- William Sanford Pennington
Infobox Governor
name= William Sandford Pennington
caption=
order=6th
office= Governor of New Jersey
term_start=October 29 ,1813
term_end=June 19 ,1815
predecessor=Aaron Ogden
successor=Mahlon Dickerson
spouse=Phoebe Wheeler (c. 1760–1804)
Elizabeth Pierson (c. 1765–1840)
birth_date= 1757
birth_place=Newark, New Jersey
death_date= death date|1826|9|27|mf=y
death_place=Newark, New Jersey
party=William Sandford Pennington (1757ndash
September 27 ,1826 ) was the sixthGovernor of New Jersey , serving from 1813–1815.Family
The Pennington Family of New Jersey is descended from Ephraim Pennington II, one of the first settlers of
Newark, New Jersey , whose father, also Ephraim Pennington I, immigrated toNew Haven, Connecticut around 1643.Birth
Pennington was the sixth of the nine children of Mary Sanford (1725–1805) and Samuel Pennington (1725–1791), and was born in 1757 in Newark. He was most likely trained as a hatter, but at the outbreak of the Revolution joined the
Continental Army at the start of theAmerican Revolutionary War , and became, in 1777, a sergeant in the Second Regiment of Artillery under Colonel John Lamb and Major GeneralHenry Knox . He advanced to the rank of second lieutenant in 1780, and at the end of the war was brevetted captain by a special act of Congress.Marriage
Pennington married Phoebe Wheeler (c. 1760–1804), the daughter of Rhoda Lyon and Captain
James Wheeler (c. 1740–1777), around 1786. They had ten children together, one of whom,William Pennington (1796-1862), also became a governor of New Jersey andSpeaker of the United States House of Representatives . After Phoebe’s death, William Sanford Pennington married Elizabeth Pierson (c. 1765–1840) onJuly 13 ,1805 .Law
After leaving the army, Pennington studied law in the Newark office of
Elias Boudinot , in addition to serving in theNew Jersey General Assembly in 1797, 1798, and 1799. He was elected to theNew Jersey Senate in 1801 and reelected in 1802, the same year he was admitted to the bar as an attorney. During the next two years he served as the clerk ofEssex County, New Jersey and was elected to fill a vacancy in theNew Jersey Supreme Court , where he remained on the bench until 1813. For the majority of that time, he was also the Supreme Court’s reporter. In 1812, Pennington was the Republican candidate for governor of New Jersey and the following year won the gubernatorial election, becoming New Jersey’s governor from 1813-1814. The year after he left office, PresidentJames Madison appointed him a judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of New Jersey , a position that he kept until his death eleven years later.Archive
His papers are archived with The
New Jersey Historical Society inNewark, New Jersey .See also
*
List of Governors of New Jersey External links
* [http://www.njstatelib.org/NJ_Information/Digital_Collections/Governors_of_New_Jersey/GPEN1.pdf Biography of William Sandford Pennington (PDF)] ,
New Jersey State Library
* [http://www.jerseyhistory.org/findingaid.php?aid=0234 New Jersey Historical Society Archives: William S. Pennington]
* [http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=8e5c4fc0d5049010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD New Jersey Governor William Sanford Pennington] ,National Governors Association
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