John Barker Church, John Carter,
(October 30, 1748 – April 27, 1818) was an English born businessman and supplier of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He returned to England after the Revolutionary War and served in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
from 1790 until 1796. He was known for his marriage to
Angelica Schuyler Church
Angelica Church (née Schuyler ; February 20, 1756 – March 6, 1814) was an American socialite. She was the eldest daughter of Continental Army General Philip Schuyler, and a sister of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton and sister-in-law of Alexand ...
, of the prominent American
Schuyler family
The Schuyler family ( /ˈskaɪlər/; Dutch pronunciation: xœylər was a prominent Dutch family in New York and New Jersey in the 18th and 19th centuries, whose descendants played a critical role in the formation of the United States (especial ...
, and being the brother-in-law of
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795.
Born out of wedlock in Charle ...
, who died in a duel in 1804 with
Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805. Burr's legacy is defined by his famous personal conflict with Alexand ...
, with whom Church had also had a duel in 1799.
Early life
John Barker Church was born on October 30, 1748, in
Lowestoft
Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the List of extreme points of the United Kingdom, most easterly UK se ...
in eastern England, the son of Richard Church (1697–1774) of
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...
,
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...
by Elizabeth Barker (1701–1800), daughter of John Barker.
Career
Church was set up in business in London by his mother's brother, a wealthy uncle named John Barker who was a director of the London Assurance Company. It was reported that speculation on the stock exchange and gambling were responsible for his bankruptcy in August 1774.
To escape his creditors he went to America, where he became one of three commissioners appointed by the
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
in July 1776 to audit the accounts of the army in the northern department.
There he operated under a ''
nom de guerre
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...
'' as John Carter.
He resigned his commission in September 1777, and moved to
Boston, Massachusetts. In Boston, he began a variety of businesses, including banking and shipping, and speculated in currency and land. In 1780, along with his business partner, Col.
Jeremiah Wadsworth
Jeremiah Wadsworth (July 12, 1743 – April 30, 1804) was an American sea captain, merchant, and statesman from Hartford, Connecticut who profited from his position as a government official charged with supplying the Continental Army. He r ...
of
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...
, he secured a contract for provisioning the French forces in America, becoming
Commissary General
A commissary is a government official charged with oversight or an ecclesiastical official who exercises in special circumstances the jurisdiction of a bishop.
In many countries, the term is used as an administrative or police title. It often c ...
. Two years later, they were contracted as sole suppliers to the American army as well, and ended up making a fortune.
Return to England
After the war from 1783 until 1785, Church and his family lived in Paris while he performed his duties as a U.S. envoy to the French government. After briefly returning to America in 1785, Church and his family left for England the same year. In 1788, the Churches bought the
Verney property
Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...
at
Wendover
Wendover is a market town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road a ...
so that he could run for Parliament, which he did in
1790
Events
January–March
* January 8 – United States President George Washington gives the first State of the Union address, in New York City.
* January 11 – The 11 minor states of the Austrian Netherlands, which t ...
, when he was elected a
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
for
Wendover
Wendover is a market town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road a ...
.
Prior to his election, he was involved with the
Marquis de la Luzerne, the
French ambassador in some unsuccessful stock speculation during the
Nootka Crisis
The Nootka Crisis, also known as the Spanish Armament, was an international incident and political dispute between the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation, the Spanish Empire, the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the fledgling United States of America triggered b ...
,
a dispute between
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...
and
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
.
Member of Parliament
In December 1790, during his time in Parliament, he voted to approve
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
William Pitt's plan to pay off the debts incurred in rearmament, after having previously been against the government on the
Spanish convention. After his vote, he suggested the government should investigate the great amount of money held by trustees of public lands, himself included, not being utilized rather than interfere with unpaid Bank dividends. The Prime Minister thanked him for highlighting the issue. In 1791,
William Curtis raised the issue again with a motion for inquiry into the trustees of
Ramsgate harbour over their possession of funds. Church was appointed to the select committee as he supported the idea.
In 1791, he voted in favor of the unsuccessful attempt to repeal the
Test Act
The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and nonconformists. The underlying principle was that only people taking communion in ...
in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. Also in 1791 and again in 1792, he voted with the opposition in the Oczakov debates concerning the
Russian occupation of the
Turkish port of
Ochakiv
Ochakiv, also known as Ochakov ( uk, Оча́ків, ; russian: Очаков; crh, Özü; ro, Oceacov and ''Vozia'', and Alektor ( in Greek), is a small city in Mykolaiv Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast (region) of southern Ukraine. It hosts the admini ...
on the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
. In 1793, he joined the
Friends of the People
''Friends of the People'' is an American sketch comedy television series. It was slated to premiere on TruTV in summer 2014, but was pushed to October 28, 2014, as part of the network's shift in their programming direction. Many of the cast mem ...
and voted for
Grey
Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be compos ...
's motion for inquiry into parliamentary reform, which did not achieve success until
1832
Events
January–March
* January 6 – Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison founds the New-England Anti-Slavery Society.
* January 13 – The Christmas Rebellion of slaves is brought to an end in Jamaica, after the island's white plant ...
. In December 1792, he voted against his fellow
Whig, and party leader,
Charles Fox's
Libel amendment, but opposed the
French war. Thereafter, Church regularly voted with the
Foxite
Foxite was a late 18th-century British political label for Whig followers of Charles James Fox.
Fox was the generally acknowledged leader of a faction of the Whigs from 1784 to his death in 1806. The group had developed from successive earlier ...
minority for the rest of his parliamentary career.
In 1795, Church was described part of "a party of
English Jacobins" who if acted upon their statements, would be "compromised to the extreme," by
Gouverneur Morris
Gouverneur Morris ( ; January 31, 1752 – November 6, 1816) was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. He wrote the Preamble to th ...
, the former
American minister to France. In 1794, he tried with Fox, to stall discussions of an emigration bill in the House. In 1795, Church defended the proceedings at the
Middlesex County meeting that was called to petition against the proposed legislation that he deemed repressive. Church was known for his hospitality of French
émigré
An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French ''émigrer'', "to emigrate".
French Huguenots
Many French Huguenots fled France followin ...
s after the
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First French Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public Capital punishment, executions took pl ...
, paying for
Talleyrand's journey and tour of America, and being involved in an attempt to free the
Marquis de Lafayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revolutio ...
from prison. By 1796, he sold his property at Wendover to the
Right Hon. Robert, Lord Carrington,
and retired from the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
.
Return to the United States
The Church family returned to America for a visit in 1797, and then returned permanently in 1799 to New York, where Church became a founding director of the
Manhattan Company
The Manhattan Company was a New York bank and holding company established on September 1, 1799. The company merged with Chase National Bank in 1955 to form the Chase Manhattan Bank. It is the oldest of the predecessor institutions that eventually ...
and a director of the
Bank of North America
The Bank of North America was the first chartered bank in the United States, and served as the country's first ''de facto'' central bank. Chartered by the Congress of the Confederation on May 26, 1781, and opened in Philadelphia on January 7, 17 ...
.
In May 1796, Church accepted a mortgage on of land, a portion of the
Phelps and Gorham Purchase
The Phelps and Gorham Purchase was the purchase in 1788 of of land in what is now western New York State from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for $1,000,000 ( £300,000), to be paid in three annual installments, and the pre-emptive right to th ...
in present-day
Allegany County and
Genesee County, New York
Genesee County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,388. Its county seat is Batavia. Its name is from Seneca word Gen-nis'-hee-yo, meaning "the Beautiful Valley".THE AMERICAN REVIEW; A WHI ...
, against a debt owed to him by his friend
Robert Morris.
After Morris failed to pay the mortgage, Church foreclosed, and his son
Philip Schuyler Church
Philip Schuyler Church (April 14, 1778 – January 1, 1861) was an American judge, landowner, and founder of the town of Angelica, New York. From 1798 to 1800, during the Quasi-War with France, he was a captain in the U.S. Army and '' aide-de-cam ...
acquired the land in May 1800.
[ To take possession of the land, Philip Church traveled to the area, near the ]Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
border, with his surveyor Moses Van Campen
Major Moses Van Campen (1757–1849) was a soldier during the American Revolutionary War. He was a prominent figure in Pennsylvania and parts of New York. His primary involvement in the Revolutionary War was in fighting against hostile Native Am ...
. Philip Church selected specific acreage along the Genesee River
The Genesee River is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York in the United States.
The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides h ...
for a planned village, which he laid out to be reminiscent of Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
, including a village park in the center of town, enclosed by a circular road with streets radiating from it to form a star, and five churches situated around the circle. Philip settled there in a log cabin, and built a house when he married in 1805.[ He named the village ]Angelica, New York
Angelica is a town in the middle of Allegany County, New York, United States. The population was 1,284 at the 2020 census. The town is named after Angelica Schuyler Church, a daughter of General Philip Schuyler, sister-in-law of Founding Father ...
, after his mother.
John and Angelica Church befriended many French upper-class refugees from the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
, helping them settle in Allegany County and elsewhere throughout the United States. In 1806, the Churches began construction on a thirty-room mansion near the village of Angelica, called Belvidere, which still stands as a privately owned home on the banks of the Genesee in Belmont, New York
Belmont is a village within the town of Amity in Allegany County, New York, United States. Belmont is the county seat of Allegany County. The population was 969 at the 2010 census. The name means "beautiful hill". The village is centrally loca ...
.[ Although they had intended to make it their summer home, it instead became the residence of their son Philip and his wife when it was partially completed in 1810.]
In 1800, Church was admitted as an honorary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati
The Society of the Cincinnati is a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of military officers wh ...
.
Burr–Hamilton duelling pistols
Church was an experienced duellist, and owned the Wogdon pistols used in the 1804 Burr–Hamilton duel
The Burr–Hamilton duel took place in Weehawken, New Jersey, between Aaron Burr, the Vice President of the United States, and Alexander Hamilton, the first and former Secretary of the Treasury, on the morning of July 11, 1804. The duel was th ...
. The weapons had already been used in an 1801 duel, in which Hamilton's son Philip
Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who populariz ...
was killed. Following the duel, the pistols were returned to Church, and reposed at his Belvidere estate until the late 19th century.[ ''See also:'' ]
Later legend claimed that these pistols were the same ones used in a 1799 duel between Church and Burr, in which neither man was injured. This makes sense according to the accepted rules of the 'code duello', in which the challenged (in this case, Church) had the right to choose the weapons. However, the same rule was apparently ignored in the 1801 duel, where Philip Hamilton was the challenger and also supplied the weapons borrowed from his uncle. Also, Burr claimed in his memoir that he owned the pistols used in his duel with Church. Hamilton biographer Ron Chernow
Ronald Chernow (; born March 3, 1949) is an American writer, journalist and biographer. He has written bestselling historical non-fiction biographies.
He won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the 2011 American History Book Prize for hi ...
accepts Burr's version of the story.
Personal life
In 1776, Church met Angelica Schuyler
Angelica Church (née Schuyler ; February 20, 1756 – March 6, 1814) was an American socialite. She was the eldest daughter of Continental Army General Philip Schuyler, and a sister of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton and sister-in-law of Alexande ...
(1756–1814), a daughter of General Philip Schuyler
Philip John Schuyler (; November 18, 1804) was an American general in the Revolutionary War and a United States Senator from New York. He is usually known as Philip Schuyler, while his son is usually known as Philip J. Schuyler.
Born in Alb ...
, during a visit to her father's house, the Schuyler Mansion. Knowing that her father would not bless their marriage because of his suspicions about Church's past, Angelica and John eloped in 1777. It is not clear when her parents learned of their new son-in-law's actual name, as General Schuyler complained, "Carter and my eldest daughter ran off and married on the 23rd inst. Unacquainted with his family, his connections and situation in life, the match was exceedingly disagreeable to me, and I had signified it to him."
Together, John and Angelica had:
*Philip Schuyler Church
Philip Schuyler Church (April 14, 1778 – January 1, 1861) was an American judge, landowner, and founder of the town of Angelica, New York. From 1798 to 1800, during the Quasi-War with France, he was a captain in the U.S. Army and '' aide-de-cam ...
(1778–1861), served as aide de camp to Hamilton, who married Anna Mathilda Stewart (1786–1865), daughter of General Walter Stewart; and was a founder of the Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing ...
and Erie Railroad
The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake ...
*Catharine "Kitty" Church (1779–1839), who married Bertram Peter Cruger (1774–1854)
*John Barker Church II (1781–1865)
*Elizabeth Matilda Church (1783–1867), who married Rudolph Bunner
Rudolph Bunner (August 17, 1779 – July 16, 1837) was an American lawyer, businessman, and trade merchant who served one term as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from New York (state), New York from 1827 to 1829.
He ...
(1779–1837)
*Richard Hamilton Church (1785–1786), died young
*Alexander Church (1792–1803), died young
*Richard Stephen Church (1798–1889), who married Grace Church
*Angelica Church (b. 1800)
Belvidere, the Church family estate in rural western New York, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1972 as a prime example of Federal style
Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...
architecture.
After the death of his wife in 1814, Church returned to England. He died in London on April 27, 1818, after a short illness, and was buried at St. James, Piccadilly. By this time, his estate was only worth a modest £1,500.
References
;Notes
;Sources
* Chernow, Ron (2004). ''Alexander Hamilton''. The Penguin Press.
* Phelan, Helene C. (1981). ''The Man Who Owned the Pistols: John Barker Church and His Family''. Heart of the Lakes Pub, Interlaken, NY. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Church, John Barker
1748 births
1818 deaths
People from Allegany County, New York
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies
British MPs 1790–1796
American financiers
Schuyler family
Alexander Hamilton
American slave owners