Revolutionary Figures of Mercer County

I was a rough and rowdy frontiersman who turned into one of the fiercest battlefield commanders of the American Revolution. I was born in 1736, likely in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, to Welsh parents, but I left home as a teenager after a falling out with my father. I headed south to Virginia, where I…

I was born in 1745 at Spring Grove Farm in Maidenhead (today’s Lawrence Township) into a family that migrated to New Jersey about 1680 and was originally from Yorkshire, England. I chose to pursue law as my career and, after reading law with a lawyer in Princeton, I set up my practice at Allentown, New…

I was a doctor turned general, an Irish-born Patriot who fought from the wilderness to Yorktown. I was born in 1744 in Clyduff, King’s County, Ireland. I studied medicine at Trinity College in Dublin and joined the British Army as a surgeon’s mate in the 18th Royal Irish Regiment of Foot. That post brought me…

I was the first to lead, the first to step down, and the first to be remembered by a free people. I was born on February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, the son of a land speculator and planter. After my father died, I didn’t inherit the family’s grandest estate, but I did inherit…

I was born in 1733 and lived in Elizabeth, New Jersey, during the most uncertain days of the American Revolution. I was a Quaker woman, raised with quiet strength and firm convictions, and I never imagined the fate of my town would rest on my voice. But in December of 1776, as British forces swept…

I was a bookseller turned general, and I moved mountains for the cause of liberty. I was born on July 25, 1750, in Boston, the seventh of ten children. My parents had come from Northern Ireland, and after my father passed away, I left school to help support my family. I found work in a…

I was a Patriot leader who will be known forever as a martyr to the cause. I was born in Scotland in 1725 and studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen. In 1745, I joined the forces of Bonnie Prince Charlie, which tried and failed to restore the Stuart family to the throne, after which…

I was born in 1741 and raised in a well-off family of merchants and landowners in colonial New Jersey. I lived in a house I built myself, a big Georgian-style place in Nottingham Township, made to show the kind of man I was — wealthy, educated, and respected. People came to me for decisions, and…

I started life in servitude and ended it in freedom. I was born in Amwell Township, Hunterdon County in 1754. My mother was a black woman and I was an indentured servant for a local farmer. My servitude was resold several times until I was about 13 years old, and my last master Joseph Saxton…

I was a merchant, a soldier, and a trusted ally of General George Washington. I was born in 1742 in Trenton, New Jersey, and raised in a prosperous family connected to both Philadelphia and Europe. After studying overseas and at the College of Philadelphia, I went into business with my brother Lambert, and together we…

I was a sailor, a soldier, and the man who rowed Washington to victory. I was born on November 5, 1732, in Salem, Massachusetts. When my father died, I was just four years old. My mother moved our family to Marblehead, where I grew up among fishermen, dockworkers, and sailors. The sea shaped my life.…

I was born in Hopewell, New Jersey, likely in the year 1711, though nobody wrote it down for sure. My father, Edward Hart, came to Hopewell around 1710 and helped shape the town, serving as a Justice of the Peace, a farmer, and a man trusted in the community. My family never had much formal…

I was a general, a statesman, and a man of contradictions. I was born on February 17, 1740, the son of Irish immigrants from the O’Sullivan Beare Clan. Little is known about my early years, but I came up tough in New Hampshire and became a practicing attorney in the town of Durham. I made…

I was born in 1723 at Yester, Scotland, not far from Edinburgh, and was educated at Haddington, where my father was minister. After studies at the University of St. Andrews and the University of Edinburgh I served as Presbyterian minister at Beith, where I married Elizabeth Montgomery, and then at Paisley. I became deeply involved…

I was a lawyer, a soldier, and a statesman. I stood beside Washington when it counted, and I called Pennsylvania home when it needed leadership most. I was born in New Jersey in 1741. I finished college at sixteen and went on to study law under Richard Stockton, then at Middle Temple in London. It…

I was born in Trenton in 1742, the son of a wealthy merchant. I went to the College of Philadelphia, but never finished—I had other plans. Commerce came first. My brother and I ran a successful business in the city, but my heart was already shifting toward the fight for liberty. By the time tensions…

