Col. Charles Clinton (1690 – 19 November 1773) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and politician in colonial America. A colonel of the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

, he was the father of General

James Clinton Major general (United States), Major-General James Clinton (August 9, 1736 – September 22, 1812) was a Continental Army officer and politician who fought in the American Revolutionary War. During the war he, along with John Sullivan (ge ...

and George Clinton, and the grandfather of

DeWitt Clinton DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769February 11, 1828) was an American politician and Naturalism (philosophy), naturalist. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator, as the mayor of New York City, and as the sixth governor of New York. ...

Early life

Charles Clinton was born in Corboy,

County Longford County Longford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Longford. Longford County Council is the Local government in the Republic ...

, Kingdom of Ireland. He was the son of

and Elizabeth (

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

Smith) Clinton.Moore, Charles B., "Introductory Sketch to the History of the Clinton Family", ''The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record'', (Richard Henry Greene at al, eds.), New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 1880
/ref>

Life in America

In May 1729, Charles, his wife Elizabeth, with two daughters and one son, chartered a ship from Dublin called the ''George and Anne'' and sailed for

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

with a group of neighbors and friends from County Longford intending to settle in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. According to his papers, he paid for ninety four of the passengers. The captain of the ship intentionally starved the passengers, possibly as a way to steal their belongings. Ninety-six of the passengers died, including Clinton's son and a daughter. In October 1729, they arrived at

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...

, and after paying a large ransom for their lives, the survivors were allowed to disembark. In the spring of 1731, the group moved to

Ulster County, New York Ulster County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston, ...

(now Orange County), where they settled in an area called Little Britain about eight miles from the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

and sixty miles north of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The farm was a little more than 312 acres. Charles Clinton's life there is described in this selection from DeWitt Clinton's

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

: His first appointment was that of a Justice of the peace; he was afterwards promoted to the station of a Judge of the Common Pleas for the county of Ulster.Gorse, C.A., "Town of New Windsor", ''The History of Orange County'', (Russel Headley, ed.), Van Deusen and Elms, Middletown, New York, 1908
/ref> In 1756 he was appointed by colonial governor Sir Charles Hardy, a Lt. Colonel of the militia of the province, and commanded a regiment at the capture of Fort Frontenac, now

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

, by Colonel Bradstreet. His sons James and George served with him at Frontenac.

Personal life

Charles Clinton married Elizabeth Denniston. Together, they had seven children: * Catherine Clinton (1723–1762) married Col. James McClaughry (1722–1790) * James Clinton (1726–1729) died at sea * Mary Clinton (1728–1729) died at sea * Alexander Clinton (1732–1758) became a physician and died of smallpox in 1758 * Charles Clinton (1734–1791) became a surgeon * Major-General

(1736–1812) * Governor George Clinton (1739–1812), who served as the 4th

vice president of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest ranking office in the Executive branch of the United States government, executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks f ...

.''George Clinton: Yeoman Politician of the New Republic''
by John P. Kaminski, New York State Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution, University of Wisconsin--Madison Center for the Study of the American Constitution (Rowman & Littlefield, 1993, , , page 24) Clinton died on his farm on 19 November 1773 at the age of 83, just before the

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

in which his sons would play a part. His widow, Elizabeth, died at the residence of their son James in 1779.

References

;Notes ;Sources *

External links

Clinton Family Tree
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clinton, Charles People from County Longford 1690 births 1773 deaths Fathers of vice presidents of the United States Irish soldiers 18th-century Irish military personnel People from New Windsor, New York People from colonial New York Irish emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies Clinton family (New York)