Dr. John Anderson Scudder

1759 - 1836  (77 years)

• Name	John Anderson Scudder
  Prefix	Dr.
  Christening	1759	Tennent, Monmouth, New Jersey   [1]
  Birth	22 Mar 1759	Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey   [2]
  Gender	Male
  Death	6 Nov 1836	Washington, Davies, Indiana   [3]
  Burial	Washington, Davies, Indiana
  Person ID	I38	Scudder
  Last Modified	27 Mar 2015

  
  

  Father	Colonel Nathaniel Scudder,   b. 10 May 1733, Huntington, Suffolk, New York d. 15 Oct 1781, Shrewsbury, Monmouth, New Jersey (Age 48 years)
  Mother	Isabella Anderson,   b. 6 Jul 1737, Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey d. 24 Dec 1782, Tennent, Monmouth, New Jersey (Age 45 years)
  Marriage	23 Mar 1757
  Family ID	F29	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Elizabeth Wyckoff Forman,   b. 23 Dec 1771, Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey d. 11 Apr 1848, Washington, Davies, Indiana (Age 76 years)
  Marriage	10 Feb 1788	Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey   [4]
  Children	1. Dr. Charles Scudder,   b. 29 May 1792, Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey d. 14 Dec 1849, St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri (Age 57 years)   2. Nathaniel Scudder,   b. 24 Jun 1794, Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey d. 19 Feb 1797 (Age 2 years)   3. Nancy Scudder,   b. 15 Sep 1795, Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey d. 20 Mar 1807 (Age 11 years)   4. Emma Scudder,   b. 21 Mar 1797, Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey d. 29 Aug 1840, Mason county, Kentucky (Age 43 years)   5. William Forman Scudder,   b. 19 May 1798, Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey d. 2 Oct 1829 (Age 31 years)   6. Dr. Kenneth Anderson Scudder,   b. 29 Dec 1799, Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey d. 6 Mar 1829, Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana (Age 29 years)   7. Nathaniel Scudder,   b. 17 Aug 1801, Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey d. 13 Sep 1812, Mason county, Kentucky (Age 11 years)   8. Jacob Forman Scudder,   b. 24 Sep 1802, Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey d. 31 May 1844, Veal, Daviess, Indiana (Age 41 years)   9. Eleanor Forman Scudder,   b. 5 Jan 1804, Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey d. 20 Nov 1880 (Age 76 years)   10. Scudder,   b. 3 Nov 1805, Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey d. 5 Nov 1805, Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey (Age 0 years)   11. Fenwick L. Scudder,   b. 14 Oct 1807, Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey d. 16 Sep 1841 (Age 33 years)   12. Henry Wikoff Scudder,   b. 18 May 1809, Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey d. 20 Feb 1884 (Age 74 years)   13. John Scudder,   b. 20 May 1812, Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey d. 2 Aug 1899, Cynthiana, Posey, Indiana (Age 87 years)
  Family ID	F6	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	3 Mar 2024

  
  

