John Archer (1741 - 1810)

Born 5 May 1741 in Churchville, Harford, Province of Maryland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 28 Sep 1810 at age 69 in Churchville, Harford, Maryland, United States

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John Archer participated in the American Revolution. Join: 1776 Project Discuss: 1776

Biography

John Archer is Notable.

John Archer served with Harford County Militia, Maryland Militia during the American Revolution.

John Archer is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A002992.

John Archer (May 5, 1741 – September 28, 1810) was a U.S. Congressman and physician from Maryland, representing the sixth district for three terms from 1801–1807. His son, Stevenson Archer and grandson Stevenson Archer II were also Congressmen from Maryland.

John Archer was a signer of the The Bush Declaration, an image attached.

Archer was born near Churchville in the Province of Maryland, and attended the West Nottingham Academy in Cecil County, later graduating from Princeton College in 1760. He studied theology, but owing to a throat affliction, he abandoned his studies in that area and began the study of medicine. He graduated as a physician from the College of Philadelphia in 1768, receiving the first medical diploma issued on the American continent.

In 1769, Archer commenced the practice of law in Harford County. He was a member of the Revolutionary committee from 1774 to 1776, and later raised a military company during the American Revolutionary War. He was a member of the first state constitutional convention of 1776, and served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1777 to 1779. During the Revolutionary War, Archer was volunteer aide-de-camp to General Anthony Wayne at Stony Point. On June 1, 1779, Archer was made a captain and subsequently a major in the Continental Army.

Archer was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1801 until March 3, 1807. He founded, with his son Thomas Archer, the medical and chirurgical faculty of Maryland in 1799. In 1810, Archer documented a case of superfecundation, more specifically called "heteropaternal superfecundation," in which a Caucasian woman gave birth to mixed twins — one Caucasian, one Afro-Caucasian - after having had intercourse with two men of differing race within a few weeks. Archer died at his country home, Medical Hall, near Churchville, Maryland, and is interred in the Presbyterian Cemetery of Churchville.

Sources

• 1790 Census: "1790 United States Federal Census"
  Year: 1790; Census Place: Harford, Maryland; Series: M637; Roll: 3; Page: 86; Image: 62; Family History Library Film: 0568143
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 5058 #120430 (accessed 11 July 2022)
  John Archer. (7 enslaved)
• 1810 Census: "1810 United States Federal Census"
  Year: 1810; Census Place: Havre de Grace, Harford, Maryland; Roll: 14; Page: 738; Image: 00111; Family History Library Film: 0193667
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 7613 #74021 (accessed 11 July 2022)
  John Archer. (2 enslaved)
• Wikipedia article on John Archer
• Maryland Biographical Archives