Nathaniel Peabody was an American physician and Revolutionary patriot.
Background
Nathaniel Peabody was born on March 1, 1741 in Topsfield, Essex County, Massachussets, United States. He was the son of Jacob and Susanna (Rogers) Peabody and a descendant of Francis Peabody who emigrated to New England in 1635 and later settled at Topsfield.
Education
Nathaniel Peabody was educated at home and studied medicine with his father, a popular and successful physician.
Career
At about twenty years of age, Nathaniel Peabody began practice in that part of Plaistow, New Hampshire, afterward made the town of Atkinson, where he resided most of his life. His public career began in 1771 when he was commissioned justice of the peace and of the quorum of Rockingham County by Governor Wentworth. He was from the beginning, however, a supporter of the Revolutionary movement and is reported to have been the first in the colony to resign his royal commission when the final break impended. In December 1774 he participated, with John Langdon and other prominent patriots, in the capture of the magazines at Fort William and Mary, one of the first overt acts of Revolution. For the next twenty years he was a leader in New Hampshire affairs both in the movement for independence and in the difficult task of reorganizing the government and institutions of the colony to meet the responsibilities of the new commonwealth.
In 1776 Nathaniel Peabody served his first term in the legislature, being repeatedly elected, with occasional intermissions, until his withdrawal from public affairs in 1795. His status among the New Hampshire leaders is apparent in the fact that he served on the Committee on Safety which at times exercised almost dictatorial power in local affairs. He repeatedly represented New Hampshire in conferences held to promote the Revolutionary cause and to seek relief from the economic embarrassments caused by the depreciation of the currency and the dislocation of commerce. In addition to his civil activities he was for a time adjutant-general of the militia and accompanied the New Hampshire contingent on the Rhode Island expedition of 1778.
In 1779 Nathaniel Peabody was elected delegate to the Continental Congress, serving until November 9, 1780. He was a member of the medical committee and was active in the various affairs of that body. In 1780 he served on a select committee with Philip Schuyler and John Mathews to consult with General Washington and to report on the dangerous conditions then existing. A long letter which he wrote Josiah Bartlett, from Morristown, New Jersey, on August 6, 1780, is an interesting memorial of this service and shows that he possessed both a keen mind and the ability to express his ideas. His scathing criticism of the feeble, blundering, military policy of the Revolutionary authorities is worthy of the commander-in-chief himself.
On the establishment of peace Nathaniel Peabody continued his activity in New Hampshire affairs, served in the legislature, being speaker of the House in 1793, was a member of the constitutional conventions of 1781 - 1783 and 1791 - 1792, assisted in compiling the laws of the state and adjusting them to the new restrictions of the Federal Constitution, declined an appointment to the Continental Congress in 1785, and was defeated in the first election of United States senators in 1788. In 1795 Nathaniel Peabody returned to private life. Suffering heavy property losses, he was obliged to spend his last years in constant struggles with creditors, and at the time of his death he was, technically at least, undergoing imprisonment for debt at Exeter. He died on June 27, 1823.
Achievements
Membership
Nathaniel Peabody was the co-founder of the New Hampshire Medical Society.
Personality
Nathaniel Peabody was a man of fine presence, witty and self-confident, unscrupulous at times, a skeptic in religion, extravagant and lacking in some essential qualities of leadership, but able and patriotic.
Connections
On March 1, 1763, Nathaniel Peabody married Abigail Little.