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HENRY, William, a Delegate from Pennsylvania; born near Downington, Chester County,
Pa., May 19, 1729; attended the common schools; worked as a gunsmith; justice
of the court of common pleas of Lancaster County in 1770, 1773, and 1777; canal
commissioner of Pennsylvania in 1771; member of the State assembly in 1776;
assistant commissary general with the rank of colonel for the district of
Lancaster, Pa., during the Revolutionary War; member of the council of safety
1777; treasurer of Lancaster County 1777-1785; president judge of the court of
common pleas in 1780; inventor of the screw auger and the first to suggest
steam as a motive power; Member of the Continental Congress 1784-1785; died in
Lancaster, Pa., December 15, 1786; interment in the Moravian Cemetery;
reinterment in Greenwood Cemetery.
BibliographyJordan, Francis. The Life of William Henry, of Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, 1729-1786, Patriot, Military Officer, Inventor of the Steamboat;
A Contribution to Revolutionary History. Lancaster, PA.: Press of the
New Era Printing Company, 1910.
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