Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (December 27, 1772 – February 3, 1851) served as the

United States Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

between 1815 and 1818, during the administrations of Presidents

James Madison James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for h ...

and

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...

Early life

Crowninshield was born in Salem in the

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in British America which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of ...

, the son of George Crowninshield (1734–1815) and Mary (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Derby) Crowninshield (1737–1813) who married in 1757. His father was a sea captain and merchant of the

Boston Brahmin The Boston Brahmins or Boston elite are members of Boston's traditional upper class. They are often associated with Harvard University; Anglicanism; and traditional Anglo-American customs and clothing. Descendants of the earliest English coloni ...

Crowninshield family Crowninshield may refer to the following: * Crowninshield family, long-standing American family * USS Crowninshield, a World War I era American destroyer * Crowninshield Island, a small island off the coast of Salem, Massachusetts {{disambi ...

. His family owned the lands near

Mineral Spring Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produces hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage un ...

, where the first Crowninshield family was cradled in the country. His brothers included Congressman

Jacob Crowninshield Jacob Crowninshield (March 31, 1770 – April 15, 1808) was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts and appointee to the position of U.S. Secretary of the Navy, which he never filled. His brother Benjamin Williams Crowninshield did success ...

and George Crowninshield Jr., who owned ''

Cleopatra's Barge ''Cleopatra's Barge'' was the first oceangoing yacht built in the United States. It was built in 1816 at Salem, MA by shipbuilder Retire Becket for owner George Crowninshield Jr. Crowninshield died in 1817 after a single pleasure voyage to the M ...

'', the first yacht to cross the Atlantic. His sister Mary Crowninshield was the wife of Congressman

Nathaniel Silsbee Nathaniel Silsbee (January 14, 1773July 14, 1850) was a ship master, merchant and American politician from Salem, Massachusetts. Early career Silsbee was the eldest child of Capt. Nathaniel and Sarah (Becket) Silsbee. At the age of fourteen, ...

Career

Crowninshield worked in the family shipping business, Geo. Crowninshield & Sons, serving at sea. In 1811, Crowninshield was elected to the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

as a prominent benefactor of the first gerrymander. The redistricting of Essex county into two separate State Senate districts had led to the term ''gerrymander'', with Crowninshield, who had lost the previous year's Senate seat in a combined Essex County, being placed in the new district specifically designed to favor Republicans over Federalists. Crowninshield would win his Senate seat by only 8 votes, over 100 votes less than the other Republican candidates. However, Crowninshield lost his seat in the State Senate the next year, with the ''

Newburyport Herald The ''Newburyport Herald'' (1797–1915) was a newspaper published in Newburyport, Massachusetts in the 19th century. It began in 1797 with the merger of two previous newspapers, William Barrett's ''Political Gazette'' and Angier March's ''I ...

'' printing an editorial cartoon of a dead gerrymander and listing "B.W.C." as a "chief mourner". He was elected to the

Massachusetts State Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the st ...

in 1812.

Secretary of the Navy

Crowninshield became Secretary of the Navy in January 1815, a position almost held by his brother

ten years earlier, and managed the transition to a peacetime force in the years following the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

. This included implementation of the new Board of Commissioners administrative system and the building of several

ships of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

, the backbone of a much enhanced Navy. He also oversaw strategy and naval policy for the

Second Barbary War The Second Barbary War (1815) or the U.S.–Algerian War was fought between the United States and the North African Barbary Coast states of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers. The war ended when the United States Senate ratified Commodore Stephen ...

in 1815.

United States House of Representatives

After leaving Navy office in 1818, Crowninshield returned to business and political affairs in Massachusetts, prospering in both. In addition to serving two more terms in the Massachusetts House, he was also elected to four terms the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

from 1823 to 1831.

Personal life

On January 1, 1804, Crowninshield was married to Mary Boardman (1778–1840), the daughter of Francis Boardman and Mary (née Hodges) Boardman. Together, they were the parents of: * Elizabeth Boardman Crowninshield (1804–1884), who married William Mountford (1816–1885) * Mary C. Crowninshield (1806–1893), who married Charles Mifflin (1805–1875) * Francis Boardman Crowninshield (1809–1877), who married Sarah Putnam (1810–1880) * George Casper Crowninshield (1812–1857), who married Harriet Sears Crowninshield (1809–1873); they were the parents of Frances "Fanny" Cadwalader Crowninshield (1839–1911), the wife of

John Quincy Adams II John Quincy Adams II (September 22, 1833 – August 14, 1894) was an American politician who represented Quincy in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1866 to 1867, 1868 to 1869, 1871 to 1872, and from 1874 to 1875. Adams served as ...

. * Annie G. Crowninshield (1815–1905), who married

Jonathan Mason Warren Jonathan Mason Warren (February 5, 1811August 19, 1867) was a prominent Boston physician, believed to have been the first to administer anesthesia to a child during surgery. He was the son of John Collins Warren. Warren received a medical degree f ...

(1811–1867) * Edward Augustus Crowninshield (1817–1859), who married Caroline Maria Welch (1820–1897). After his death, his widow married Howard Payson Arnold (1831–1910). On his death in Boston 1851, Benjamin Williams Crowninshield was interred in

Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge and Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, west of Boston. It is the burial site of many prominent Boston Brah ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

Residence

In 1810, Crowninshield, with Salem's premier architect

Samuel McIntire Samuel McIntire (January 16, 1757 – February 6, 1811) was an American architect and craftsman, best known for his work in the Chestnut Street District, a classic example of Federal style architecture. Life and career Born in Salem, Massachu ...

, built a mansion at 180 Derby Street on the Salem Waterfront. Robert Brookhouse purchased the house and in 1861 deeded it to the Association for the Relief of Aged Women. Located next to the Salem Maritime National Historic Site, the house is now called the Brookhouse Home for Aged Women.

Descendants

Through his son Francis, he was the grandfather of Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (1837–1892), a soldier in the Civil War and merchant, and the great-grandfather of Bowdoin Bradlee Crowninshield (1867–1948), a naval architect who specialized in the design of racing yachts, and Francis Boardman Crowninshield (1869–1950), who married heiress Louise Evelina du Pont (1877–1958). Through his son Edward, Crowninshield was the grandfather of

Frederic Crowninshield Frederic Crowninshield (1845–1918) was an American artist and author. Life Crowninshield was born in Boston on November 27, 1845 into the Crowninshield family. His father was Edward Augustus Crowninshield (1817–1859) and mother was Caroline ...

(1845–1918), the artist and author, and the great-grandfather of Francis Welch Crowninshield (1872–1947), the journalist, critic, and editor of ''

Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Literature * Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan * ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray * ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...

''. Crowninshield was also the great-great-grandfather of

Charles Francis Adams III Charles Francis Adams III (August 2, 1866 – June 10, 1954) was an American lawyer and politician, who served as the 44th United States Secretary of the Navy under President Herbert Hoover from 1929 to 1933. He was skipper of the Resolute which ...

, also Secretary of the Navy from 1929 to 1933. He was the great-great-great-grandfather of famed ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' newspaper editor

Ben Bradlee Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee (, 1921 – , 2014) was an American journalist who served as managing editor, then as executive editor of ''The Washington Post'', from 1965 to 1991. He became a public figure when the ''Post'' joined ''The New Y ...

(1921-2014).

Namesake

The destroyer USS ''Crowninshield'' (DD-134) was named in his honor.

References

;Notes ;Sources * * Retrieved on 2009-03-04 , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Crowninshield, Benjamin Williams 1772 births 1851 deaths Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery Crowninshield family Madison administration cabinet members Massachusetts National Republicans 19th-century American politicians Monroe administration cabinet members Politicians from Salem, Massachusetts American people of the Barbary Wars United States Secretaries of the Navy Massachusetts Federalists Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts National Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives People of colonial Massachusetts