John STEVENS, Congress, NJ (1715-1792)

STEVENS, John, a Delegate from New Jersey; born in Perth Amboy, N.J., in 1715; merchant and shipowner; engaged in trading with the West Indies and Madeira; large landowner and mine owner in Hunterdon, Union, and Somerset Counties; member of the general colonial assembly in 1751; was a member of the defense committee to protect New York and New Jersey against Indian depredations; commissioner to the Indians in 1758; paymaster of Colonel Schuyler’s regiment, the “Old Blues,” 1756-1760; as a resident of New York City in 1765 was one of the committee of four who prevented the issue of stamps; in 1774 was appointed a commissioner to define the boundary line between New York and New Jersey; vice president of the council of New Jersey 1770-1782; served as president of the council of East Jersey proprietors in 1783; Member of the Continental Congress in 1784; presided over the state ratification convention December 18, 1787; died in Hoboken, Hudson County, N.J., May 10, 1792; interment in the Frame Meeting House Cemetery, Hunterdon County, N.J.

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