Elias Dayton

Brigadier General Elias Dayton ( Ellen Sharples , around 1809)

Elias Dayton (born May 1, 1737 in Elizabethtown , Province of New Jersey , † October 22, 1807 ibid) was an American general and father of the politician Jonathan Dayton .

Life

During the French and Indian War, he served first as a lieutenant and later as a captain for the New Jersey army. During the Pontiac uprising in 1760 he was in command of the Detroit area . After the wars, he went back to Elizabethtown , New Jersey, and became a colonial administrator and trader. In 1774, the First Continental Congress asked the colonies to oppose Parliament's new tax policy by imposing a one-year export and import ban on Great Britain . Dayton served on the Elizabethtown Committee and joined the local revolutionary movement. When the tide turned against Royal Governor William Franklin in 1775 , New Jersey's Provincial Congress decided to appoint Elias Dayton as leader of the Third New Jersey Regiment. In the spring of 1776 he and his troops (including his son Jonathan ) were sent to support an invasion of Canada, but were ultimately sent to New York to protect the Mohawk Valley there from Indian invaders. Dayton was responsible for constructing the reinforcements. These fortifications included Fort Dayton in what is now Herkimer , New York . In December 1778 he was elected to the Continental Congress, but renounced his mandate in May 1779.

Dayton returned to Elizabethtown after retiring from the Army. He was a member of the New Jersey General Assembly from 1791 to 1792 and 1794 to 1796, and served as Mayor of Elizabethtown from 1796 to 1805. He died in his hometown at the age of 70 and was buried in the first Presbyterian cemetery in Elizabethtown.

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personal data
SURNAME	Dayton, Elias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American general
DATE OF BIRTH	May 1, 1737
PLACE OF BIRTH	Elizabethtown , New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH	October 22, 1807
Place of death	Elizabethtown , New Jersey