Background
Dayton, Elias was born on May 1, 1737 in Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth), New Jersey, United States. Son of Jonathan Dayton.
army officer Continental congressman
Dayton, Elias was born on May 1, 1737 in Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth), New Jersey, United States. Son of Jonathan Dayton.
After the war he became the Mayor of Elizabethtown, New Jersey
During the French and Indian War, he served first as a lieutenant and then as a captain in the New Jersey militia. During Pontiac"s War, in 1760, he served as a commander in the Detroit region. After the wars, he returned to Elizabethtown, New Jersey, where he became a mechanic, merchant and colonial official
In 1774 the First Continental Congress called on the colonies to resist Parliament"s recent tax policy by joining in an association to boycott goods imported from Britain.
Dayton served on Elizabethtown"s enforcement committee and allied himself with the local revolutionary movement. When the state turned against Royal Governor William Franklin in 1775, the New Jersey"s Provincial Congress chose Dayton to lead the 3rd New Jersey Regiment.
These fortifications included Fort Dayton in what is now Herkimer, New York and Fort Schuyler(Stanwix) in what is now Rome, New New York In 1777, Dayton set up a spy network for George Washington on Staten Island to work in parallel with an established American intelligence agent, John Mersereau. In December 1778, New Jersey named him as a delegate to the Continental Congress, but he remained with the army and did not attend the Congress.
He was promoted to brigadier general in the Continental Army in 1783, and later to major general of militia.
He served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1791–1792 and 1794–1796, and was mayor of Elizabethtown from 1796-1805.
Member Continental Congress from New Jersey, 1787-1788. Member New Jersey Assembly, 1791-1792, 94-96.
Married Mission Rolfe, 8 children including Jonathan.