John Berrien (major)

Berrien was born in about 1759 in Rocky Hill, New Jersey, to John Berrien and Lady Margaret Eaton (niece of Lord John Eaton of England).^[1] His father, who was justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court,^[2] died when John Jr. was thirteen. He moved to the Province of Georgia shortly thereafter, and stayed with his cousins, the LeContes.^[3]

He joined the Continental Army at age 16, serving initially as one of General George Washington's aides. He was then commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Georgia Continental Brigade, under General Robert Ware, and also served in Spanish Florida. He served under General Lachlan McIntosh in 1777.^[3] He distinguished himself in the Battle of Monmouth, while on Washington's staff, that he was complimented by the Second Continental Congress and made a brigade major at the age of eighteen.^[1]

After the war, Berrien undertook privateering expeditions, during which he met Captain John Macpherson.^[3] Berrien married Macpherson's daughter, Margaret, in 1780. They had one child, John Macpherson Berrien, in 1781.^[3]

On November 21, 1783, General George Washington wrote and delivered his farewell address at Rockingham, the former home of Berrien's father, which Berrien Jr. had inherited.^[4]

Shortly thereafter, Berrien returned to Georgia with his family, but Margaret died in McIntosh County in 1785.^[3]

Berrien served as justice of the peace and captain of the militia while in Liberty County, Georgia.^[3]

The Georgia legislature appointed him Collector of Customs at the Port of Savannah in 1786.^[3]

In 1790, Berrien married a second time, to Williamina Sarah Moore (1771–1838), with whom he had seven more children:^[5] Richard McAllister (1795), Ruth Lowndes (1798), Julia Maria (1801), Thomas, Sarah, Eliza and James Wemyss Moore (1807).^[1] Thomas Berrien fought in the Creek War.^[6] J. W. M. Moore was expelled from the United States Military Academy for his participation in the Christmas 1826 cadet mutiny, and in later life became a "great landowner" and commission merchant in Rome, George.^[7]

In 1791, he built a house at today's 322–324 East Broughton Street in Savannah, Georgia.^[8] He served again as Collector of Customs at the port, and was also an alderman between 1791 and 1795.^[3]

Berrien was a member of Savannah's Christ Church. He was also an original member of the Society of Cincinnati, serving as president of the Georgia Society.^[9] He was a member of Solomon's Lodge, the masonic lodge established by the colony of Georgia founder General James Oglethorpe.^[3]

Berrien sold his Savannah home in 1797 after becoming the state treasurer in the new state capital of Louisville, Georgia.^[3]

Berrien died on November 6, 1815,^[2] aged 55 or 56. He is interred in Savannah's Colonial Park Cemetery.^[3] His second wife survived him by 23 years.

• "To George Washington from John Berrien, 10 May 1789" - National Archives and Records Administration