David Jamison

1660 (age 79)

While young Jamison compelled attention by association with a company of religious iconoclasts known as the "Sweet Singers, " from their manner of reciting the Psalms. This group rejected the received translations of the Bible, the Psalms in metre, the catechisms, and the Confession of Faith. Their crusade apparently embraced the entire framework of religious and civil society, and was conducted with astonishing virulence. Under the Stuart régime the leaders were cast into the Tolbooth, Edinburgh, Jamison sharing their affliction, and, when in 1685 they were shipped to New Jersey and sold to service for their passage money, he was their companion in exile. He was bound to the Rev. Mr. Clarke, chaplain of the fort in New York City, but patrons of education purchased his time and placed him at the head of a Latin school. In a new atmosphere the young man's mind was cleared of fanaticism, and a large field of public usefulness opened before him. The contest between the friends and the foes of Jacob Leisler still disturbed the political air, and Jamison's combative nature did not permit him to remain aloof from the struggle. Six years after his arrival in America he was a deputy secretary and clerk of the council, studying law in spare hours. As an adherent of Governor Fletcher, he gained the unfavorable notice of Fletcher's successor, Governor Bellomont. Jamison won distinction when Lord Cornbury's regard for devotional regularity led to the prosecution, in 1707, of the Rev. Francis Makemie, a Presbyterian, for preaching without a license in a private house. Jamison, as one of the attorneys for the defense, urged the political necessity for toleration in such a colony as New York, and advanced the legal argument that the acts of Uniformity and Toleration did not apply to the colonies. Makemie was acquitted, but he had spent two months in prison and was obliged to pay costs. In 1711 Jamison was appointed chief justice of New Jersey by Gov. Robert Hunter, in whom the executive functions of New York and New Jersey were united, and in the following year he was named recorder of New York City, and was commissioned to execute the office of attorney generalof New York, some years later receiving the commission in full. In 1723 he was removed from the chief justiceship of New Jersey, that province demanding a resident chief justice. Jamison died on July 26, 1739.

David Jamison

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lawyer

Background

Jamison was born in 1660, in Scotland.

Education

Jamison received a collegiate education.

Career

While young Jamison compelled attention by association with a company of religious iconoclasts known as the "Sweet Singers, " from their manner of reciting the Psalms. This group rejected the received translations of the Bible, the Psalms in metre, the catechisms, and the Confession of Faith. Their crusade apparently embraced the entire framework of religious and civil society, and was conducted with astonishing virulence.

Under the Stuart régime the leaders were cast into the Tolbooth, Edinburgh, Jamison sharing their affliction, and, when in 1685 they were shipped to New Jersey and sold to service for their passage money, he was their companion in exile. He was bound to the Rev. Mr. Clarke, chaplain of the fort in New York City, but patrons of education purchased his time and placed him at the head of a Latin school. In a new atmosphere the young man's mind was cleared of fanaticism, and a large field of public usefulness opened before him. The contest between the friends and the foes of Jacob Leisler still disturbed the political air, and Jamison's combative nature did not permit him to remain aloof from the struggle. Six years after his arrival in America he was a deputy secretary and clerk of the council, studying law in spare hours. As an adherent of Governor Fletcher, he gained the unfavorable notice of Fletcher's successor, Governor Bellomont. Jamison won distinction when Lord Cornbury's regard for devotional regularity led to the prosecution, in 1707, of the Rev. Francis Makemie, a Presbyterian, for preaching without a license in a private house. Jamison, as one of the attorneys for the defense, urged the political necessity for toleration in such a colony as New York, and advanced the legal argument that the acts of Uniformity and Toleration did not apply to the colonies. Makemie was acquitted, but he had spent two months in prison and was obliged to pay costs.

In 1711 Jamison was appointed chief justice of New Jersey by Gov. Robert Hunter, in whom the executive functions of New York and New Jersey were united, and in the following year he was named recorder of New York City, and was commissioned to execute the office of attorney generalof New York, some years later receiving the commission in full. In 1723 he was removed from the chief justiceship of New Jersey, that province demanding a resident chief justice. Jamison died on July 26, 1739.

Achievements

For seventeen years Jamison held alternately the offices of vestryman and warden of Trinity Church. He added the assertion that it was due to his zeal and management that the Church of England had any establishment in New York.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

Governor Hunter, in a letter to the Lords of Trade, October 2, 1716, pronounced Jamison "the greatest man I ever knew; and I think of the most unblemished life and conversation of any of his rank in these parts. "

Connections

Jamison married Mary Hardenbrook in New York City, May 7, 1692, and a decade later, January 16, 1703, married Johanna Meech (or Meek). He left several descendants.

Spouse:: Mary Hardenbrook
Spouse:: Johanna Meech

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David Jamison

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