James Trimble, Sr.

Little is known of him, says Mrs. Paul Graff in her contribution to the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. He was member of the Second Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, while it was under the pastorate of Rev. Gilbert Tennent. He died prior to 1769, leaving several children, of whom James, was the eldest. Mr. Hamilton states that he was apprenticed in the land office about 1770, when he was fifteen years old. He was a subordinate clerk of the state council as early as 1775. When Timothy Matlack became secretary of the commonwealth, March 6, 1777, James Trimble was appointed deputy secretary, or assistant secretary, of the supreme executive council. Alexander J. Dallas, the first secretary of the commonwealth, under the constitution of 1790, appointed Trimble deputy secretary March 12, 1791. He was deputy secretary through all the administrations from 1777 until 1837. "In the judgment of his contemporaries he was a faithful public servant; a man of unimpeachable integrity, of obliging manners, respected by the community at large, and beloved by his family, to whom he greatly endeared himself by his kindness and affection."

James Trimble married the widow of John Hastings April 22, 1782. Her maiden name was Clarissa Claypoole, a descendant of James Claypoole, an intimate friend of William Penn, who emigrated from England in 1682, accompanying the first settlers of Germantown, on the Concord, and a brother of John Claypoole, who married Oliver Cromwell's daughter, Elizabeth. James Trimble aided in packing and removing the state papers when the British occupied Philadelphia, and when the seat of government was removed to Lancaster in 1799, and thence to Harrisburg in 1812. He was a member of and a pewholder in the Second Presbyterian church in Philadelphia, which he attended until he removed to Lancaster in 1799. After his removal to Harrisburg he was appointed trustee and treasurer of the Presbyterian congregation there, which position he held until his death, January 26, 1837, in his eighty-third year, having served his state faithfully for sixty-seven years. The mortification of his removal from the position which he had so long and creditably filled, although for mere partisan reasons, was too intense, for he died of a broken heart in eleven days after it occurred. There is a portrait of him painted by Waugh, from an original by Eicholz, in the chamber of the secretary of the commonwealth.

http://www.pa-roots.com/~armstrong/smithproject/history/chap25.html

JAMES TRIMBLE was born in Philadelphia, July 19, 1755. His father dying when quite young and being a good pensman, he was apprenticed a clerk in the Land Office under James Tilghman about 1770. In March, 1777, he became assistant to Col. Timothy Matlack, Secretary of the Supreme Executive Council, and under the Commonwealth was successively appointed deputy secretary down to January 14, 1835, the administration of Gov. Ritner, covering a period of fifty-nine years. Mr. Trimble married, in April, 1782, Clarissa, widow of John Hastings. Her maiden name was Claypoole and she was a descendent of Oliver Cromwell. She died at Lancaster, Feb. 6, 1810. Mr. Trimble assisted to remove the State records from Philadelphia to Lancaster in 1799, and from Lancaster to Harrisburg in 1812. He died at Harrisburg 26th January, 1836.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/1pa/paarchivesseries/series2/v...