Benjamin Chew
Encyclopedia
Benjamin Chew was a third-generation American, a Quaker-born legal scholar, a prominent and successful Philadelphia lawyer
, head of the Pennsylvania Judiciary System under both Colony and Commonwealth, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
of the Province of Pennsylvania
. Chew was well known for his precision and brevity in making legal arguments as well as his excellent memory, judgment, and knowledge of statutory law
. His primary allegiance was to the supremacy of law and constitution.
Trained in law at an early age by Andrew Hamilton
, Benjamin Chew inherited his mentor's clients, the descendants of William Penn
, including Thomas Penn
(1702–1775) and his brother Richard Penn, Sr.
(1706–1771), and their sons Governor John Penn
(1729–1795), Richard Penn, Jr.
(1734–1811), and John Penn
(1760–1834). Chew represented the Penn family in their legal matters for the next six decades. He had a lifelong personal friendship with George Washington
, who is said to have treated Chew’s children “as if they were his own." Chew lived and practiced law in Philadelphia four blocks from Independence Hall
, and provided pro bono
his knowledge of substantive law
to America's Founding Fathers
during the creation of the United States Constitution
and Bill of Rights
.
, a physician and first Chief Justice
of Delaware, and Mary Galloway Chew (1697–1734). He was born in Anne Arundel County, Maryland
, at his father's plantation of Maidstone
. The Chews are descendants of "de Cheux," who accompanied William the Conquerer in the Battle of Hastings
(1066), and as a reward for his military service, received land grants in Somerset
shire, England. Generations later, Benjamin Chew's great-grandfather, John Chew (1587–1668), a successful merchant, arrived in Jamestown
in 1622 on the ship Charitie; he was granted 1600 acres (6.5 km²) of land in Charles River (York) County, Virginia.
The young Chew took an interest in the field of law at an early age. In 1736, when he was 15 years old, he began to read law in the Philadelphia offices of the former Attorney General of Pennsylvania, Andrew Hamilton, then the speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The year before, Hamilton had won a landmark case in American jurisprudence
by his eloquent pro bono defense of the publisher Peter Zenger
. It established the precedent of truth as an absolute defense against charges of libel.
Chew was strongly influenced by Hamilton’s ideas about a free press, and also the reading materials which his mentor provided him, especially Sir Francis Bacon's Lawtracts. His understanding of English legal history
, and especially the Charter of Liberties
, enhanced by his later studies at London’s Middle Temple
, fostered Chew’s enduring commitment to the civil liberties
that are guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution
, especially the right to free speech
.
After Hamilton's death in August 1741, Chew sailed to London to study law at the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple
, one of the four Inns of Court
. His friend John Dickinson
was already studying there. Due to his father's death, Chew returned to Pennsylvania in 1744. He began to practice law in Dover, Delaware
, while supporting his siblings and stepmother. Chew moved to Philadelphia in 1754, and continued his legal responsibilities in both Delaware and Pennsylvania for the rest of his life.
on the lawfulness of resistance to an armed force. In 1747, at age 25, Chew also went against Quaker tradition when he took the Oath of Attorney in Pennsylvania.
Chew wed Mary Galloway (1729–1755), his mother's niece, on June 13, 1747, at West River, Maryland
. They had five daughters (Mary (1748–1788), Anna Marie (1749–1812), Elizabeth (1751–1815), Sarah (1753–1810), and Henrietta (1755–1756)) before Mary died.
He married again on September 12, 1757, to Elizabeth Oswald (1732–1819), niece and heir to the estate of Captain Joseph Turner
. Together with William Allen
, she owned the Union Forge Ironworks in High Bridge
, Hunterdon County, New Jersey
, which produced cannonballs for the American Army. They had seven more daughters (Margaret (1760–1824), Juliana (1765–1845), Henrietta (1767–1848), Sophia (1769–1841), Maria (1771–1840), Harriet (1775–1861), and Catherine (1779–1831)) and two sons (Benjamin Jr. (1758–1844) and Joseph (1763–1764)).
In 1758, Chew joined the Church of England and worshiped at Christ Church
with his growing family, and later at St. Peter's Church
.
Chew greatly increased both wealth and property holdings when he married Elizabeth Oswald; they held numerous slaves to cared for the properties and cultivate their commodity crops. In 1760, Richard Allen was born to an enslaved couple who were among those held by Chew. When he was 8 years old, Allen and all the members of his immediate family were sold by Chew to Stokley Sturgis, the owner of a neighboring farm in Delaware
. later, in Philadelphia, Allen founded and then became the first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
, the first independent African-American denomination.
s from his various properties. Chew continued the family practice of investing in land in the American colonies until the end of his life, expanding their holdings in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey.
The Chews entertained many visiting dignitaries, such as John Penn, Tench Francis, Jr., Robert
, Thomas
, and Samuel Wharton
, Thomas Willing
, John Cadwalader
, Chief Justice William Allen and his wife Margaret, daughter of Andrew Hamilton, Dr. William Smith, Provost of the College of Philadelphia, botanist John Bartram
, Edward Shippen, III, Edward Shippen, IV, and Peggy Shippen
, Thomas Mifflin
, later to become Governor of Pennsylvania, and Brigadier General Henry Bouquet
, hero of the French and Indian War.
