Aaron Hankinson (February 7, 1735 – October 9, 1806) was a military officer during the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

and politician who served in the

New Jersey state legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...

. Hankinson was born on February 7, 1735, in Matawan in

Monmouth County Monmouth County () is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is bordered to its west by Mercer and Middlesex Counties, to its south by Ocean County, to its east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to its north by ...

Province of New Jersey The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial history of the United States, Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1776. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherla ...

, to Rachel Mattison (1707–1784) and Joseph Hankinson (1706–1783).Schaeffer, Casper (Rev., M.D.) and Johnson, William M. (1907) Memoirs and Reminiscences: Together with Sketches of the Early History of Sussex County, New Jersey. Hackensack, New Jersey: privately printed. During his youth, the family moved to Rowland Mills in Readington Township in the northern Highlands region of

Hunterdon County Hunterdon County is a County (United States), county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the county was the state's List of counties in New Jersey, 4th-least populous ...

. On February 9, 1764, he married Mary Snyder (1740–1806), and relocated to Sussex County north of the present-day village of Stillwater, then in Upper Hardwick. His father purchased 363 acres which he divided between Aaron and his brother William (1737–1796). On July 26, 1775, Hankinson was commissioned a captain in the Sussex County Militia, commanded by Colonel Ephraim Martin. He was raised to Colonel the following year and stationed at

Sandy Hook Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The barrier spit, approximately in length and varying from wide, is located at the north end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern en ...

to defend the New Jersey coast along

New York Harbor New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, ...

. In 1777, the Sussex County Militia fought at the

Battle of Brandywine Creek The Battle of Brandywine, also known as the Battle of Brandywine Creek, was fought between the American Continental Army of General George Washington and the British Army of General Sir William Howe on September 11, 1777, as part of the Am ...

and arrived late at the

Battle of Germantown The Battle of Germantown was a major engagement in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania, between the British Army led by Sir William Howe, and the American ...

near Philadelphia. Later in the war, Hankinson and the militia were stationed in the

Minisink The Minisink or (more recently) Minisink Valley is a loosely defined geographic region of the Upper Delaware River valley in northwestern New Jersey (Sussex and Warren counties), northeastern Pennsylvania ( Pike and Monroe counties) and New York ...

, a region encompassing the area north of the

Delaware Water Gap The Delaware Water Gap is a water gap on the border of the U.S. states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. The gap makes up the southern portion of the Delaware Wa ...

surrounding the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

's valley in northwestern New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania, and the

Neversink River The Neversink River (also called Neversink Creek in its upper course) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in southeastern N ...

Orange County, New York Orange County is a List of counties in New York, county located in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 401,310. The county seat is Goshen (village), New York, Goshen. This count ...

. Here, after the burning of Machackameck (now

Port Jervis, New York Port Jervis, named after John Bloomfield Jervis, a Roman civil engineer who oversaw the construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, is a city located at the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers in western Orange County, New York, ...

), the militia was ordered to prevent incursions by British loyalists, tories, and their allied Indian tribes (Munsee, Lenape, Iroquois) under Captain

Joseph Brant Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York and, later, Brantford, in what is today Ontario, who was closely associated with Great Britain du ...

. This region was formerly defended by

Pulaski's Legion Pulaski's Legion was a cavalry and infantry regiment raised on March 28, 1778 at Baltimore, Maryland under the command of Polish-born General Casimir Pulaski and Hungarian nobleman Michael Kovats de Fabriczy for their service with the Continen ...

before their deployment to operations in South Carolina. At the close of the war, Hankinson was promoted to Brigadier General. After the conclusion of the Revolution, Hankinson was elected to serve in the New Jersey General Assembly, and served several terms from 1782 to 1786 and 1788 to 1792. In ''Memoirs and Reminiscences'', Schaeffer describes Hankinson as "a farmer by occupation, an elder and leading member of the Hardwick church, and at one time chorister of the same. The old gentleman was a good kind of man." Hankinson died on October 9, 1806, and was buried in the churchyard of the Yellow Frame Presbyterian Church (known then as Upper Hardwick) presently located on the border between Fredon Township and

Frelinghuysen Township, New Jersey Frelinghuysen Township () is a township in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 2,199, a decrease of 31 (−1.4%) from the 2010 census count of 2,230, which in turn ...

. The inscription on his tombstone reads:

A.H. In Memory Brg. General Aaron Hankinson Who departed this life Oct IX 1806 Aged 71 years 8 months 2 days Let all his children in a word Unite and praise the eternal God For the sweet hope that he has gone To rest with Christ God's only Son

Hankinson and his wife Mary (née Snyder) had 13 children, and among his descendants include William A. Newell, former Governor of New Jersey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hankinson, Aaron 1735 births 1806 deaths People from Stillwater Township, New Jersey History of Sussex County, New Jersey Militia generals in the American Revolution New Jersey militiamen in the American Revolution Members of the New Jersey General Assembly American Presbyterians 18th-century American legislators 18th-century American politicians 18th-century New Jersey politicians