Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Jonathan WILLIAMS
General Jonathan Williams, born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1752. In his youth he entered the counting house of a prominent trading and shipping firm, and before coming of age made several voyages as supercargo to the West Indies and European ports. In 1773 he was sent to England with important political letters to his grand uncle, Dr. Benjamin Franklin. In 1777, he was appointed United States commercial agent and sent to France to procure military supplies, joining his distinguished relative there, he remained until 1785, when he returned to Philadelphia with Dr. Franklin, and later held many important positions of trust and honor there; serving several years as judge of the Court of Common Pleas. February 14, 1801, he was commissioned major of artillery, and December 4, 1801, was appointed inspector of fortifications, and superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. July 8, 1802, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of engineers, and on February 23, 1802, promoted to the rank of colonel. With the outbreak of the second war for independence he was commissioned, July 31, 1812, general of New York militia. He returned to Philadelphia and was elected to the United States House of Representatives from there in 1814. He was vice-president of the American Philosophical Society, and contributed a number of articles to their annals. He was the author of a "Memoir on the Use of the Thermometer in Navigation", 1799; "Elements of Fortifications", 1801; "Kosiusco", and "Movements for Horse Artillery", 1808.
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