Abigail Adams
referred to Chews’ daughters as part of a “constellation of beauties” in Philadelphia. Daughter Margaret (1760–1824) married Maryland Governor John E. Howard in 1787. Daughter Sophia (1769–1841) was invited to attend Martha Washington
’s first public event in Philadelphia. Daughter Harriet (1775–1861) was asked to entertain George Washington while his portrait was being painted. In 1800, she married the only son of Charles Carroll of Carrollton
, signer of the Declaration of Independence
, who built Homewood
for them as a wedding gift. Throughout the Revolutionary War, George Washington facilitated the transfer of letters between Mr. and Mrs. Chew, during months when they were forced to live apart.
The Chew family’s house on Third Street was situated between Spruce and Walnut Streets, next door to the house of Philadelphia Mayor Samuel Powel
and his wife, Elizabeth Willing Powel, who was one of George Washington’s closest confidantes. “Led by Mrs. Washington, Mrs. Morris, and ‘the dazzling Mrs. Bingham,’ as Abigail Adams called her, the city embarked on a lavish program of public and private entertainment patterned on English and French models.” Mrs. Adams reports being presently surprised by “an agreeable society and friendliness kept up with all the principal families, who appear to live in great harmony, and we are met at all the parties [with] nearly the same company.” After the death of their parents, Henrietta, Maria, and Catherine Chew vacated their house on South Third Street, and moved to a family-owned property on Walnut Street. In 1828, the house on South Third Street was sold, and in 1830, the building was razed.
master builder, Jacob Knor, to build a summer retreat which he called Cliveden; the house later came to be known as the Chew house. Knor went on to construct several other buildings in Germantown, including the nearby Johnson House in 1768.
On August 4th, 1777, when the Executive Committee of the Continental Congress
decided to place Chew in preventive detention in New Jersey instead of at Cliveden, his wife and children vacated the house and returned to their Third Street home. Cliveden was vacant and vulnerable. General Howe
, the British Commander-in-Chief, quickly seized the house. Protected by its strong walls, he won the Battle of Germantown
on October 4th.
After his release from parole in May of 1778, Chew decided to move his family to their estate in Delaware, to buffer them from the political turbulence of Philadelphia. Chew sold Cliveden to Blair McClenahan because he was unable to afford the extensive repairs necessary after the Battle of Germantown. While in Delaware, the Chews rented their house on Third Street to Don Juan de Miralles (Spanish representative to the American government); the Marquis de Chastellux
(principal liaison officer between the French Commander-in-Chief and George Washington); and to George and Martha Washington, from November 1781 to March 1782, during the Second Continental Congress
.
By 1783, the Chews concluded that the political situation was safe enough for their family to return to Philadelphia. They lived full time in the house on South Third Street throughout the critical period when all the most important legal decisions were being made at the Constitutional Convention; the Congress of the Confederation
; and in 1792, the official adoption of the Bill of Rights
by the First United States Congress
.
In 1797, Chew repurchased Cliveden, and it remained under family ownership for another five generations. Cannonballs from the Battle of Germantown were embedded in its walls until 1972, when Chew’s descendants donated the house to the National Trust for Historic Preservation
.
and member of the Council of Pennsylvania (1754–1769); Recorder of Philadelphia City (1755–1774); Master of Rolls (1755–1774); Provincial Councillor of Pennsylvania (1755); Commissioner
of Philadelphia (1761); Register-General of Wills (1765–1777); Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (1774–1777); and Judge and President of the High Court of Errors and Appeals (1791–1808).
and then Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore
of Maryland. Finally resolved in 1768, the Boundary Commission oversaw the development and completion of the Mason-Dixon Line
between Pennsylvania and Maryland.
. Twenty-one representatives of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire attended the Congress. Secretaries of each colony represented also attended including Benjamin Chew of the Pennsylvania delegation. These secretaries also helped formulate the plan to unite the colonies as one single unified force. This plan
was one of the first attempts of uniting the American colonies. Benjamin Franklin
proposed the plan but it greatly exceeded the scope of the congress and was heavily debated by all who attended the conference, including the young lawyer Benjamin Chew. Six months later, Chew, aged 32, was chosen to be Attorney General of the State of Pennsylvania.
and the colonists. As Attorney General of Pennsylvania, Chew attended the negotiations for the Treaty of Easton
and documented the proceedings in his “Journal of a Journey to Easton.” The conference concluded on October 26, and in November, Governor Denny announced to the Pennsylvania Assembly that "a general peace was secured at Easton."
, Attorney General Benjamin Chew described the mood in America: “…it is impossible to say to what length their irritated and turbulent Spirits may carry them.” The Stamp Act was repealed two months later.
When he was finally paroled and sent to New Jersey, "Chew refused to take the action of the Council seriously at first, and thoroughly intimidated the young soldiers from the City Troop who were sent to pick him up. Eventually realizing his predicament he signed a parole...although he insisted that there was no charge against him except that he had held office under the Proprietor."
, Chew was friends with both George Washington and John Adams
, and was a strong advocate for the colonies. As a lifelong pacifist, however, Chew believed that protest and reform were necessary to resolve the ongoing American conflicts with the British Parliament
. Having been born a Quaker, he did not support active revolution. Early in the conflict, both the British and colonial sides claimed his allegiance since he had such a visible position in the colony and played so many important roles.
