Monday, January 25, 2021

Fun Facts about the Founding Fathers (and a Giveaway!)



We all are aware of certain of America’s Founding Fathers and their accomplishments and contributions to America. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush, and John Adams—these (and other) names are imbedded in our American History textbooks and remain a staple in discussions on America’s founding. But these are only a very few of the signers of the Declaration of Independence—and so much of what is known is their public contributions to society. But unlike today, politicians of that time didn’t make a career of their politics. They all had lives and careers outside of their public life. I thought it might be fun to look at some interesting, random, and unique facts about the 56 men who laid the groundwork for this nation by signing the Declaration of Independence.

 

Ages of the Signers

·      The average age of the signers was 44.5 years old.
Edward Rutledge

 

·      The youngest men to sign the Declaration were Edward Rutledge and Thomas Lynch Jr.—both age 26. Rutledge was three months younger than Lynch, so he earns the official “youngest” title.
Benjamin Franklin
·      The oldest men who signed were Benjamin Franklin (age 70) and Stephen Hopkins (69).
Stephen Hopkins

 

Birthplaces of the Signers

Of the 56 men, only eight were born outside the American colonies. They were:

·      Button Gwinnett
·      Francis Lewis
·      Robert Morris
·      James Smith
·      George Taylor
·      Matthew Thornton
·      James Wilson
·      John Witherspoon

 

Professions of the Signers* 

·      Twenty-four men—nearly half of the overall group—were lawyers.
·      Seventeen were merchants.
·      Fifteen were plantation or land owners.
·      Four were physicians.
·      Three were scientists.
·      Two were land speculators.
·      Two served as ministers (only one was active at the time he signed the document).
·      Two were farmers.
·      One was a surveyor.
·      One was a printer.
·      One was a musician.
·      One was a military officer.

*Of the 56 men, seventeen are listed on the National Archives website as having two professions, so these numbers won’t add up to an even 56.

 

Family of the Signers

·      All but two of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were married.
o   Caesar Rodney was the first. Rodney suffered with asthma all through his life, and in his later years, he also developed cancer on his face. On multiple occasions, he underwent the knife to remove the cancer—suffering great pain and scarring, to the point that he wore a scarf over his face to hide the disfigurement. He ultimately succumbed to the disease on June 26, 1784, after an eight-year battle. He was fifty-five years old. I would guess that due to the cancer and scarring, he may have chosen not to be romantically involved with anyone.

Caesar Rodney

o   Joseph Hewes is the only other unmarried soul who signed the Declaration. He was said to have been engaged to marry a young woman, Isabella Johnston, but days before their nuptials, Isabella fell ill and died. Hewes was so heartbroken over her loss that he never found love again.

Joseph Hewes

·      The rest of the signers of the Declaration were married at least once. Sixteen of those 56 married twice in their lifetimes.
·      The sum total of children born to the signers of the Declaration is 337. 
·      Carter Braxton gets the award for the most children. He and his first wife, Judith, had two daughters before she passed away early in their marriage. Two years after her death, he married again and had sixteen children with his second wife, Elizabeth. Eighteen children total for the Braxton family.

Carter Braxton

·      Others who had children in the double digits included Josiah Bartlett (12 children), Abraham Clark (10), William Ellery (16), John Hart (13), Thomas McKean (11), Lewis Morris (10), Thomas Nelson Jr. (13), Benjamin Rush (13), Roger Sherman (15), and John Witherspoon (12).
·      Five of the signers had no children: Joseph Hewes, Francis Lightfoot Lee, Thomas Lynch Jr., Caesar Rodney, and William Whipple.

 

Random Claims to Fame

·      The first signer of the Declaration of Independence to die was Button Gwinnett. He died on May 19, 1777, not even a full year after the signing. He was age 42 at the time. Three days prior to his death, he fought a duel with Lachlan McIntosh, the man who’d been appointed to the lucrative brigadier general position in the Continental Army which Gwinnett had hoped to get. After losing that position, the two men had an ongoing fued which led to the duel in question.


Button Gwinnett

·      Because of his unexpected and early death, there are few samples of Button Gwinnett’s signature on documents, so his autograph is one of the most highly sought after among the Founding Fathers, and it comes at a very dear price. There are only ten samples known to exist outside of the Declaration itself.
·      The signer who died at the youngest age was Thomas Lynch Jr., who passed away at the age of 30. Both Lynch and his father served in the Continental Congress (the only father-son pair to do so), although both men were ill at the time. The elder Lynch was too sick to sign the famed document, and he died in 1777. The younger Lynch did improve some, though his health still suffered, so in 1779, he and his wife boarded a ship to go to the West Indies in hopes the climate might have good effects on his overall health. The ship was lost at sea, and Lynch Jr. and his wife Elizabeth both perished.
Thomas Lynch Jr.


