Background
Charles Clinton was born in Corbay, County Longford, Ireland, to James, and Elizabeth Smith Clinton.
Charles Clinton was born in Corbay, County Longford, Ireland, to James, and Elizabeth Smith Clinton.
According to his papers, he paid for ninety four of the passengers. The captain of the ship intentionally starved the passengers, possibly as a way to steal their belongings. Ninety-six of the passengers died, including a son and a daughter of Charles Clinton.
In October 1729 they arrived at Cape Cod, and after paying a large ransom for their lives, the survivors were allowed to disembark.
In the spring of 1731, the group moved to Ulster County, New York (now Orange County), where they settled in an area called Little Britain about eight miles from the Hudson River and sixty miles north of New York City. The farm was a little more than 312 acres.
Charles Clinton"s life there is described in this selection from DeWitt Clinton"s Memoir:
".. these hardy pioneers were at that period so exposed to the incursions of the Indians, then inhabiting the vicinity of their residence, that it was found necessary to erect a palisade work around his house, for the security of himself and his neighbours. Possessed of a well selected library, and endowed with extraordinary talents, he made continual accessions to his store of useful knowledge.
His first appointment was that of a Justice of the peace.
He was afterwards promoted to the station of a Judge of the Common Pleas for the county of Ulster. In 1756 he was appointed by colonial governor Sir Charles Hardy, a Lieutenant Colonel of the militia of the province, and commanded a regiment at the capture of Fort Frontenac, now Kingston, by Colonel Bradstreet.
Charles Clinton married Elizabeth Denniston.
They had seven children. Charles and Elizabeth Clinton"s children were:,
Catherine (Kate) (1723-1762) married Colonel
James McClaughry
James (1726-1729) died at sea
Mary (1728-1729) died at sea
Alexander (b 1732) became a physician
Charles (1734-1791) became a surgeon
General James Clinton (1736-1812)
Governor George Clinton (1739-1812).