Chew himself remained undecided about the correct course to take. “I have stated that an opposition of force of arms to the lawful authority of the king or his ministries…is high treason, but in the moment when the king or his ministries shall exceed the constitutional authority vested in them…submission to their mandates becomes treason.” -Benjamin Chew, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, in an address to the last provincial grand jury, April 10, 1776
On August 4, 1777, when General Howe and the British army were nearing Philadelphia, the Executive Council of the new government “issued a warrant for (Chew’s) arrest on grounds of protecting the public safety. When the warrant was served two days later at his home in Philadelphia, Chew demanded to know ‘by what authority and for what cause’ he was charged." "As a lawyer, [Chew] believed that the warrant infringed on his rights as a free man; moreover, it violated the first principle of justice
by prejudging him unheard. This, as he later recorded in notes concerning his arrest, ‘struck at the liberties of everyone in the community and [he believed] it was his duty to oppose it and check it, if possible, in its infancy.’”
The Executive Council of the Continental Congress decided at the last minute against allowing Chew to remain at Cliveden. Instead, for his own safety, they decided to allow both Chew and Governor John Penn to be paroled at Chew’s uncle-in-law, Joseph Turner’s house, "Solitude," at the Union Forge Ironworks in New Jersey. Six months later, after the British forces left the region, both men returned to Philadelphia on May 15, 1778.
After the Revolution, Benjamin Chew's broad social circles continued to include representative of many faiths, as well as friends and politicians representing many disparate points of view. Chew also continued to participate in the meetings of the Tammany Society, to honor Tamanend
, the Lenni-Lenape
Chieftain who first negotiated peace agreements with William Penn. “Although Benjamin Chew was not a participant in the Constitutional Convention of 1787…he and his family were part of the city's new social circle that included the Washingtons, the John Adams, the William Binghams, and the Robert Morrises…In large measure this was because Chew's legal perspicacity offered expertise needed by the new government.”
In 1757, Chew was elected a trustee of The Academy and College of Philadelphia
(the origins of the University of Pennsylvania
) and continued as such until 1791. Foremost among Benjamin Chew's law students were Brigade Major
Edward Tilghman and Judge William Tilghman
. "These Tilghmans were so successful in the law that they were both offered the post of State Chief Justice in 1805." After an extended illness, Chew died at Cliveden on January 20, 1810, and is buried at St. Peter's Churchyard
, Philadelphia.
Philadelphia lawyer
Philadelphia Lawyer is a term to describe a lawyer who knows the most detailed and minute points of law or is an exceptionally competent lawyer. Its first usage dates back to 1788....
, head of the Pennsylvania Judiciary System under both Colony and Commonwealth, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the court of last resort for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It meets in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.-History:...
of the Province of Pennsylvania
Province of Pennsylvania
The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as Pennsylvania Colony, was founded in British America by William Penn on March 4, 1681 as dictated in a royal charter granted by King Charles II...
. Chew was well known for his precision and brevity in making legal arguments as well as his excellent memory, judgment, and knowledge of statutory law
Statutory law
Statutory law or statute law is written law set down by a legislature or by a legislator .Statutes may originate with national, state legislatures or local municipalities...
. His primary allegiance was to the supremacy of law and constitution.
Trained in law at an early age by Andrew Hamilton
Andrew Hamilton (lawyer)
Andrew Hamilton was a Scottish lawyer in Colonial America, best known for his legal victory on behalf of printer and newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger. This 1735 decision helped to establish that truth is a defense to an accusation of libel...
, Benjamin Chew inherited his mentor's clients, the descendants of William Penn
William Penn
William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...
, including Thomas Penn
Thomas Penn
Thomas Penn was a son of William Penn, founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony that became the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Thomas Penn was born in Bristol, England after his father returned there in 1701 because of financial difficulties...
(1702–1775) and his brother Richard Penn, Sr.
Richard Penn, Sr.
Richard Penn was a proprietary and titular governor of the province of Pennsylvania and the counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex on the Delaware River....
(1706–1771), and their sons Governor John Penn
John Penn (governor)
John Penn was the last governor of colonial Pennsylvania, serving in that office from 1763 to 1771 and from 1773 to 1776...
(1729–1795), Richard Penn, Jr.
Richard Penn (governor)
Richard Penn, Jr. served as the Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania from 1771 to 1773, and was later a member of the British Parliament....
(1734–1811), and John Penn
John Penn (writer)
John Penn was an Anglo-American writer, a part proprietor of the Province of Pennsylvania , and a governor of the Isle of Portland.-Life:John Penn was the son of Thomas Penn and his wife Juliana John Penn (aka "John Penn, Jr."[sic], "John Penn of Stoke") (22 February 1760, London, England – 21...
(1760–1834). Chew represented the Penn family in their legal matters for the next six decades. He had a lifelong personal friendship with George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, who is said to have treated Chew’s children “as if they were his own." Chew lived and practiced law in Philadelphia four blocks from Independence Hall
Independence Hall
Independence Hall is the centerpiece of Independence National Historical Park located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, on Chestnut Street between 5th and 6th Streets...
, and provided pro bono
Pro bono
Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms...
his knowledge of substantive law
Substantive law
Substantive law is the statutory or written law that defines rights and duties, such as crimes and punishments , civil rights and responsibilities in civil law. It is codified in legislated statutes or can be enacted through the initiative process.Substantive law stands in contrast to procedural...
to America's Founding Fathers
Founding Fathers of the United States
The Founding Fathers of the United States of America were political leaders and statesmen who participated in the American Revolution by signing the United States Declaration of Independence, taking part in the American Revolutionary War, establishing the United States Constitution, or by some...
during the creation of the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
and Bill of Rights
United States Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and...
