Benjamin Chew (1722 - 1810)

Born 19 Nov 1722 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Galloway) Chew — married 13 Jun 1747 (to 1755) in West River, Maryland

Husband of Elizabeth (Oswald) Chew — married 12 Sep 1757 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Descendants

Died 20 Jan 1810 at age 87 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Nick Bell [send private message]

Biography

Benjamin was a Friend (Quaker)

Benjamin Chew (November 19, 1722 – January 20, 1810) ^[1] was a fifth-generation American, a Quaker-born legal scholar, a prominent and successful Philadelphia lawyer, head of the Pennsylvania Judiciary System under both Colony and Commonwealth, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Province of Pennsylvania. Chew was well known for his precision and brevity in making legal arguments as well as his excellent memory, judgment, and knowledge of statutory law. His primary allegiance was to the supremacy of law and constitution.

Benjamin Chew was the was the only surviving son of son of Samuel Chew, a physician and first Chief Justice of Delaware, and Mary Galloway Chew (1697–1734). He was born in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, at his father's plantation of Maidstone. Benjamin Chew's great-great-grandfather, John Chew (1587–1668), a successful merchant, arrived in Jamestown in 1622 on the ship Charitie; he was granted 1,600 acres (6.5 km2) of land in Charles River (York) County, Virginia.

The young Chew took an interest in the field of law at an early age. In 1736, when he was 15 years old, he began to read law in the Philadelphia offices of the former Attorney General of Pennsylvania, Andrew Hamilton, then the speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The year before, Hamilton had won a landmark case in American jurisprudence by his eloquent pro bono defense of the publisher Peter Zenger. It established the precedent of truth as an absolute defense against charges of libel.

Chew was strongly influenced by Hamilton's ideas about a free press, and also the reading materials which his mentor provided him, especially Sir Francis Bacon's Lawtracts.[3] His understanding of English legal history, and especially the Charter of Liberties, enhanced by his later studies at London's Middle Temple, fostered Chew's enduring commitment to the civil liberties that are guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, especially the right to free speech.

After Hamilton's death in August 1741, Chew sailed to London to study law at the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, one of the four Inns of Court. He began to attend London theatre and read what friends recommended; his journal during these years shows his process of adopting aspects of English refinement expected of gentlemen, which he continued after returning to the colonies. His friend John Dickinson was already studying in London, a frequent destination for aspiring generations of young men from North America. Following his father's death, Chew returned to Pennsylvania in 1744. He began to practice law in Dover, Delaware, while supporting his siblings and stepmother.

Chew would eventually serve as recorder of Philadelphia, attorney general, recorder-general, and chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania under the colonial government. After the Revolution, he was selected as the president of the High Court of Errors and Appeals.

His 1747 marriage to Mary Galloway (1729-1755), produced four surviving children: Mary, Anna Maria, Elizabeth, and Sarah. His second marriage, in 1757, to Elizabeth Oswald (1734-1819), brought forth eight more children: Benjamin Jr., Margaret (Peggy), Juliana, Henrietta, Sophia, Maria, Harriet, and Catherine (Kitty). Chew’s children increased the social status of the family through marriages to members of the Banning, Carroll, Galloway, Howard, Nicklin, Phillips, Tilghman and Wilcocks families.

Birth

1723 ^[2]

Death

• 20 January 1810, Germantown, Pennsylvania ^[3]
• 13 January 1810 ^[2]

Burial: 20 January 1810, St Peter's Burial Ground, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ^[2]

Marriage

12 September 1757, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Oswald ^[4]

Slaves

Cliveden (Benjamin Chew House) was completed in 1767 and was home to seven generations of the Chew family. It was also where the Chews held some of the enslaved.^[5]

1. Richard Allen (1760-1831) as well as his parents and siblings.

Sources

1. ↑ "Wikipedia: Benjamin Chew"
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803–1915. Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2008, 2010. From originals housed at the Philadelphia City Archives. "Death Records." Ancestry.com. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Death Certificates Index, 1803-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011). FHL Film Number: 1862361.
3. ↑ Newspapers and Periodicals. American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. Ancestry.com. (U.S., Newspaper Extractions from the Northeast, 1704-1930 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014). This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors. Columbian Centinel, published 27 Jan 1810, Massachusetts, USA, Call Number: 485704; New York Weekly Museum, published 27 Jan 1810, New York, Call Number: 486670.
4. ↑ Pennsylvania Marriage Records. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Archives Printed Series, 1876. Series 2, Series 6. Ancestry.com. (Pennsylvania, Marriage Records, 1700-1821 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2011).
5. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliveden_(Benjamin_Chew_House)

• Chew Family Papers, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street * Philadelphia, PA 19107. Collection 2050, documents of the Maryland and Pennsylvania branches of the Chew family acquired during the 18th -20th centuries. Includes John Chew (immigrant 1622), Dr. Samuel Chew (1693-1744) expelled from the Duck Creek Friends in 1742, Chief Justice Benjamin Chew (1722-1810), Benjamin Chew II (1758-1844), son of Chew-297 and Elizabeth Oswald, and others.
• 1790 Census: "1790 United States Federal Census"
  Year: 1790; Census Place: Water Street East Side, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Series: M637; Roll: 9; Page: 28; Image: 359; Family History Library Film: 0568149
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 5058 #341578 (accessed 19 June 2022)
  Benj, Esqr Chew Esquire. (3 enslaved)
• 1810 Census: "1810 United States Federal Census"
  Year: 1810; Census Place: Cecil, Maryland; Roll: 15; Page: 243; Image: 00074; Family History Library Film: 0193668
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 7613 #81820 (accessed 19 June 2022)
  Benjamin Chew. (14 enslaved)
• Probate: "Pennsylvania, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1683-1993"
  Probate Records, 1803-1917; Index to Register's Office, 1803-1965; Author: Beaver County (Pennsylvania). Register of Wills; Probate Place: Beaver, Pennsylvania
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 8802 #1820978 (accessed 20 June 2022)
  Benjamin Chew probate.
• Benjamin Chew on Wikipedia.
• Benjamin Chew on Wikiwand.
• James Newell Arnold. Rhode Island Vital Extracts, 1636–1850. 21 volumes. Providence, R.I.: Narragansett Historical Publishing Company, 1891–1912. Digitized images from New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. Ancestry.com. (Rhode Island, Vital Extracts, 1636-1899 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014). Text: CHEW, Benjamin, Esq., at Philadelphia, aged 87 years; had filled several high positions of trust. Gazette of. Published 3 March 1810.

See also

• Illuminating Hidden Lives: Black Stories of the Mid-Atlantic Region is based on the Chew Family Papers completely digitized by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania