Gov. Edward Rutledge, Signer of the "Declaration of Independence"

Edward Rutledge (November 23, 1749 – January 23, 1800) was an American politician and youngest signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. He later served as the 39th Governor of South Carolina.

Parents: Dr. John Rutledge (ca. 1710-1750) and Sarah Hext (1724-1792)

Married, on 1 March 1774, Henrietta Middleton (17 November 1750-22 April 1792), daughter of Henry Middleton. The couple had three children;

   * Maj. Henry Middleton Rutledge (5 April 1775-20 January 1844)

   * Edward Rutledge (20 March 1778-1780)

   * Sarah Rutledge (1782-1855)

His wife, Henrietta, died in 1792, and later that year he married Mary Shubrick Everleigh.

Weblinks:

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

https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/rutledge-edward/

http://genealogytrails.com/main/biosdeclare.html#rutledge

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=920

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bensmithfamily/PS...

Prisoners of war in St. Augustine during the American Revolution

From the onset of the American Revolution in 1775, the British Crown Colony in East Florida was a Loyalist bastion. In its capital, St. Augustine, the British lodged as prisoners many American Patriots and their French allies. Most of these prisoners were given the liberty of town, but some were held in Castillo de San Marcos. A few captives rented quarters, but most of the men were housed in the unfinished State House which stood near this spot. By the end of 1780, these prisoners included three signers of Declaration of Independence--Thomas Heyward, Jr., Arthur Middleton, and Edward Rutledge. On July 4, 1781 the patriot captives celebrated Independence Day.

EDWARD RUTLEDGE was born in Charleston, South Carolina on November 23, 1749. He was the youngest of the seven children of Dr. John Rutledge who came to South Carolina from the north of Ireland about 1735. After acquiring a classical education, young Ned as he was called, read law with his older brother John, ten years his senior who guided him in his career as a lawyer. He was entered as a student at the Temple, a prestigious school in London England in 1769. He attended the courts of law and the houses of parliament for four years, and on being called to the bar, returned to Charleston and entered into practice.

Rutledge married the wealthy daughter of Henry Middleton, Henrietta, and subsequently built a home across the street from the house of his brothers John and Hugh. Ned was nearly bald despite his age and "inclining toward corpulency", entered into public life in 1774, when he was elected to the First Continental Congress, with the help of his brother John and his father-in-law, who were both respected politicians. Members of the plantation aristocracy entered prominently into public life at an amazingly early age, and young Rutledge was a member of congress before he was twenty-five. However, he did not make too favorable an impression at this first meeting. He excited the scorn of John Adams, never an admirer of the South Carolinians, who wrote in his diary "Young Ned Rutledge is a perfect Bob-o-Lincoln—a swallow, a sparrow, a peacock; excessively vain, excessively weak, and excessively variable and unsteady; jejeune, inane, and puerile."

By June 1776 at the Second Congress, Rutledge, although opposed to independence, gained strength and recognition as one of the more influential members of congress and was selected to sit on the important War and Ordinance Committee. His motions against independence were endless. While he did his best to delay the vote for independence, he is generally held responsible for the postponement of the vote on the resolution of independence, he is also given the major credit for the decision of the South Carolina delegation to go along with the others on July 2 for the sake on unanimity. Edward Rutledge holds the distinction of being the youngest signer of the Declaration.

Rutledge left Congress six months later, in the autumn of 1776 and returned to the low country. He distinguished himself as an officer in the militia and as a representative in the state legislature. Although he was re-elected to Congress, he did not get back to Philadelphia. Along with his brother-in-law Arthur Middleton, Rutledge was captured when Charleston fell and was imprisoned in St. Augustine.

After the war Rutledge was active in the legislature and in state conventions. In his home country he had always been thought a genial and charming gentleman, and no doubt he mellowed with the years. In 1798 he became governor of his state, but he died on January 23, 1800 before completing his term. He was only a few months past fifty. His first wife, Henrietta, bore him three children, but his second marriage, to Mrs. Mary Shubrick Eveleigh, was childless.

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

Edward Rutledge (November 23, 1749 – January 23, 1800) was an American politician and youngest signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. He later served as the 39th Governor of South Carolina.

Like his eldest brother John Rutledge, Edward was born in Charleston. He was the youngest of seven children born to Dr. John Rutledge (1713-25 December 1750) and Sarah Hext (born 18 September 1724). He studied law at Oxford University, was admitted to the English bar (Middle Temple), and returned to Charleston to practice. He married, on 1 March 1774, Henrietta Middleton (17 November 1750-22 April 1792), daughter of Henry Middleton.

The couple had three children;

Maj. Henry Middleton Rutledge (5 April 1775-20 January 1844)

Edward Rutledge (20 March 1778-1780)

Sarah Rutledge (1782-1855)

Rutledge had a successful law practice with his partner, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. He became a leading citizen of Charleston, and owned more than 50 slaves.

Along with his brother John, Rutledge represented South Carolina in the Continental Congress. Although a firm supporter of colonial rights, he was initially reluctant to support independence from Great Britain, hoping instead for reconciliation with the mother country. Like other Southern planters, Rutledge did not want the American Revolution to change the basic social structure of the South. He worked to have African Americans expelled from the Continental Army, and led the successful effort to have wording removed from the Declaration of Independence that condemned slavery and the slave trade. Nevertheless, he signed the Declaration for the sake of unanimity, and at age 26 was the youngest to sign.

He returned home in November 1776 to take a seat in the South Carolina Assembly. He served as a captain of artillery in the South Carolina militia, and fought at the Battle of Beaufort in 1779. The next year he was captured by the British in the fall of Charleston, and held prisoner until July 1781.

After his release he returned to the state assembly, where he served until 1796. He was known as an active member and an advocate for the confiscation of Loyalist property. He served in the state senate for two years, then was elected governor in 1798. He had to go to an important meeting in Columbia. While there he had to be sent home because of his gout. He died in Charleston before the end of his term. Some said at the time that he died from apoplexy resulting from hearing the news of George Washington's death.

Rutledge was a main character in the musical play 1776, in which he sings the song "Molasses to Rum" about slavery and the Triangle Trade. He is depicted as the secondary antagonist in the play, (the principal antagonist being John Dickinson of Pennsylvania), in obstructing the play's heroes -John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Rutledge was portrayed by Clifford David in the original Broadway production, and John Cullum in the 1972 film. In the 2008 miniseries John Adams, Rutledge was portrayed by Clancy O'Connor.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=920&ref=wvr