.
Early life and education
Benjamin Chew was the son of Samuel ChewSamuel Chew (justice)
Samuel Chew was a physician who served as Chief Justice of colonial Delaware.Samuel married Mary Galloway in 1715, and their son Benjamin Chew was later Chief Justice of Pennsylvania....
, a physician and first Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
of Delaware, and Mary Galloway Chew (1697–1734). He was born in Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Anne Arundel County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is named for Anne Arundell , a member of the ancient family of Arundells in Cornwall, England and the wife of Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. Its county seat is Annapolis, which is also the capital of the state...
, at his father's plantation of Maidstone
Maidstone (Owings, Maryland)
Maidstone is a home of which is considered historic located at Owings, Calvert County, Maryland. The home was built between 1683 and 1699 in what was then Anne Arundel County in the Province of Maryland.-The house:...
. The Chews are descendants of "de Cheux," who accompanied William the Conquerer in the Battle of Hastings
Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...
(1066), and as a reward for his military service, received land grants in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
shire, England. Generations later, Benjamin Chew's great-grandfather, John Chew (1587–1668), a successful merchant, arrived in Jamestown
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
in 1622 on the ship Charitie; he was granted 1600 acres (6.5 km²) of land in Charles River (York) County, Virginia.
The young Chew took an interest in the field of law at an early age. In 1736, when he was 15 years old, he began to read law in the Philadelphia offices of the former Attorney General of Pennsylvania, Andrew Hamilton, then the speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The year before, Hamilton had won a landmark case in American jurisprudence
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
by his eloquent pro bono defense of the publisher Peter Zenger
John Peter Zenger
John Peter Zenger was a German-American printer, publisher, editor, and journalist in New York City. He was a defendant in a landmark legal case in American jurisprudence that determined that truth was a defense against charges of libel and "laid the foundation for American press freedom."-...
. It established the precedent of truth as an absolute defense against charges of libel.
Chew was strongly influenced by Hamilton’s ideas about a free press, and also the reading materials which his mentor provided him, especially Sir Francis Bacon's Lawtracts. His understanding of English legal history
English law
English law is the legal system of England and Wales, and is the basis of common law legal systems used in most Commonwealth countries and the United States except Louisiana...
, and especially the Charter of Liberties
Charter of Liberties
The Charter of Liberties, also called the Coronation Charter, was a written proclamation by Henry I of England, issued upon his accession to the throne in 1100. It sought to bind the King to certain laws regarding the treatment of church officials and nobles...
, enhanced by his later studies at London’s Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
, fostered Chew’s enduring commitment to the civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
that are guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
, especially the right to free speech
Freedom of speech in the United States
Freedom of speech in the United States is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and by many state constitutions and state and federal laws, with the exception of obscenity, defamation, incitement to riot, and fighting words, as well as harassment, privileged...
.
After Hamilton's death in August 1741, Chew sailed to London to study law at the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
, one of the four Inns of Court
Inns of Court
The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. All such barristers must belong to one such association. They have supervisory and disciplinary functions over their members. The Inns also provide libraries, dining facilities and professional...
. His friend John Dickinson
John Dickinson
John Dickinson may refer to:* John Dickinson , lawyer, Governor of Delaware and Pennsylvania, signer of U.S. Constitution, and namesake of Dickinson College* John D. Dickinson , lawyer and U.S...
was already studying there. Due to his father's death, Chew returned to Pennsylvania in 1744. He began to practice law in Dover, Delaware
Dover, Delaware
The city of Dover is the capital and second largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County, and the principal city of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County. It is located on the St. Jones River in the Delaware...
, while supporting his siblings and stepmother. Chew moved to Philadelphia in 1754, and continued his legal responsibilities in both Delaware and Pennsylvania for the rest of his life.
Marriage and family
Although Chew was raised in a Quaker family, he first broke with Quaker tradition in 1741, when he agreed with his father, who had instructed a grand jury in NewcastleNew Castle, Delaware
New Castle is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, six miles south of Wilmington, situated on the Delaware River. In 1900, 3,380 people lived here; in 1910, 3,351...
on the lawfulness of resistance to an armed force. In 1747, at age 25, Chew also went against Quaker tradition when he took the Oath of Attorney in Pennsylvania.
Chew wed Mary Galloway (1729–1755), his mother's niece, on June 13, 1747, at West River, Maryland
West River, Maryland
West River is an unincorporated community in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States....
. They had five daughters (Mary (1748–1788), Anna Marie (1749–1812), Elizabeth (1751–1815), Sarah (1753–1810), and Henrietta (1755–1756)) before Mary died.
He married again on September 12, 1757, to Elizabeth Oswald (1732–1819), niece and heir to the estate of Captain Joseph Turner
Joseph Turner (loyalist)
Joseph Turner was a seaman, merchant, iron manufacturer, and politician in colonial and post-colonial Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Turner was born in 1701 in Hampshire, England. He came to America in January 1714 without his parents. Early Philadelphia records identify him as a sea captain in 1724...
