Loading...
Loading...Biography
John Sergeant was born in Philadelphia on December 5, 1779. He was a son of Margaret (née Spencer) Sergeant and Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant, a lawyer who represented New Jersey in the Second Continental Congress and served as the Pennsylvania Attorney General. His brother Thomas Sergeant, served as Pennsylvania Secretary of State, Attorney General and on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He was the grandfather of Virginia US Congressmen John Sergeant Wise and Robert Alsop Wise, and great-grandfather of US Congressman John Crain Kunkel. His son-in-law was Civil War Union Major General George Gordon Meade.[1]
John was a US Congressman. He was elected to represent Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives on three different occasions. He first represented the 1st Congressional District as a Federalist from 1815 to 1823, then the 2nd Congressional District from 1827 to 1829, and from 1837 to 1841 (the last term as a Whig).
John Sergeant was Henry Clay's running mate on the National Republican ticket during the 1832 presidential election but lost to Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren in a landslide and again retreated from public life.
He married Margaretta Watmough Sergeant (1787 - 1869). Their children include:
- Margaretta Sergeant Meade (1814 - 1886), who married Major General George Meade, Commander of the Union Army of the Potomac from the Battle of Gettysburg until the end of the Civil War.
- Anna Sergeant Gerhard (1815 - 1873)
- Sarah Sergeant Wise (1817 - 1850), who married Henry A. Wise, the 33rd Governor of Virginia.
- Maria Sergeant Smith (1820 - 1908)
- John Sergeant (1821 - 1822)
- John Sergeant (1822 - 1856)
- Katherine Sergeant Cram (1825 - 1910), who married Harry Augustus Cram (parents of John Sergeant Cram).
- Spencer Sergeant (1827 - 1851)
- William Sergeant (1829 - 1865), who served in the Civil War and was mortally wounded at the Battle of White Oak Road.
- Ellen Sergeant (1831 - 1902)
John Sergeant died in Philadelphia on November 23, 1852 and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery Section L, Lots 1-7.
Sources
- ↑ (bio by: Russ Dodge)
