Chaplain Elihu Spencer
In Dec 1775 the North Carolina delegates to the Continental Congress requested he visit the isolated portions of the South and insure their support of the war. The enraged Loyalists placed a price of 100 Guineas upon his head. His home and library in Trenton were destroyed by the occupying British. Began his service in the Revolutionary War as Hospital Chaplain 1777-1781. Officiated as Chaplain of the Provincial Congress. Born in East Haddam, CT on 12 Feb 1721 and died in Trenton, NJ on 27 Dec 1784. BA Degree from Yale 1746. Served as Chaplain to the New York Troops in the Northern Campaign during the French and Indian War in 1758. Missionary to the Oneidas of the Six Nation Iroquois under his second cousin Reverend John Brainerd and under Jonathan Edwards in 1748-1749 on the frontier in New York. Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth, NJ from 1750-1756. 1756-1758 was Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, Long Island, NY. After the French and Indian War he was Pastor in churches in Shrewsbury, Middle Point, Shark River and Amboy, NJ. 1765-1766 was pastor to congregations in Middletown, DE. Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Trenton, NJ 1769-1784. Synod Delegate to the Congregational and Presbyterian Council 1770-1775. Was on the committee to negotiate with the people of Princeton with regard to locating the College of New Jersey there. Trustee of Princeton 1752-1784. University of Pennsylvania Honorary DD Degree 1782. Married Joanna Eatton on 15 Oct 1750. [Sources: H; Wikipedia; “Drake’s Dictionary of American Biography”, 1872; “Who Was Who in American History”; “Who Was Who in the American Revolution”; “National Cyclopaedia of American Biography”, Volume 5; “Dictionary of American Biography”, by Malone; Rootsweb’s World Connect Project.]