·      Thomas Lynch Jr.’s signature is also very rare for much the same reason as Button Gwinnett’s, and the few samples of it outside of the Declaration of Independence have sold for $200,000-$250,000/each.
·      The signer of the Declaration of Independence who was the oldest at his death was Charles Carroll of Carrollton—age 95. He died November 14, 1832, of an apparent heart attack. He lived long enough to out-survive four of the first five American presidents.
Charles Carroll of Carrollton 
 

 

It’s Your Turn: Which fun fact or detail did you find most interesting? Why? Leave your answers along with your email address to be entered in the drawing for one of my books, along with a scented soap and package of Oak Alley Plantation notecards.

 


Jennifer Uhlarik
 discovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list several times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers, Women Writing the West, and is a lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.



COMING JULY 1, 2021


The Scarlet Pen by Jennifer Uhlarik


Step into True Colors — a series of Historical Stories of Romance and True American Crime

Enjoy a tale of true but forgotten history of an 19th Century serial killer whose silver-tongued ways almost trap a young woman into a nightmarish marriage.

In 1876, Emma Draycott is charmed into a quick engagement with Stephen Dee Richards after reconnecting with him at a church event in Mount Pleasant, Ohio. But within the week, Stephen leaves to “make his fame and fortune.” The heartbroken Emma gives him a special pen to write to her, and he does with tales of grand adventures. Secret Service agent Clay Timmons arrives in Mount Pleasant to track purchases made with fake currency. Every trail leads back to Stephen—and therefore, Emma. Can he convince the naïve woman she is engaged to a charlatan who is being linked a string of deaths in Nebraska?

 

25 comments:

  1. Wow! What a compilation of facts! It was ALL interesting. It was very sad to hear of the two men who died so young, and then the struggle of Mr. Rodney with cancer. I'm sure the treatment he went through would be considered barbaric in today's medical world. Thanks for posting. bcrug(at)twc(dot)com

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    1. Thank you so much for stopping by, Connie! I think you're absolutely right--Mr. Rodney's cancer treatments had to have been barbaric in comparison to today's medical breakthroughs. The poor man!

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  2. It was all interesting. I had to sigh that I am now older than the average age of the signers. :-) That's pretty amazing that Charles Carroll outlived 4 of the first 5 presidents!

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    1. I am right there with you, Lisa. I had the same thought about being older than the average age myself as I compiled the list of facts. LOL A bit of an "ouch" moment. ;)

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  3. I must say, Jennifer, that all these facts were very interesting. It is sad that some died so young, but it certainly is interesting to read that most of them had a number of children to carry on the future of our young nation. Thanks for the giveaway :).
    bettimace AT gmail DOT com

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    1. They were definitely a fertile bunch, that's for sure, Betti! God blessed me with one child. Though I wanted more than just my one son, I can't imagine having so many as some of these folks did!

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  4. I think the fact about cancer surprised me. I didn't know it was something they knew about back then.
    Theresa Norris
    weceno at yahoo dot com

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    1. I was aware they knew of cancer, but I didn't know what, if any, treatment options they had. It was an interesting discovery, Theresa.

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  5. What an interesting post! Thank you for sharing! I was most interested in the ages of the men. So many died at young ages so to see that Charles Carroll lived to be 95 was amazing. He would have seen many changes throughout his lifetime.
    mauback55 at gmail dot com

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    1. Such an interesting thing to ponder--just how much life Mr. Carroll would've seen in his 95 years. My husband's grandmother lived to be 101. She was born two months after the Titanic sank, and she died in 2013. It was absolutely eye-opening, talking to her and digging through her home.

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  6. I enjoyed learning about the families of the men. I like knowing details.

    Thanks for the opportunity - rayorr[at]bellsouth[net].

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    1. It's so fun learning the behind-the-scenes things about those historical figures, isn't it, Linda?

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  7. wow this is some cool information. if you dont mind i would like to copy and share with family and friends. i really like the information about the different jobs and how many children and the health info. and the man who died in his 90's. thank you so much for sharing all of this.
    quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

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    1. Feel free to share, Lori. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much.

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  8. Jennifer, this information is very eye-opening and interesting. Hearing how many children some of them had boggles my mind. They must have been fascinating to be around! csthankful (at) midrivers (dot) com

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    1. They truly sound fascinating. I would love to have a conversation with any one of them!

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  9. It was all very interesting, but I was surprised that nearly half of the signers were lawyers. The other professions were quite surprising too.
    susanlulu(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  10. I thought that was very interesting too, susanlulu! I suppose the lawyers were some of the most educated men of their times, which is probably why they were involved.

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  11. Caesar Rodney was interesting to learn about and also saddened me. Because I have an adult child with asthma and scarring who has never been romantically involved. I have a feeling the child has been made fun of on occasion. moma3homeschool(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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    1. Oh, that's hard, Michelle. I'm sorry to hear about your son's asthma and scarring.

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  12. So many interesting factoids! My grandma on my mom's side is one of 16 children, and a twin. I can't even imagine one body going through all that.

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  13. Connie R., you are my winner. Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments. It's always wonderful hearing your thoughts!

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  14. I I thought it was interesting that the first signer of the Declaration of Independence to die was killed in a duel.

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  15. I forgot my email! jeanna_massman@hotmail.com

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