John H. Schenck (1758 - 1845)

Ancestors Descendants

Biography

Gen. John H. Schenck was one of the six children of Henry Schenck, who emigrated from Holland to America in 1720. Henry was a son of Johann I. Schenck, who lived and died in Holland. No more patriotic nor devoted American could be found during the Revolutionary struggle than Gen. John H. Schenck. At the outbreak of the war he placed in the hands of Gen. George Washington, as a Revolutionary fund his entire fortune of $12,000 or $15,000, received by inheritance, and then enlisted in the cause as a private soldier. At the close of the war he had risen to the rank of major-general. In 1796 he migrated from Newburg, N. Y., the ancestral home of his family, to a tract of land in Cherry Ridge township, Wayne county. He lived to the age of ninety-one years, and died at his residence in Canaan, Wayne county, March 5, 1845.

Gertrude, a sister of Gen. John H. Schenck, was the wife of Gen. Frederick Frelinghuysen, whose second son, Theodore, attained distinction as a lawyer, as Chancellor of the College of New Jersey, and as nominee for Vice-President with Henry Clay as President on the Whig ticket of 1844. ^[1]

The DAR lists John as having served with the rank of Sergeant for Somerset, New Jersey with Captain Ten Eyck, Colonel Frederick Frelinghuysen. His wives: Sarah Denton and Eliza _____ Roberts. Children in patriot file: Jacob who m. Sarah Davis, Gertrude who m. Joseph Ames.^[2]

Others state he was was colonel of a regiment personally raised and equipped by him, which he commanded throughout the revolutionary war. Married (first) Sarah Denton: (second) Mrs. Jane Conover (nee Schenck).

Sources

1. ↑ "Commemorative Biographical Record of Northeastern Pennsylvania: Including the Counties of Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike and Monroe, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, and Many of the Early Settled Families" page 49-40 https://ia800305.us.archive.org/3/items/commemorativebio1900jhbe/commemorativebio1900jhbe.pdf
2. ↑ Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed 10 Oct 2021), "Record of Schenck, John H", Ancestor # A100713.Meehan-411