Colonel Charles Clinton

Alfred Webb

A Compendium of Irish Biography

1878

Clinton, Charles, Colonel and lawyer, was born in the County of Longford in 1690. In May 1729 he chartered a ship to convey his family and a number of relatives and friends to the British colonies of North America. The captain formed the design of starving them to death, probably with a view of acquiring their property; but upon payment of a large ransom he consented to land them at Cape Cod. Numbers of the passengers died from the hardships they underwent, amongst them a son and daughter of Mr. Clinton. In the spring of 1731 he formed a flourishing settlement in the County of Ulster (now Orange County), New York, where he pursued the occupation of farmer and surveyor. Before long, he became a county judge and Lieutenant-Colonel of the local militia. In 1758 he served as a Lieutenant-Colonel in DeLancy's regiment at the siege and capture of Frontenac. He died in Ulster, New York, 19th November 1773, aged about 83. His sons Alexander and Charles were physicians, James became Major-General in the American revolutionary army, and George rose to be Vice-President of the United States.

Sources

37a. Biographical Dictionary—American Biography: Francis S. Drake. Boston, 1876.

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