Belknap, Jeremy

views updated

Belknap, Jeremy

BELKNAP, JEREMY. (1744–1798). Congregational clergyman and historian. Author of the three-volume History of New Hampshire, which was published from 1784 through 1792. Jeremy Belknap had the advantage of firsthand knowledge of many events and personalities of the Revolution through his ministry in Dover, New Hampshire, from 1767 to 1786. He wrote that the Boston Port Bill gave sufficient cause for military action against the British. The Committee of Safety in 1775 appointed him military chaplain, but he declined owing to poor health. He later appealed to former military leaders John Sullivan and Josiah Bartlett for financial aid to publish his historical volumes. His work shows thorough research and considerable literary skill. Belknap had a leading part in establishment of the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1791.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mevers, Frank. "Jeremy Belknap." In Dictionary of Literary Biography: American Historians, 1607–1865. Edited by Clyde N. Wilson. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1984.

Tucker, Louis Leonard. Clio's Consort: Jeremy Belknap and the Founding of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1990.

                              revised by Frank C. Mevers