“Septennials” at a Glance
A rundown of temporal attributes and historical peers shared by many Vandalians
As part of my ongoing “Jigsaw Gens” series, I profile the various American generations (and “microgenerations”) identified by historians.
In This Installment…
Featured Generation: “Septennials” (aka Vandalians, Early Planters, The Awokened, Pre-Associators, Devonshire Devils)
Who they are: The generation who were senior citizens during the Revolutionary War, driving the transition from parliamentary to democratic governments
When they were born: Approximately between 1713–1724
Key Members
Enforcers: Enforcers: Peter Etter, Antonio María de Bucareli, Cornelius Harnett, Esek Hopkins, John Morton, Henry Tucker of The Grove, Ephraim Williams, Thomas Gage, Junípero Serra, Israel “Old Put” Putnam, Nicholas Cooke, Gaspar de Portolá, Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur comte de Rochambeau, Lachlan McIntosh, William Trent, John Burgoyne, John Maxwell Nesbitt, Benjamin Tasker Jr., William Clingan, Henry Bouquet, Pierre Van Cortlandt Sr., José de Gálvez, 1st Marquess of Sonora, Ebenezer Richardson, Jeffery Amherst (1st Baron Amherst), John Dagworthy
Debaters: James Otis Jr., Edmund Pendleton, John Woolman, Abraham Yates Jr., Roger Sherman, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Benjamin Chew, Daniel Fowle, Lewis Morris, George Whitefield, John Joachim Zubly, William Livingston, Thomas Gardner, David Hall, Abraham Clark, Peyton Randolph, Christopher Gadsden, Benjamin Harrison V, Attakullakulla, Thomas Cushing, Oliver De Lancey, Israel Pemberton Jr., James Davenport, William Strahan, Frederick Philipse III, Jonathan Mayhew, Simon Boerum, Jedediah Foster, Charles Humphreys, James Warren
Scholars: William Vernon, Meshech Weare, Jane Colden, David Brainerd, Samson Occom, John McKinly, Lyman Hall, Philip Livingston, Governor John Collins of Rhode Island, Matthew Tilghman, Samuel Langdon, Christopher Sower, James Smith of Pennsylvania, Thomas Lewis of Lynwood, John Winthrop of Cambridge, Matthew Thornton, William Bradford, John Rogers of Upper Marlboro, Eliphalet Dyer, Henry Wisner, John Witherspoon, Caesar Rodney, John Wayles, Robert Bell, John Watts Sr., Hugh Gaine, Samuel Ward of Rhode Island, John Fell, James Bowdoin, William Walker
Creators: Francis Lewis, Eliza Lucas, James Rivington, Lawrence Washington of Mount Vernon, Charles Woodmason, Henry Laurens, George Taylor of Easton, John Alsop, David Douglass, Sarah Hallam Douglass, Jeremiah Theus, Esther Hayden, John Tayloe II, Samuel Blodgett, Henry Middleton, Anne Catherine Hoof Green, Peter Timothy, Samuel Davies, Benjamin Smith, James Davis of New Bern, Christopher Lowndes, William Ancrum, Oswald Eve, David Johnston, Lewis Hallam Sr., John Gualdo, Norborne Berkeley (4th Baron Botetourt), John Holt, Colonel William Crawford of Upper Sandusky, Fielding Lewis, Jeremiah Dencke, Patience Wright, John Peck, James Parker
Cusp Cohorts
Preceding 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
Subsequent Microgeneration: “Aucto-Septennials” (1725–1729)
Prominent “Aucto-Septennials”: Oliver Wolcott Sr., Mercy Otis Warren, Joseph Doan Sr., William Ellery, Hannah Griffitts, William Prescott, Josiah Bartlett, George Mason, Samuel Loudon, Charles Thomson, Governor John Penn of Lansdowne, George Wythe, Daniel Roberdeau, William Henry, Artemas Ward, Rufus Hopkins, William Samuel Johnson, Robert Callendar, Martha Washington, John Stark, Richard Caswell, Thomas Barclay, Neolin, George Leonard, Matthew Locke, Nicholas Brown Sr., Johann Rall, Ann Timothy, Horatio Gates, William Goforth Sr., Bridget Richardson Fletcher, James Craik, Nicholas Hasselbach, Sir William Howe the 5th Viscount, James Armstrong of Georgia, William Bradford, John Hesselius, Phillips Cosby, Robert Rutherford, Samuel Seabury, Nathaniel Folsom, Josiah Hornblower, Alexander Fraser, John Whitehill, Edward Shippen IV, Robert Rogers, Colonel John Durkee, Henry William Stiegel, James Burd, William “Lord Stirling” Alexander, Michael Hillegas, Jean de Neufville, Reverend William Smith of Philadelphia, Daniel Sargent Sr., Cortlandt Skinner, John De Hart, Mark Anthony DeWolf, Congressman William Smith of Baltimore, Jonathan Lumbert, William Byrd III, John Greenwood of Boston, Hugh Mercer, Colonel John Parker of Lexington
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