Jonathan Dickinson SERGEANT, Congress, NJ (1746-1793)

SERGEANT, Jonathan Dickinson, (father of John Sergeant), a Delegate from New Jersey; born in Newark, N.J., in 1746; moved with his parents to Princeton, N.J., in 1758; completed preparatory studies; was graduated from Princeton College in 1762 and from the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia in 1763; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1767 and commenced practice in Princeton, N.J.; surrogate of Somerset County, N.J., in 1769; secretary of the state provincial convention in 1774; member of the New Jersey Provincial Congress, 1775 and 1776; secretary from May 24 to May 30, 1775, treasurer from August 17 to October 3, 1775, and member of the committee of safety from August 17 to October 3, 1775; appointed as a member of the committee that drafted the first constitution of New Jersey in 1776; Member of the Continental Congress from February 14 to June 22, 1776, when he resigned; again elected a Member of the Continental Congress on November 30, 1776, and served until his resignation on September 6, 1777, to accept the office of attorney general of Pennsylvania; moved to Philadelphia, Pa., in 1777; member of the council of safety of Pennsylvania in 1777; attorney general of Pennsylvania 1777-1780; counsel for the state in the Wyoming land controversy with Connecticut in 1782; died in Philadelphia, Pa., October 8, 1793; interment in the Presbyterian Churchyard, then located at Fourth and Pine Streets; reinterment in Laurel Hill Cemetery in 1878.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present