John Lewis Gervais was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 planter and statesman from South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

. He served as a delegate to 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....

 in 1782 and 1783.

John was born in Hanover

Hanover

Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 where his parents were French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 Huguenot

Huguenot

The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...

 refugees in 1741. He emigrated to South Carolina, arriving in Charleston

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

 in 1764. He started in the mercatile business, but soon expanded his interests to include a plantation.

Gervais first served in the revolutionary Provincial Congress in 1775. He was a member of the state’s Committee of Safety from 1775 to 1781. Under the new state government, he was elected to South Carolina’s Senate in 1781 and 1782.

The legislature sent him as a delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

 in 1782 and 1783. On 10 September 1782, he voted for a motion that the secretary for foreign affairs be directed to obtain returns of slaves and other property carried off by the enemy during the war, such information to be used in negotiating a peace. In April 1783, he was a member of a committee to which were referred letters from U. S. representatives abroad, and on 15 April of that year favored instructing the commander-in-chief to arrange with the commander of the British forces for receiving possession of the posts in the United States that were occupied by British troops.

He came home in 1784, and was returned to the State Senate. In 1786, Senator Gervais led the efforts in the legislature to establish a new state capital. The result was the founding of Columbia, South Carolina

Columbia, South Carolina

Columbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...

.

He died in Charleston on August 18, 1798 and is buried in St. Phillip’s Churchyard there.