. Together with William Allen
William Allen (loyalist)
William Allen was a wealthy merchant, Chief Justice of the Province of Pennsylvania, and mayor of Philadelphia. At the time of the American Revolution, Allen was one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Philadelphia...
, she owned the Union Forge Ironworks in High Bridge
High Bridge, New Jersey
High Bridge is a borough in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the borough population was 3,648.-History:...
, Hunterdon County, New Jersey
Hunterdon County, New Jersey
Hunterdon County is a county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 128,349. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Flemington....
, which produced cannonballs for the American Army. They had seven more daughters (Margaret (1760–1824), Juliana (1765–1845), Henrietta (1767–1848), Sophia (1769–1841), Maria (1771–1840), Harriet (1775–1861), and Catherine (1779–1831)) and two sons (Benjamin Jr. (1758–1844) and Joseph (1763–1764)).
In 1758, Chew joined the Church of England and worshiped at Christ Church
Christ Church, Philadelphia
Christ Church is an Episcopal church located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1695 by members of the Church of England, who built a small wooden church on the site by the next year. When the congregation outgrew this structure some twenty years later, they decided to erect a new...
with his growing family, and later at St. Peter's Church
St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia
St. Peter's Church is a historic church located on the corner of Third and Pine Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It opened for worship on September 4, 1761 and served as a place of worship for many of the United States Founding Fathers during the period of the Continental Congresses. The...
.
Chew greatly increased both wealth and property holdings when he married Elizabeth Oswald; they held numerous slaves to cared for the properties and cultivate their commodity crops. In 1760, Richard Allen was born to an enslaved couple who were among those held by Chew. When he was 8 years old, Allen and all the members of his immediate family were sold by Chew to Stokley Sturgis, the owner of a neighboring farm in Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
. later, in Philadelphia, Allen founded and then became the first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
African Methodist Episcopal Church
The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the A.M.E. Church, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination based in the United States. It was founded by the Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from several black Methodist congregations in the...
, the first independent African-American denomination.
Residences
Mentored by Andrew Hamilton from an early age, Chew was highly effective in defending civil liberties and settling boundary disputes; he represented the descendants of William Penn, the largest landholders in Pennsylvania, for over 60 years. Chew derived most of his income from his practice as a private lawyer, managing his second wife’s considerable estate, and collecting quit-rentQuit-rent
Quit rent , Quit-rent, or quitrent, in practically all cases, is now effectively but not formally a tax or land tax imposed on freehold or leased land by a higher landowning authority, usually a government or its assigns....
s from his various properties. Chew continued the family practice of investing in land in the American colonies until the end of his life, expanding their holdings in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey.
Third Street House
From 1754 to 1771, Chew and his family lived on Front Street in Philadelphia. In 1771, Chew purchased the former house of his client, Governor John Penn, on South Third Street; Penn had returned to England to settle his father’s (Richard Penn, Sr.) estate. For almost five decades, the household on Third Street was filled by Benjamin and Elizabeth Chew, their son Benjamin, and their daughters Anna Marie, Elizabeth, Sarah, Margaret (Peggy), Juliana, Henrietta, Sophia, Maria, Harriet, and Catherine, all of whom were actively engaged in the social, civic, and cultural life of the nation's first capital.The Chews entertained many visiting dignitaries, such as John Penn, Tench Francis, Jr., Robert
Robert Wharton (Philadelphia)
Robert Wharton was the longest-serving Mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Wharton was born in Philadelphia, January 12, 1757, the son of Joseph Wharton, a successful merchant. At an early age he left his studies, and was apprenticed to a hatter...
, Thomas
Thomas Wharton Jr.
Thomas Wharton Jr. was a Pennsylvania merchant and politician of the Revolutionary era. He served as the first President of Pennsylvania following the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain....
, and Samuel Wharton
Samuel Wharton
Samuel Wharton was a merchant, land speculator, and politician from Dover in Kent County, Delaware. John Bayton, George Morgan, and George Croghan, deputy superintendent of Indian affairs, joined in a partnership on the Ohio country and Indian Trade after 1763...
, Thomas Willing
Thomas Willing
Thomas Willing was an American merchant and financier and a Delegate to the Continental Congress from Pennsylvania....
, John Cadwalader
John Cadwalader (general)
John Cadwalader was a commander of Pennsylvania troops during the American Revolutionary War.-Early life:...
, Chief Justice William Allen and his wife Margaret, daughter of Andrew Hamilton, Dr. William Smith, Provost of the College of Philadelphia, botanist John Bartram
John Bartram
*Hoffmann, Nancy E. and John C. Van Horne, eds., America’s Curious Botanist: A Tercentennial Reappraisal of John Bartram 1699-1777. Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 243. ....
, Edward Shippen, III, Edward Shippen, IV, and Peggy Shippen
Peggy Shippen
Peggy Shippen, or Margaret Shippen , was the second wife of General Benedict Arnold...
, Thomas Mifflin
Thomas Mifflin
Thomas Mifflin was an American merchant and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, a member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly, a Continental Congressman from Pennsylvania, President of the Continental...
, later to become Governor of Pennsylvania, and Brigadier General Henry Bouquet
Henry Bouquet
Henry Bouquet was a prominent British Army officer in the French and Indian War and Pontiac's War. Bouquet is best known for his victory over Native Americans at the Battle of Bushy Run, lifting the siege of Fort Pitt during Pontiac's War.-Early life:Bouquet was born into a moderately wealthy...