I was a Lenni-Lenape, born of a people whose roots stretch back over 13,000 years on this land we called home. Long before Europeans arrived, we walked the trails of what is now New Jersey, traded along its rivers, and lived in balance with the earth. When the Dutch and English came, we welcomed trade…

I was born near Annapolis, Maryland in 1737, the tenth child in the socially prominent and well-to-do Richard and Deborah Hill family. Financial difficulties forced my family to move to the Azores. I was then sent to live with my recently married sister in Philadelphia, who raised me to adulthood. I received a good education…

I was born around 1754, the daughter of a dairy farmer in New Jersey. When I was thirteen, I left home to work as a servant, and not long after, I married William Hays, a barber from Pennsylvania. When the Revolution began, William joined the Pennsylvania Artillery, and I followed him into camp as part…

I was a free black man who proudly served my new country. My origins are a little mysterious, I was born in the village of Black Horse in Burlington County, and some believe I was a mulatto – with white and black parents – while others think I may have been Indian. I was probably…

I was a leader of the Militia, and a representative in the Legislature. I was born in Delaware in 1739 on my father’s plantation. I graduated from the College of Philadelphia in 1754, studied law with my brother John in Philadelphia, married Mary Cadwalader in 1767 and became the owner of an estate on the…

I was born in Africa and taken from my homeland as a child. I arrived in Princeton, New Jersey, enslaved and brought into the household of Dr. Absalom Bainbridge, a respected physician who would later declare loyalty to the British crown. I was known as Prime. I lived and labored in the Bainbridge House on…

I was born around 1750 on the coast of Africa. When I was just ten years old, I was taken from my homeland and brought across the Atlantic to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where I was sold into slavery. I became the property of William Whipple, a merchant who would go on to sign the Declaration…

We were Quaker women living in what is now Mercer County, New Jersey, during the time of the American Revolution. Bound by our faith, we refused to take up arms or swear loyalty to either side, but that did not mean we stood idle. While battles broke out around us—from Trenton to Princeton—we stayed committed…

I was born in New Jersey sometime before the Revolution and lived near what is now Hamilton Square. When war came to our land, I did not carry a musket or march with the army, but I served in a different way. I opened my home to prisoners of war—men who had been captured in…

I was born in Princeton, New Jersey, on October 1, 1730, into a family rooted deep in the soil of the colonies. My father, Judge John Stockton, was one of the founders of the College of New Jersey, what you now call Princeton University. Our family home, Morven, stood as a symbol of commitment to…

I was born in New Jersey in 1721 and grew up with the tides of revolution rising around me. By 1775, I was living in Trenton and serving as president of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey. That summer and the next, I helped lead the colony through one of its most defining moments. On…

I was born into the Clarke family of Princeton, New Jersey, Quaker settlers whose roots in the area stretched back three generations. Our family farm sat along the edge of the Stony Brook, quiet and unassuming, until the morning of January 3, 1777, when the war for independence came crashing through our fields. That day,…

I was the Clarke Family Slave and witnessed the Battle of Princeton. The battle that took place on the farms of my owners was something that we did not at all expect. My seven owners were all related and were Quakers; people who were pacifists and did not want to be involved in the war…

I was born in Thetford, England, in 1737. My father was a Quaker corset maker. My mother was Anglican. I left school at thirteen, tried my hand as a sailor, then as a tax collector, and then found myself lost in the gears of British society. I wanted more than routine and obedience. I wanted…

I was a free Black person who fought for everyone’s freedom in the Revolution. I enlisted for the duration of the war as a fifer in the 3rd New Jersey Regiment. I endured the terrible winter of ’77-’78 at the Valley Forge encampment. When summer came, we crossed the Delaware River and camped out in…

I was born on February 28, 1752, in Stafford County, Virginia, a distant cousin of George Washington. When the call to arms rang out at the start of the American Revolution, I was elected Captain of the Stafford County Minutemen. My unit soon joined the Third Virginia Regiment and headed north to fight. At the…

We were the women of Trenton, born into a time of unrest and revolution. While the men marched to war, we stayed behind to hold the town together. We cooked, we nursed the wounded, and we kept our families safe as battles raged just beyond our doors. Some of us passed messages in secret, carrying…