An elogy on Francis Barber, esq., lieutenant-colonel commandant of the Second New Jersey regiment
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Ebenezer Elmer was an American physician from Bridgeton, New Jersey. He represented New Jersey in the U. S. Congress from the Democratic-Republican Party from 1801 to 1807.
Background
Ebenezer Elmer, younger brother of Jonathan and father of Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus Elmer, was the fifth son of Daniel and Abigail (Lawrence) Elmer, of Cedarville, Cumberland County, New Jersey. His Puritan ancestor, Edward Elmer, came to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1632, with Rev. Thomas Hooker’s party, and moved in 1636 to Hartford, Connecticut. There his grandson was born, the Rev. Daniel Elmer, who with his son Daniel came to New Jersey in 1727.
Education
After his father’s death, Ebenezer helped his mother on the farm, worked aboard shallops in the river trade, had a quarter’s schooling in arithmetic under the celebrated teacher, Norbury, and studied seamanship with John Westcott at “Bridge-Town. ”
Career
When he was twenty-one his brother Jonathan began tutoring him in medicine. In two years he had gone through “all the branches usually taught at any medical school” (Elmer, post, p. 49). Meanwhile he gave medical aid during the smallpox and dysentery epidemics of 1775. On Febuary 8, 1776, as ensign under Captan Joseph Bloomfield, 3rd New Jersey Regiment, he helped recruit the company, and went with the expedition to salvage the attack on Canada. The diary which he kept from March 22, 1776, to May 25, 1777, and thereafter at intervals through the Revolution, gives evidence of his endurance, devotion to duty, shrewd observation, and sincere religious feeling. He was promoted lieutenant April 9, 1776; surgeon’s mate April 1, 1777; and surgeon of the 2nd New Jersey Regiment July 5, 1778, acting as such to November 3, 1783. He served at Chadd’s Ford, Germantown, Valley Forge, Monmouth, on Sullivan’s Indian expedition, at Morristown, Peekskill, and Yorktown. He was a member of the New Jersey Assembly during the years of 1789-91, 1793-95, 1817 and 1819, serving as speaker in 1791, 1795, and 1817. In the interval between his earlier and later services he sat in the House of Representatives, from 1801 to 1807, as a Jefferson man. His Address to the Citizens of New Jersey (1807) is an interesting summary of current politics. He was a member and vice-president of the state Council in 1807; collector of the port at Bridgeton 1808-17, 1822-32; and in 1814 commanded the brigade stationed at Billingsport to defend the Philadelphia district. He lost his sight about 1840, and died of old age some three years later.
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Religion
Though he did not join the Presbyterian Church until 1825, he founded the first local Sunday-school and was for many years president of the Bible society.
Views
Quotations:
In two years he had gone through “all the branches usually taught at any medical school” (Elmer, post, p. 49).
Membership
He was one of the founders of the Society of the Cincinnati, and for many years the president of the New Jersey organization.
He was a member of the New Jersey Assembly during the years of 1789-91, 1793-95, 1817 and 1819, serving as speaker in 1791, 1795, and 1817. In the interval between his earlier and later services he sat in the House of Representatives, from 1801 to 1807, as a Jefferson man.
He was a member and vice-president of the state Council in 1807.
He as for many years president of the Bible society.
Connections
In 1784 he married Hannah Seeley, a younger sister of his brother Jonathan’s wife, and settled down to the practise of medicine at Bridgeton.