Biography

08/03/1736 - 03/01/1806

Brigadier General James Ewing (Federalist5) York County 1795-1801

Early Life:

Brigadier General James Ewing, born August 3, 1736, Donegal, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, British Colonial America; son of Thomas and Susanna Howard Ewing; attended Penn for one year before participating in the Braddock Expedition, 1755; lieutenant, Pennsylvania Militia, 1758; member, Colonial Assembly, 1771-1776; commissioned, brigadier general, Pennsylvania militia, 1776; member, Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, 1779; member, Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, 1781; vice-president (now Lieutenant-Governor) of Pennsylvania, 1782-1784; ex officio, member, Board of Trustees, University of Pennsylvania, original trustee, Dickinson College, 1783; chaired, committee seeking navigation improvement, Susquehanna River, 1789; elected, Federalist, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1795-1801; married, Patience Wright; died, March 1, 1806, plantation, Hellam, York, Pennsylvania. Burial Details Unknown.

Early Career:

Member, General Edward Braddock Expedition, 1755; lieutenant, Pennsylvania Militia, commanded, Captain Robert McPherson, under General John Forbes, expedition, Fort Duquesne, 1758; commissioned, brigadier general, Pennsylvania militia, Fourth of July 1776; battles, Brandywine, Germantown, Trenton New Jersey, commanded, brigade of five regiments that guarded, Pennsylvania side, Delaware River when George Washington's forces crossed the stream on Christmas night, December 25-26, 1776, in a surprise attack on the Hessian forces, Trenton, New Jersey.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Member, Colonial Assembly, 1771-1776.

Member, Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, representing York County, February 9-12, 1779. 

Member, Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, representing York County, October 26, 1781 -October 26, 1784. 

Elected, Vice-president, of Pennsylvania 1782-1784; John Dickinson, president (now, Governor). On November 7, 1782, Elected Vice-President of Pennsylvania, earning thirty-nine votes to the thirty-four won by the incumbent, James Potter. (The position of Vice-President is analogous to the modern office of Lieutenant Governor.) He was unanimously reelected on November 6, 1783, and served until November 6, 1784, when he was succeeded by James Irvine. At one day short of two years, his vice-presidential term was one of the longest in the history of that short-lived office. Because of his health, decline another election.

Chaired, committee seeking navigation improvement, Susquehanna River, 1789. 

Elected, Federalist, Pennsylvania State Senate, 5th district, York County, 1795-1801.

Cited:

Cox, Harold. Senate Members "E" (wilkes.edu). Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

A New Nation Votes (tufts.edu)

History of York County, Pennsylvania. John Gibson, Historical Editor. Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Company, 1886, page 596. files.usgwarchives.net/pa/york/history/gibson/wright-james-ewing.txt

James Ewing (upenn.edu) 

Orders to Brigadier General James Ewing, 12 December 1776 (archives.gov)

James Ewing (1736-1806) - Find a Grave Memorial