John Beatty was an American physician and politician from Princeton, New Jersey.
Background
John Beatty was born in Neshaminy, Pennsylvania, the eldest son of the Rev. Charles Clinton Beatty and Anne (Reading) Beatty. There were ten children in the family; all four of the brothers who volunteered in 1776 became Continental officers.
Education
Graduating at Princeton in 1769, Beatty studied medicine with Benjamin Rush, and in 1772 began to practise at Hartsville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Career
Enlisting in the war, John was commissioned captain in the Pennsylvania Battalion on January 5, 1776, and major of the 6th Pennsylvania the same year. In the disastrous battle and surrender of Fort Washington, November 16, 1776, Beatty was one of the captives. He was severely treated and was not exchanged until May 8, 1778. Perhaps in consequence of this experience, he was appointed in 1778 commissary general of prisoners with the rank of colonel. In this capacity he received from Washington explicit instructions, in 1779, with regard to prisoners on parole, and with reference to exchanges. Arrested and tried on the charge of trading with the enemy, he resigned from the army on March 10, 1780, after receiving a severe reprimand in general orders from headquarters.
Beatty passed the remainder of his life in New Jersey, at his home near Princeton, occupied with the practise of medicine, with state politics, business, and church affairs. He was a member of the New Jersey legislature, a delegate to the Continental Congress 1784-85, a member of the state convention that in 1787 ratified the Federal Constitution, and a member of the Third Congress, 1793-95. On the expiration of his term in Congress he became secretary of state of New Jersey, and held that office until 1805. In his later years he was president of the Trenton Banking Company and of the Delaware Bridge Company.
Achievements
Membership
John Beatty was a member of the New Jersey Legislative Council from Middlesex County (1781-1783); a delegate from Middlesex County to the Continental Congress (1784-1785); a member of the U. S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's At-large district (1793 – 1795).
Connections
John Beatty married Mary, daughter of Richard Longstreet of Princeton, March 22, 1774. His first wife dying in 1815, in 1818 he married Mrs. Kitty Lalor of Trenton.