, hero of the French and Indian War.
Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams was the wife of John Adams, who was the second President of the United States, and the mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth...
referred to Chews’ daughters as part of a “constellation of beauties” in Philadelphia. Daughter Margaret (1760–1824) married Maryland Governor John E. Howard in 1787. Daughter Sophia (1769–1841) was invited to attend Martha Washington
Martha Washington
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington is considered to be the first First Lady of the United States...
’s first public event in Philadelphia. Daughter Harriet (1775–1861) was asked to entertain George Washington while his portrait was being painted. In 1800, she married the only son of Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Charles Carroll of Carrollton was a wealthy Maryland planter and an early advocate of independence from Great Britain. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and later as United States Senator for Maryland...
, signer of the Declaration of Independence
Declaration of independence
A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...
, who built Homewood
Homewood
-Places in the United States:*Homewood, Alabama*Homewood, Baltimore*Homewood, California*Homewood, Illinois*Homewood, Pennsylvania*Homewood , three neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-Other:...
for them as a wedding gift. Throughout the Revolutionary War, George Washington facilitated the transfer of letters between Mr. and Mrs. Chew, during months when they were forced to live apart.
The Chew family’s house on Third Street was situated between Spruce and Walnut Streets, next door to the house of Philadelphia Mayor Samuel Powel
Samuel Powel
Samuel Powel was a colonial and post-colonial mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1759 from the College of Philadelphia . He served as mayor from 1775–1776 and 1789–1790, the office having lain vacant in the interim...
and his wife, Elizabeth Willing Powel, who was one of George Washington’s closest confidantes. “Led by Mrs. Washington, Mrs. Morris, and ‘the dazzling Mrs. Bingham,’ as Abigail Adams called her, the city embarked on a lavish program of public and private entertainment patterned on English and French models.” Mrs. Adams reports being presently surprised by “an agreeable society and friendliness kept up with all the principal families, who appear to live in great harmony, and we are met at all the parties [with] nearly the same company.” After the death of their parents, Henrietta, Maria, and Catherine Chew vacated their house on South Third Street, and moved to a family-owned property on Walnut Street. In 1828, the house on South Third Street was sold, and in 1830, the building was razed.
Cliveden
To protect his family from the diseases that plagued Philadelphia, Chew chose MennoniteMennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
master builder, Jacob Knor, to build a summer retreat which he called Cliveden; the house later came to be known as the Chew house. Knor went on to construct several other buildings in Germantown, including the nearby Johnson House in 1768.
On August 4th, 1777, when the Executive Committee of the Continental Congress
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....
decided to place Chew in preventive detention in New Jersey instead of at Cliveden, his wife and children vacated the house and returned to their Third Street home. Cliveden was vacant and vulnerable. General Howe
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, KB, PC was a British army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British forces during the American War of Independence...
, the British Commander-in-Chief, quickly seized the house. Protected by its strong walls, he won the Battle of Germantown
Battle of Germantown
The Battle of Germantown, a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War, was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania between the British army led by Sir William Howe and the American army under George Washington...
on October 4th.
After his release from parole in May of 1778, Chew decided to move his family to their estate in Delaware, to buffer them from the political turbulence of Philadelphia. Chew sold Cliveden to Blair McClenahan because he was unable to afford the extensive repairs necessary after the Battle of Germantown. While in Delaware, the Chews rented their house on Third Street to Don Juan de Miralles (Spanish representative to the American government); the Marquis de Chastellux
François-Jean de Chastellux
François Jean de Beauvoir, Marquis de Chastellux, was a military officer who served during the War of American Independence as a major general in the French expeditionary forces led by general Comte de Rochambeau...
(principal liaison officer between the French Commander-in-Chief and George Washington); and to George and Martha Washington, from November 1781 to March 1782, during the Second Continental Congress
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met briefly during 1774,...
.
By 1783, the Chews concluded that the political situation was safe enough for their family to return to Philadelphia. They lived full time in the house on South Third Street throughout the critical period when all the most important legal decisions were being made at the Constitutional Convention; the Congress of the Confederation
Congress of the Confederation
The Congress of the Confederation or the United States in Congress Assembled was the governing body of the United States of America that existed from March 1, 1781, to March 4, 1789. It comprised delegates appointed by the legislatures of the states. It was the immediate successor to the Second...
; and in 1792, the official adoption of the Bill of Rights
United States Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and...
by the First United States Congress
1st United States Congress
-House of Representatives:During this congress, five House seats were added for North Carolina and one House seat was added for Rhode Island when they ratified the Constitution.-Senate:* President: John Adams * President pro tempore: John Langdon...
.
In 1797, Chew repurchased Cliveden, and it remained under family ownership for another five generations. Cannonballs from the Battle of Germantown were embedded in its walls until 1972, when Chew’s descendants donated the house to the National Trust for Historic Preservation
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is an American member-supported organization that was founded in 1949 by congressional charter to support preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods through a range of programs and activities, including the publication of Preservation...
.
Career
Benjamin Chew was Speaker of the Lower House for the Delaware counties (1753–1758); Attorney GeneralAttorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
and member of the Council of Pennsylvania (1754–1769); Recorder of Philadelphia City (1755–1774); Master of Rolls (1755–1774); Provincial Councillor of Pennsylvania (1755); Commissioner
Commissioner
Commissioner is in principle the title given to a member of a commission or to an individual who has been given a commission ....
of Philadelphia (1761); Register-General of Wills (1765–1777); Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (1774–1777); and Judge and President of the High Court of Errors and Appeals (1791–1808).
