Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/174

 McKEAN

McKEAN

previous to the year 1752 ; was a representative from Newcastle county to the general assembly, 1762-69; resided in Philadelphia, 1763-69; and was one of the trustees of the loan office for New- castle county, 1764-76. He was a delegate to the stamp act congress which met in New York in 1765, where he influenced the according of one vote to each state ; was a member of the committee which drew the memorial to the lords and commons ; with Philip Livingston and Jolin Rutledge, revised the minutes of the proceedings and had an extraordinary debate with President Ruggles, when the latter refused officially to sign the memorial of rights and grievances. He was appointed sole notary and tabellion public for the lower counties on the Delaware, in July, 1765, and later in the year was commissioned justice of the peace and of the court of quarter sessions for the county of Newcastle, in which capacity he issued the order for all officers of tlie court to continue using unstamped paper. In 1769 he was appointed by the assembly as its agent to proceed to New York and make copies of all papers relating to titles of real estate held in Delaware. He was appointed by the crown, commissioner of customs, and collector of the port of Newcastle in 1771 ; was a delegate to the first Continental congress, and was the only member of the national council to hold office continuously from the opening to the closing act. He conducted the negotiations of the secret com- mittee which procured arms and munition from abroad, and when the preliminary vote was taken, July 2, 1776, and Delaware declared against the Declaration of Independence, as the state had three representatives and one was absent, Mc- Kean sent a messenger at his own expense to summon the absent member thus carrying the state in its favor. He was chairman of the con- vention of deputies held in Carpenter's Hall, Phil- adelphia, Pa., in June, 1776; and chairman of the committee of safety of Pennsylvania and of the committee of inspection for the city of PJiil- adelphia. He was colonel of a regiment of asso- ciated militia and proceeded to Perth Amboy, N.J., to support Washington, where he remained until the flying camp was recruited wlien he re- turned home, resumed his seat in congress, and affixed his name to the parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence which had been signed, Aug. 2, 1776, during his absence in camp. He was a member of the convention that framed the constitution of the state of Delaware, adopted Sept. 20, 1776, and drew up the document. He was chief justice of Pennsylvania. 1776-98, and was elected president of the state of Delaware in 1776, thus holding public offices in two states at the same time. He resigned his seat in congress, Dec. 25, 1780, on account of his inability to per-

form so many duties satisfactorily, but his resig- nation was not accepted and he continued to represent his state and on July 10, 1781, he was elected president of congress, which office he re- signed, Nov. 1, 1781. He was a member of the Pennsylvania convention of Dec. 12, 1787, that ratified the constitution of the United States, was elected governor of the state of Delaware in 1799, and served till 1808, when he retired from public life. He was twice married, first in July, 1762, to Mary, daughter of Joseph Borden of Bordentown, N.J., who died in February, 1-773, and secondly on Sept. 3, 1774, to Sarah Armitage of Newcastle, Del. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by the College of New Jersey in 1781, by Dartmouth in 1782, and by the University of Pennsylvania, in 1785. He is the joint author with James Wilson of : Com- mentaries on the Constitution (1790). He died in Philadelphia, Pa., June 24, 1817.

McKEAN, Thomas Jefferson, soldier, was born in Burlington, Pa., Aug. 21, 1810. He was graduated from the U.S. Military academy and brevetted 2d lieutenant, 4th infantry, July 1, 1831. He served in garrison in Louisiana, Missis- sippi and Missouri, 1831-34; was promoted 2d lieutenant, Sept. 15, 1833, and resigned. March 31, 1834. He engaged in civil engineering, 1834- 37 ; served in the Florida war, 1837-38, as adju- tant of the 1st Pennsylvania volunteers ; removed to Iowa Territory, where he was a delegate to the constitutional convention in 1846, and at the outbreak of the Mexican war he organized and drilled a company of volunteers, with which he enlisted as a private in 1847, and was sergeant- major in the 15th infantry, 1847-48. He was en- gaged in the battle of Contreras ; was wounded at Churubusco ; served at Molino del Rey ; at the storming of Chapultepec, and in the capture of Mexico. He declined the brevet of 2d lieutenant of the 1st dragoons, June 28, 1848, and was chief engineer of the Dubuque and Keokuk railroad, 1848-51 ; U.S. deputy surveyor and general assist- ant to the surveyor-general of Wisconsin, 1851- 55 ; commissioner to locate the seat of government of Iowa, in 1855 ; and sheriff of Linn county, Iowa, in 1859, where he engaged in farming, 1848-61. He was appointed additional pay- master of U.S. volunteers, June 1, 1861 ; was promoted brigadier-general of U.S. volunteers, Nov. 21, 1861 ; commanded Jefferson City and the central district of Missouri, December. 1861, to March, 1862, and served in the Mississippi cam- paign, April to July, 1862. He commanded Ben- ton barracks at St. Louis, Mo., July to Septem- ber, 1862 ; Corinth, Miss., September to October, 1862, and was engaged in the battle of Corinth, Oct. 3-4, 1862, where he commanded the 6th divi- sion. Army of West Tennessee. He commanded