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Senate Years of Service: 1798-1799 Party: Federalist
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DAVENPORT, Franklin, (nephew of Benjamin Franklin),
a Senator and a Representative from New Jersey; born in Philadelphia, Pa., in
September 1755; received an academic education; studied law in Burlington, N.J.; admitted to the
bar in 1776 and commenced practice in Gloucester City, N.J.; clerk of Gloucester County Court in
1776; during the Revolutionary War enlisted as a private in the New Jersey Militia, later becoming
brigade major, brigade quartermaster, and in 1778 assistant quartermaster for Gloucester County;
appointed colonel in the New Jersey Militia in 1779 and subsequently major general, which rank he
held until his death; prosecutor of pleas in 1777; moved to Woodbury, N.J., in 1781 and continued
the practice of law; appointed first surrogate of Gloucester County in 1785; member, State general
assembly 1786-1789; colonel in the New Jersey Line during the Whiskey Insurrection of 1794;
appointed brigadier general of Gloucester County Militia in 1796; appointed to the United States
Senate as a Federalist to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Rutherfurd, and served from
December 5, 1798, to March 3, 1799, when a successor was elected and qualified; elected to the
Sixth Congress (March 4, 1799-March 3, 1801); was not a candidate for renomination in 1800;
resumed the practice of law; appointed master in chancery in 1826; died in Woodbury, Gloucester
County, N.J., July 27, 1832; interment in Presbyterian Cemetery, North Woodbury, N.J.
BibliographyStewart, Frank J. Gloucester Countys Most
Famous Citizen: General Franklin Davenport, 1755-1832. Woodbury, NJ: Gloucester
County Democrat Print, 1921.
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