Mason-Dixon Line
By the time he was 29, Chew held a number of offices, both elected and appointed, in the Delaware and Pennsylvanian colonial governments. Appointed as Secretary of the Boundary Commission in 1750, Chew successfully represented the Penn family for the following eighteen years in their boundary dispute with first Charles Calvert, 5th Baron BaltimoreCharles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore
Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, 3rd Proprietor and 17th Proprietary Governor of Maryland, FRS was a British nobleman and Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland...
and then Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore
Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore
Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore, 4th Proprietor of Maryland was an English nobleman and last in the line of Barons Baltimore...
of Maryland. Finally resolved in 1768, the Boundary Commission oversaw the development and completion of the Mason-Dixon Line
Mason-Dixon line
The Mason–Dixon Line was surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in the resolution of a border dispute between British colonies in Colonial America. It forms a demarcation line among four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and...
between Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Albany Conference
On June 19, 1754, the Albany Conference was held in Albany, New YorkAlbany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
. Twenty-one representatives of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire attended the Congress. Secretaries of each colony represented also attended including Benjamin Chew of the Pennsylvania delegation. These secretaries also helped formulate the plan to unite the colonies as one single unified force. This plan
Albany Plan
The Albany Plan of Union was proposed by Benjamin Franklin at the Albany Congress in 1754 in Albany, New York. It was an early attempt at forming a union of the colonies "under one government as far as might be necessary for defense and other general important purposes" during the French and...
was one of the first attempts of uniting the American colonies. Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
proposed the plan but it greatly exceeded the scope of the congress and was heavily debated by all who attended the conference, including the young lawyer Benjamin Chew. Six months later, Chew, aged 32, was chosen to be Attorney General of the State of Pennsylvania.
Easton Conference
In October 1758, The Easton Conference was held in Easton, Pennsylvania, to resolve conflicts created by The Walking Purchase of 1737, which had lasting effects on the relationships between Native AmericansIndigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
and the colonists. As Attorney General of Pennsylvania, Chew attended the negotiations for the Treaty of Easton
Treaty of Easton
The Treaty of Easton was a colonial agreement in North America signed in October 1758 during the French and Indian War . Briefly, chiefs of 13 Native American nations, representing tribes of the Iroquois, Lenape-Delaware, Shawnee and others, agreed to be allies of the British colonies during the...
and documented the proceedings in his “Journal of a Journey to Easton.” The conference concluded on October 26, and in November, Governor Denny announced to the Pennsylvania Assembly that "a general peace was secured at Easton."
Attorney General
"From 1755 to 1769 Chew served as Attorney General of Pennsylvania and as the Recorder of Philadelphia, earning a reputation that was second to none." In a letter warning the Crown against enacting the Stamp ActStamp Act 1765
The Stamp Act 1765 was a direct tax imposed by the British Parliament specifically on the colonies of British America. The act required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp...
, Attorney General Benjamin Chew described the mood in America: “…it is impossible to say to what length their irritated and turbulent Spirits may carry them.” The Stamp Act was repealed two months later.
Supreme Court Chief Justice
"Chew's political views were at all times close to those of his predecessor, William Allen. He supported the Proprietary interests, opposed the Stamp Act and other English abuses, but opposed independence." "The Chew court...was without a question the most professional and formally trained high court to date." Chew's pro-American views and actions were not enough to save him, but he was not persecuted in the way that some pacifists were, as his record of speaking out against British abuses was well known. It was not until the following year that his liberty was restricted."When he was finally paroled and sent to New Jersey, "Chew refused to take the action of the Council seriously at first, and thoroughly intimidated the young soldiers from the City Troop who were sent to pick him up. Eventually realizing his predicament he signed a parole...although he insisted that there was no charge against him except that he had held office under the Proprietor."
President of the High Court
In 1791, Chew was appointed by Pennsylvania’s first Governor and the former President of the Continental Congress, Thomas Mifflin, to preside as the President over Pennsylvania's first High Court of Errors and Appeals, a position which he retired from in 1808. "Pennsylvania at first made no provision for any appeal from its Supreme Court, but in February 1780 legislation established the High Court of Errors and Appeals. It was empowered to hear appeals from the Supreme Court and also from the Court of Admiralty and the Register Court. Chew received the highest compliment Pennsylvania could pay him: he was appointed by Governor Thomas Mifflin as President of the High Court, despite the fact that he was by then close to seventy."Political Influence
Prior to the American RevolutionAmerican Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, Chew was friends with both George Washington and John Adams
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
, and was a strong advocate for the colonies. As a lifelong pacifist, however, Chew believed that protest and reform were necessary to resolve the ongoing American conflicts with the British Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
. Having been born a Quaker, he did not support active revolution. Early in the conflict, both the British and colonial sides claimed his allegiance since he had such a visible position in the colony and played so many important roles.
