“Enlightening Rods” at a Glance
A rundown of temporal attributes and historical peers shared by many Portsteaders
As part of my ongoing “Jigsaw Gens” series, I profile the various American generations (and “microgenerations”) identified by historians.
In This Installment
Featured Generation: “Enlightening Rods” (aka Portsteaders, Triennials, Almanacks, Glass Harmonicas, Fractured Serpents)
Who they are: The generation who were senior citizens during the fourth French and Indian War and the twilight of the American Revolution, guiding the rupture of colonial Loyalist/Patriot splits
When they were born: Approximately between 1696–1707
Key Members
Enforcers: John “the American” Penn of Philadelphia, Andrew Oliver, John Robinson Jr., Robert Hunter Morris, Tanacharison, John Dandridge, Benning Wentworth, Joseph Wragg, Frances Fauquier, Teedyuscung, James De Lancey, Seth Pomeroy, James Innes, Benedict Leonard Calvert, Scarouady, Charles Carter (of Cleve), Johannes Schuyler Jr., Thomas Griffits, Cornelis Cuyler, John Fleming of Cumberland County, Burgess Thomas West of West Point, Jacob Coenraedt Ten Eyck
Debaters: John Peter Zenger, King Hagler, Jonathan Edwards, Sarah Updike Goddard, Jonas Green, Kanuksusy, Samuel Kneeland, John “Cato” Martin, Henry Darnall III, William Parks, Charles Chaunce, Bartholomew Green Jr., Mary Ball Washington, James Franklin, Elizabeth Timothy, William Hunter, Thomas Day, Benjamin Towne, Louis Timothee
Scholars: Thomas Godfrey, Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island, John Bartram, Eleanor Darnall Caroll, Martha Daniell Logan, Conrad Weiser, Joshua Fry, Christopher Gist, George H. Steuart, Isaac Greenwood, Richard Peters of Philadelphia, James Ralph, Ebenezer Prime, James Oglethorpe, General John Forbes, Thomas Clap, Hugh Meredith, Bemino, Judge William Smith of New York City, Jane Bolling Randolph, Mather Byles, Hannah Harrison Ludwell Lee, John Mercer of Stafford County
Creators: Benjamin Franklin, Robert Feke, William Allen of Philadelphia, Richard Taliaferro, Isaac Norris II of Fairhill, Peter Faneuil, Susanna Wright, Adrian Bancker, Joshua Fisher, William Beverley, Thomas Cresap, William Walton, Joseph Wanton, Charles Apthorp, Thomas Hancock, Pastor John Adams of Cambridge, William Dawson of Williamsburg, Joseph Green of Boston, Stephen Deblois, Joseph Badger, Nero Benson, John Salter, David French, Joseph Wharton, Richard Lewis, James Sterling, Joseph Badger, Thomas Mathew of Stafford County
Cusp Cohorts
Preceding Microgeneration: “Bottled Beacons” (1691–1695)
Prominent “Bottled Beacons”: Conrad Beissel, Robert Dinwiddie, Samuel Johnson of Stratford, Edward Braddock, Mercy Lewis, Peter Pelham, Theodorus Frelinghuysen, Nicholas Orontony, Elisha Williams, Christoph Sauer, Mary Alexander, Hendrick Theyanoguin, Lord Thomas Fairfax (6th of Cameron), William Shirley, Richard Randolph, William Pitkin, Benjamin Harrison IV, Captain Henry Lee I, Samuel Chew, Augustine Washington, Charles Clinton, Attorney General James Alexander, William Fairfax, Custaloga, John Clayton, Thomas Cushing II, John Randolph of Williamsburg, Johannes Hansen, Andrew Johnston of Perth Amboy, Colonial Secretary John Carter of Williamsburg, Johannes de Peyster III, Burgess William Cole of Charles City County, Dudley Digges Jr. of Goochland County, Councilor Cole Digges of Yorktown
Subsequent Microgeneration: “Primordial Founders” (1708–1712)
Prominent “Primordial Founders”: Richard Bland, Martha Wadsworth Brewster, Jupiter Hammon, Benjamin Kent, John Wollaston, John Hart, Nathaniel Ames I, Elizabeth Scott, Jonathan Trumbull Sr., William Hallam, Theodorick Bland of Cawsons, Jonathan Carver, Pisquetommen, William Tuckey, Jane Turell, Christian Frederick Post, Governor Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts, John Harris, Richard Gridley, Frances Jones Dandridge, Samuel Rhoads, Pisquetomen, Eleazar Wheelock, Robert “The Judge” Livingston of Clermont, Silvester Gardiner, Peter Van Brugh Livingston, Timothy Ruggles, Daniel Parke Custis, Stephen Crane, Henry Harrison, John Cruger Jr., Andrew Sprowle, Jonathan Bryan, Lord Robert Livingston of Albany, Sir Francis Bernard (1st Baronet), John Seccomb, David Wooster, Moluntha, Peter Jefferson, Andrew Montour, Ostenaco, John Chiswell, Landon Carter, Johannes Van Rensselaer
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