The 1850 U.S. Federal Census lists John Shreve as a resident ofGoshen Township, Mahoning County, Ohio. Interestingly, the census lists John's next-door neighbor as Israel Shreve, who is his son.
Democratic Transcript, October 11, 1854:
"He was a man of vigorous intellect and strong memory; he was benevolent to a fault, and often contributed to relieve the wants of others beyond what his own necessities would strictly justify. He was an ardent friend of freedom, strongly devoted to the principles of liberty, for which he had fought and bled under Washington. We have noticed concisely a few of the leading incidents in the life of one who served his country, both in peace and war, with a faithfulness that won the approbation as such men asWashington andLafayette and the community in which he resided."[55]
John was interred in Mount Union Cemetery, Alliance, Stark County, Ohio.