• Notes

  In 1772, John entered Princeton College. On June 10th of that year, he joined the Cliosophic Society, one of the oldest college literary and debating clubs in America. The Cliosophic Society was organized on 7 June 1770, probably at the urging of William Paterson, later governor of New Jersey, who while a student at Princeton College had been associated with an earlier short-lived organization, the Well Meaning Club. John's name as a member of the Cliosophic Society was "Seneca." His father, Nathaniel, had been admitted as an alumnus with the pseudonym of "Sydenham" a few months earlier. John graduated from Princeton in 1775. He then began the study of medicine, possibly with his father. This medical training combined with the revolutionary rhetoric gained from Nathaniel led to John volunteering his services as a surgeons mate in December 1776. At this time, two or three weeks before the Battle of Trenton, he left his home and travelled to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he became an assistant to a Dr. Band of Boston, in that county's militia. John spent six or eight weeks working in Pennsylvania in a hospital. Putting his medical skills to use, he cared for American soldiers wounded at the battle in Trenton. Becoming ill, he was discharged by Dr. Lewis Howell, a surgeon of the 2nd Batalion, New Jersey line. In May 1781, John signed aboard the ship “Congress” in Philadelphia with Captain George Geddes. The “Congress” was a privateer of twenty-four guns and two hundred, fifteen men. Several of the smaller British cruisers had been sending parties ashore to plunder estates along the southern shores, and one of them, the sloop of war “Savage,” had even raided George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon. Later the “Savage” shifted to the coast of Georgia in quest of loot and was unlucky enough to fall athwart Captain Geddes in the “Congress, “ off the coast of Charleston. The privateer was the more formidable ship and faster on the wind, forcing Captain Sterling of the “Savage” to accept the challenge. The day was calm and the sea was smooth. Disabled aloft very early in the fight, Captain Geddes was unable to choose his position, for which reason they literally battled hand-to-hand, hulls grinding against each other, the gunners scorched by the flashes of the cannon in the ports of the opposing ship, with scarcely room to ply the rammers, and the sailors throwing missiles from the decks, hand grenades, cold shot, scraps of iron, and belaying-pins. As the vessels lay interlocked, the “Savage” was partly dismasted and Captain Geddes, leaping upon the forecastle head, told the boarders to follow him. Before they could swing their cutlasses and dash over the hammock-nettings, the British boatswain waved his cap and yelled that the “Savage” had surrendered. Eight British seamen were killed, and twenty-four wounded. The American loss was about the same. A prize crew took the ship back to Philadelphia. Captain Geddes, however, was unable to keep his prize because later a British frigate swooped down and recaptured the “Savage” and took it into Charleston. John signed off the “Congress” following the engagement and in September 1781, returned home. At the conclusion of the war, John returned to Monmouth county and established a medical practice. On 1 November 1785, he and Robert R. Henry, a former classmate at Princeton, were examined and admitted to the New Jersey Medical Society. He served as Secretary of the society in 1788, and later became its President. John was married to Elizabeth Wyckoff Forman, the daughter of Ezekiel Forman and Catherine Wyckoff, and cousin to General David Forman, his father's commander during the Revolutionary War, on 7 February 1788, in Monmouth county, New Jersey, by the Reverend John Woodhull. The marriage may have taken place at the Old Tennent Church in Freehold, as John was a trustee. He owned one of the most expensive pews in the building, and all of his children were baptised there. John served from 1801 to 1807 in the New Jersey General Assembly as a Jeffersonian Republican (this later became the Democratic Party, continuing to the present). In 1809, he was elected to the Legislative Council. It was while a member of the Council that John cast the deciding vote against a bill to impose a tax on bank stocks. As his party had sponsored this bill, and he had supported it previously, he was accused by James J. Wilson, leader of the New Jersey Jeffersonian Republicans, of having taken a Federalist bribe. Because of Wilson's charges and the publicity of the attacks, John did not return to the Legislative Council in 1810. Nevertheless, on 31 October 1810, he became a Democratic member of the United States Congress, completing in 1811 the unexpired term of James Cox. While in Congress, John voted regularly with the Democrats. He unsuccessfully voted to block an investigation of James Wilkinson's role in the conspiracy of Aaron Burr. And, in March 1811, he served on a committee to study the building of a road from the Indiana Territory to Detroit. After he left Congress, John resided in Monmouth county until April 1815. In that month, at the age of 56, he and his family emigrated to Mason county, Kentucky. He remained there four years, possibly practicing medicine with his son, Charles. John's work in Congress with the road committee may have led to an interest in the Indiana Territory. In April 1819, he moved to Washington, Daviess county, Indiana, again working as a doctor. According to a later account provided by one of his sons, this new location was a wilderness. The Scudders lived in the Veal Township and had one of the only houses in the area with glass windows. John died in Washington, Daviess county, Indiana, on 6 November1836. His wife, Elizabeth, died there in 1848. Both were buried originally in the Old City Cemetery, Washington, but the bodies subsequently were moved to another cemetery. In John's will, dated 23 March 1836 and proved 23 November 1836, John named his children. He left his daughter Eleanor $500 to be paid one year after his death. The other children would have equal parts of his property. He stated that his wife Elizabeth would have the use of all of his property as long as she remained his widow.

  
  

• Sources

  [S557] International Genealogical Index (R), Batch #: C505891, Sheet #: 00, Source Call #: 974.946 T1 K2S, Printout Call #: 1001478, Dat. [S12] Family Bible Record of Scudder and Wikoff Families, New Testament. [S73] Deposition of Elizabeth Scudder, 4 November 1839. [S201] Letter, John Frederick Scudder to Christopher Scudder.