SEDGWICK, THEODORE, was born at Hartford, in 1746, was educated at Yale college, and removing to Massachusetts, pursued the study of the law. He embarked with spirit in the cause of the popular party before the revolution, held a seat several years in the state legislature, and was a member of congress under the old confederation. He was a member of the Massachusetts convention to decide on the adoption of the federal constitution, was a representative and senator to congress, and in 1802 was appointed judge of the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts. In this office he remained till his death, in 1813.
SEWALL, SAMUEL, chief justice of Massachusetts, was born at Boston, in 1757, and, after graduating at Harvard college, entered on the profession of the law. He soon became eminent; in 1797, was elected a member of congress, and in 1800, was placed on the bench of the supreme judicial court. In 1813, he was appointed chief justice, but died suddenly in the following year. He was a lawyer of ability and learning, and highly popular.
SHERMAN, ROGER, a signer of the declaration of independence, was born at Newton, Massachusetts, in 1721, and with only a common school education, rose to distinction as a lawyer and statesman. His early life was passed in the occupation of a shoemaker. Removing to Connecticut, in 1743, he was admitted to the bar in 1754, and soon became distinguished as a counsellor. In 1761, he removed to New Haven, four years after was appointed a judge of the county court, and in 1776, advanced to the bench of the superior court. He was a delegate to the celebrated congress of 1774, and was a member of that body for the space of nineteen years. He was a member of the convention that formed the constitution of the United States. He died in 1793.
SHIPPEN, WILLIAM, an eminent physician, was born in Pennsylvania, and was graduated at Princeton college in 1754. His medical studies were completed at Edinburgh, and on his return, in 1764, he began at Philadelphia the first course of lectures on anatomy ever delivered in the country. He assisted in establishing the medical school of that city, and was appointed one of its professors. In 1777, he was appointed director general of the medical department in the army. He died in 1808.
SMITH, JOHN, one of the early settlers of Virginia, was born in Lincolnshire, in 1579. After passing through a variety of wonderful adventures, he resolved to visit North America; and having, with a number of other persons, procured a charter of South Virginia, he came over thither in 1607. Being taken prisoner by the Indians, and condemned to death, his life was saved by the daughter of the savage chief, the celebratedPocahontas. He published an account of several of his voyages to Virginia, a history of that colony, and an account of his own life. He died at London, in 1631.
SMITH, JAMES, a signer of the declaration of independence, was a native of Ireland, removed with his father to this country at an early age, and established himself in the practice of law at York, in Pennsylvania. He was a delegate from York county to the continental congress. His death took place in 1806.
STANDISH, MILES, the first captain at Plymouth, New England, was born at Lancashire, in 1584, and accompanied Mr. Robinson’s congregation to Plymouth, in 1620. His services in the wars with the Indians were highly useful, and many of his exploits were daring and extraordinary. He died in 1656.
STARK, JOHN, a general in the army of the revolution, was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire, in 1728. During the French war, he was captain of a company of rangers in the provincial service, in 1755, and was with lord Howe when that general was killed, in storming the French lines at Ticonderoga, in 1758. On receiving the report of the battle of Lexington, he was engaged at work in his saw-mill; and, fired with indignation, seized his musket, and immediately proceeded to Cambridge. He was at the battles of Bunker’s hill and of Trenton, and achieved a glorious victory at Bennington. He rose to the rank of brigadier-general, and was distinguished throughout the war for enterprise and courage. He died in 1822.
STEUBEN, FREDERICK WILLIAM AUGUSTUS, BARON DE, was a Prussian officer, aid-de-camp to Frederick the Great, and lieutenant-general in the army of that distinguished commander. He arrived in America in 1777, and immediately offered his services to the continental congress. In 1778, he was appointed inspector general, with the rank of major-general, and rendered the most efficient services in the establishment of a regular system of discipline. During the war he was exceedingly active and useful, and after the peace he retired to a farm in the vicinity of New York, where, with the assistance of books and friends, he passed his time as agreeably as a frequent want of funds would permit. The state of New York afterwards gave him a tract of sixteen thousand acres in the county of Oneida, and the general government made him a grant of two thousand five hundred dollars per annum. He died in 1795, and at his own request was wrapped in his cloak, placed in a plain coffin, and hid in the earth, without a stone to tell where he was laid.
STRONG, CALEB, governor of Massachusetts, was born at Northampton, in 1744, and graduated at Harvard college. He pursued the profession of the law, and established himself in his native town. Taking an early and active part in the revolutionary movements, he was appointed, in 1775, one of the committee of safety, and in the following year a member of the state legislature. He was a member of the convention which formed the constitution of the state, and of that which formed the constitution of the United States. Subsequently he was senator to congress, and for eleven years, at different periods, chief magistrate of Massachusetts. He died in 1820.