Henry Southard

A Patriot of the American Revolution for New Jersey (Soldier). DAR Ancestor #: A107326

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Southard

Henry Southard (October 7, 1747 – May 22, 1842) was a United States Representative from the state of New Jersey.

Southard was born in Hempstead, Long Island, New York. He moved with his parents to Basking Ridge, New Jersey in 1755, where he attended the common schools and worked on a farm. Later, Southard served as a private and later as wagon master during the American Revolution. After the war, he engaged in agriculture, before serving as a Justice of the Peace from 1787 to 1792. Later, he served as a member of the New Jersey General Assembly, from 1797 to 1799 and again in 1811. He was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the 7th United States Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses, where he served from March 4, 1801 to March 3, 1811. During the 11th Congress, Southard was Chairman of the Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business. He was later elected to the 14th, 15th, and 16th Congresses, serving from March 4, 1815 to March 3, 1821. After leaving Congress for good, Southard returned to farming. He died in Basking Ridge in Somerset County, New Jersey, and was interred in Basking Ridge Cemetery.

Henry Southard was the father of Isaac Southard and Samuel Lewis Southard.

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Find-a-Grave Memorial: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6404773

Henry served in the Revolutionary War, and for nine years he was State House of Representative for Somerset County and in the U.S. Congress, 1801-1811, and 1815-1821. A descendant, Richard Lumb, of Chatham, New Jersey, has oil portraits of Henry and Sarah, obviously painted when they were along in years. Henry, in a high-collared coat is clean shaven, square-jawed and stern, with a thin fringe of hair across his forehead. Sarah looks somewhat uncomfortable in a large lacey bonnet, which neckerchief and otherwise formal garb. According to the Centennial Address of George Washington, by Southard Hay, p. 29, the revolutionary war musket of Henry Southard was in the hands of a New York City collector in 1930.

Military records at New Jersey State Library in Trenton, New Jersey, show that Henry enlisted in August 1776 as a private in the Somerset County Militia under Captain Galvin McCoy, a distant relative on the Lewis side. He served four tours, including service in the Battle of Ash Swamp, Short Hills and Red Bank. In November 1977 he was made Wagoneer in the company of Capt. Jacob Ten Eyck.

In October 1778, he was appointed to the post of Teamster in Hinman's Team Brigade of the Wagonmaster General's Dept. He was employed in carting commissary stores from King's Ferry. He seems to have operated a rather sizeable carting concession for which he received compensation. The records show that Joseph Lewis, the Quartermaster at Morristown, New Jersey, issued certificates to him totaling $13,763.00 for "carting".

During the New Jersey census of Revolutionary War Pensioners in 1840, Henry Southard, then age 92, was living with his youngest daughter, Sarah, wife of Dr. Samuel S. Doty.

Southard, Henry (1747-1842) Father of Isaac Southard and Samuel Lewis Southard. Born in Hempstead, Nassau County, Long Island, N.Y., October 7, 1747. Democrat. Member of New Jersey state legislature, 1797-99, 1811; U.S. Representative from New Jersey, 1801-11, 1815-21 (3rd District 1801-03, at-large 1803-05, 6th District 1805-07, at-large 1807-09, 5th District 1809-11, 2nd District 1815-17, 20th District 1817-19, 2nd District 1819-21). Died in Basking Ridge, Somerset County, N.J., May 22, 1842. Interment at Basking Ridge Cemetery, Basking Ridge, N.J. See also: congressional biography.