Elbridge Gerry

ELBRIDGE GERRY was born July 17, 1744 in Marblehead, Massachusetts. His father, Thomas Gerry, was a former sea captain from Newton, England, who in 1730 came to America and established himself as a shipping and import merchant. Elbridge, the third son in a family of twelve, was a slender young man with a slight stammer in his speech. He planned to become a physician, but soon after he graduated from Harvard in 1765, he joined his father and brothers in the mercantile business, and carved out a considerable fortune for himself as a merchant.

Gerry's public life began in 1773, when he sat in the general court of Massachusetts bay, as the representative of Marblehead, and from this time until his death in 1814, he was, with short interruptions, in continuous public service. In May of the following year, Mr. Gerry was re-elected to the same office. During the general court that year, Samuel Adams introduced his celebrated motion for the appointment of a standing committee of correspondence and inquiry. Though one of the youngest members, Gerry was appointed a member of this committee and he took an active and prominent part in the committee's proceedings.

Gerry was enraged by the Boston Tea Party, which he saw as a "savage mobility" of fellow colonists. He left politics for a time, however, his absence was short lived. Once the Boston Port was closed to shipping, Gerry was convinced by Samuel Adams to again aid the movement for independence. This he did admirably, supervising the relief operation. As a member of the committee of safety, he helped to direct the armed resistance against the British. He rounded up ammunition, food, clothing and troops for the army at great personal sacrifice.

Throughout his life, Gerry, though concerned to protect property interests, was anti-British in sentiment and fearful of tyranny. He shared the dangers from the British march on Lexington and Concord when during the night of April 18, 1775, he escaped a detachment of redcoats by fleeing in his nightclothes from an inn at Arlington into a cornfield. 

Gerry's fellow citizens elected him delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress. He took his seat on February 9, 1776, as a replacement for Thomas Cushing, who had been dropped as a delegate. He continued to be a member of Congress until September 1785. Gerry cast his vote for independence but was absent from Congress on August 2, the formal day of the signing of the Declaration. He did not place his signature on the document until November 19, 1776, a few months after his return. 

During his service, he was appointed to serve on many committees, whose business required great effort, and whose results involved the highest interests of the country. He assisted in arranging the plan of a general hospital, and of introducing better discipline into the army; and regulating the commissary's departments. In several instances, he was appointed, with others, to visit the army, to examine the state of the money and finances of the country, and to expedite the settlement of public accounts. In the exercise of his various official functions, no man exhibited more fidelity, or a more unwearied zeal.

He married Ann Thompson, a respectable lady who had been educated in Europe, with whom he returned to Massachusetts, they made their home in Cambridge, a few miles from Boston. Ann bore him three sons and four daughters, all of who survived him.

Retiring from Congress in 1793, Gerry was nominated in 1800 for governor and in a close election Caleb Strong defeated him. In 1810 his efforts for the same office were rewarded with success and he served for two terms. In 1812 he was nominated for the vice presidency of the United States on the ticket with Madison and elected to that office. He died suddenly November 23, 1814 in his carriage on his way to preside over the Senate. 

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