Chew himself remained undecided about the correct course to take. “I have stated that an opposition of force of arms to the lawful authority of the king or his ministries…is high treason, but in the moment when the king or his ministries shall exceed the constitutional authority vested in them…submission to their mandates becomes treason.” -Benjamin Chew, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, in an address to the last provincial grand jury, April 10, 1776
On August 4, 1777, when General Howe and the British army were nearing Philadelphia, the Executive Council of the new government “issued a warrant for (Chew’s) arrest on grounds of protecting the public safety. When the warrant was served two days later at his home in Philadelphia, Chew demanded to know ‘by what authority and for what cause’ he was charged." "As a lawyer, [Chew] believed that the warrant infringed on his rights as a free man; moreover, it violated the first principle of justice
A Theory of Justice
A Theory of Justice is a book of political philosophy and ethics by John Rawls. It was originally published in 1971 and revised in both 1975 and 1999. In A Theory of Justice, Rawls attempts to solve the problem of distributive justice by utilising a variant of the familiar device of the social...
by prejudging him unheard. This, as he later recorded in notes concerning his arrest, ‘struck at the liberties of everyone in the community and [he believed] it was his duty to oppose it and check it, if possible, in its infancy.’”
The Executive Council of the Continental Congress decided at the last minute against allowing Chew to remain at Cliveden. Instead, for his own safety, they decided to allow both Chew and Governor John Penn to be paroled at Chew’s uncle-in-law, Joseph Turner’s house, "Solitude," at the Union Forge Ironworks in New Jersey. Six months later, after the British forces left the region, both men returned to Philadelphia on May 15, 1778.
After the Revolution, Benjamin Chew's broad social circles continued to include representative of many faiths, as well as friends and politicians representing many disparate points of view. Chew also continued to participate in the meetings of the Tammany Society, to honor Tamanend
Tamanend
Tamanend or Tammany or Tammamend, the "affable", was a chief of one of the clans that made up the Lenni-Lenape nation in the Delaware Valley at the time Philadelphia was established...
, the Lenni-Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
Chieftain who first negotiated peace agreements with William Penn. “Although Benjamin Chew was not a participant in the Constitutional Convention of 1787…he and his family were part of the city's new social circle that included the Washingtons, the John Adams, the William Binghams, and the Robert Morrises…In large measure this was because Chew's legal perspicacity offered expertise needed by the new government.”
In 1757, Chew was elected a trustee of The Academy and College of Philadelphia
The Academy and College of Philadelphia
The Academy and College of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, is considered by many to have been the first American academy. It was founded in 1749 by Benjamin Franklin....
(the origins of the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
) and continued as such until 1791. Foremost among Benjamin Chew's law students were Brigade Major
Brigade Major
In the British Army, a Brigade Major was the Chief of Staff of a brigade. He held the rank of Major and was head of the brigade's "G - Operations and Intelligence" section directly and oversaw the two other branches, "A - Administration" and "Q - Quartermaster"...
Edward Tilghman and Judge William Tilghman
William Tilghman
William Tilghman was an American lawyer, jurist and statesman from Maryland. He served as the Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court from 1805 to 1827....
. "These Tilghmans were so successful in the law that they were both offered the post of State Chief Justice in 1805." After an extended illness, Chew died at Cliveden on January 20, 1810, and is buried at St. Peter's Churchyard
St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia
St. Peter's Church is a historic church located on the corner of Third and Pine Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It opened for worship on September 4, 1761 and served as a place of worship for many of the United States Founding Fathers during the period of the Continental Congresses. The...
, Philadelphia.
Legacy
- In 1906 a portrait of Benjamin Chew was dedicated, honoring his role as Chief Justice, and installed in the Pennsylvania State CapitolPennsylvania State CapitolThe Pennsylvania State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and is in downtown Harrisburg. It was designed in 1902 in a Beaux-Arts style with Renaissance themes throughout...
building. - Chew Avenue in Philadelphia was named in his honor.
- 1942, the Liberty shipLiberty shipLiberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
, the Benjamin Chew, built and named in his honor. It was built at the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards in Baltimore, Maryland.
See also
- Reverend Richard AllenRichard Allen (reverend)Richard Allen was a minister, educator and writer, and the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal , the first independent black denomination in the United States in 1816. He opened his first church in 1794 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was elected the first bishop of the AME Church...
, the founder and first Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal ChurchAfrican Methodist Episcopal ChurchThe African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the A.M.E. Church, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination based in the United States. It was founded by the Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from several black Methodist congregations in the...
, was a former slave whose parents belonged to Chew. In 1768, Chew sold Richard Allen, and his family, to Stokeley Sturgis.
External links
- The Chew Family Papers, containing an extensive collection of correspondence, documents, financial records and other materials, are available for research use at the Historical Society of PennsylvaniaHistorical Society of PennsylvaniaThe Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historical society founded in 1824 and based in Philadelphia. The Society's building, designed by Addison Hutton and listed on Philadelphia's Register of Historical Places, houses some 600,000 printed items and over 19 million manuscript and graphic items...
. - Cliveden of the National Trust
- John Penn’s Home Benjamin Chew’s former residence.
- Political Graveyard
- Legends of the Philadelphia Bar: Benjamin Chew
- Benjamin Chew at USHistory.org
- Biography and portrait at the University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
This gives the date of Benjamin's return from England as 1743. - Biography at Virtualology.com under his father, Samuel Chew Based on an earlier edition of Appletons', this also gives the date of Benjamin's return from England as 1743.
- Mason and Dixon Line Preservation Partnership
- Colonial Families of Philadelphia
- Benjamin Chew, Esq. A site dedicated to emerging research on Benjamin Chew, Esq.
- The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple