Jonathan Odell (25 September 1737 – 25 November 1818) was a
Loyalist
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British C ...
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...
who lived during the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
.
Early life and career
Odell was born in
Newark,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...
, in 1737 to John and Temperance Odell. He graduated from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
(at the time known as the College of New Jersey) in 1754. In 1755–56 he taught at the grammar school attached to the college. Although he had studied medicine, instead of becoming a doctor he joined the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...
ministry. As a minister he preached at parish priest at
Burlington and
Mount Holly, both in New Jersey. He was inducted into the revived
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
in 1768.
The American Revolution
When the revolution broke out Odell became a strong
loyalist
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British C ...
and wrote poetry promoting the loyalist cause. He was brought before the
New Jersey Provincial Congress for such actions and on July 20, 1776, he was ordered to sign a loyalty oath and remain within eight miles of the Burlington County courthouse. In December of that year, he fled to New York, with the help of local citizens, and served as an administrator and satiric poet-propagandist for the British. After the war in 1784 he emigrated to
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
, Canada, where he received the post of provincial secretary as a reward for his loyalty.
"Jonathan Odell Collection, 1750-1780: Finding Aid C1151".
Accessed December 5, 2008. He remained in New Brunswick and died in Fredericton
Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...
.
His daughter Lucy Anne is buried in the Old Burying Ground (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
The Old Burying Ground (also known as St. Paul's Church Cemetery) is a historic cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located at the intersection of Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road in Downtown Halifax.
History
The Old Bur ...
.
Odell was portrayed by George Sanders
George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...
as a highly intelligent but cynical loyalist in the 1955 Hollywood film ''The Scarlet Coat
''The Scarlet Coat '' is a 1955 American historical drama and swashbuckler in Eastmancolor and CinemaScope released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack, directed by John Sturges. It stars Cornel Wilde, Michael Wilding, George Sa ...
''.
References
Further reading
*Edited by Winthrop Sargent. ''The Loyal Verses of Joseph Stansbury and Doctor Jonathan Odell Relating to the American Revolution''. J. Munsell, 1860.
::A digitized copy of this book is available on Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...
.
link
External links
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
1737 births
1818 deaths
Loyalists in the American Revolution from New Jersey
American male poets
19th-century Canadian poets
18th-century Canadian poets
Canadian male poets
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
Provincial Secretaries of New Brunswick
18th-century Canadian male writers
People of colonial New Jersey
19th-century Canadian male writers
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