The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: NJ
Qualifying Service: Brigadier General
Birth: 01 May 1737 Elizabethtown / Essex / NJ Death: 22 Oct 1807 Elizabethtown / Essex / NJ
Qualifying Service Description:
One of four "muster masters" in Essex County, NJ in 1775
Commissioned colonel NJ Continental Line on 10 Jan 1776. Led 77 volunteers in the capture of British supply ship "Blue Mountain Valley" on 22 Jan 1776. Service at Boundbrook, Brandywine, Germantown, and Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-1778. Discharged 03 Nov 1783
Brigadier general of NJ Militia
Additional References:
Appletons American Cyclopedia of American Biography, Volume 2, 1900
American Monthly Mag, Volume 17, Dec 1900, pg 118
Murrays Notes
Hatfields History of Elizabeth
Washington and His Generals
Lossings Field Book of the Revolution
Stryker, "NJ Men in the Revolution," pg 11, 20, 23, 41, 63
SAR RC 8805, 9083, 7031
Spouse: Hannah Rolph/Rolfe Children: Jonathan; John; Elias Boudinot; Susan; Elias Bayley; Sarah;
Author: Mark Rowland
Elias Dayton: Patriot # P-145469 Mark Rowland, Member # 175723 San Diego Chapter CASSAR
Elias Dayton (May 1, 1737 – October 22, 1807) led a New Jersey regiment during the American Revolutionary War and became a brigadier general. After the war, he became the Mayor of Elizabethtown, New Jersey and was the president of the New Jersey Society of the Cincinnati.
Dayton was born in Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey. During the French and Indian War, he served first as a lieutenant and then as a captain in the New Jersey militia. During Pontiac's War, in 1760, he served as a commander in the Detroit region. After the wars, he returned to Elizabethtown, New Jersey, where he became a mechanic, merchant and colonial official.
In 1774, the First Continental Congress called on the colonies to resist Parliament's recent tax policy by joining in an association to boycott goods imported from Britain. Dayton served on Elizabethtown's enforcement committee and allied himself with the local revolutionary movement. When the state turned against Royal Governor William Franklin in 1775, the New Jersey's Provincial Congress chose Dayton to lead the 3rd New Jersey Regiment.
In the spring of 1776 he and his troops (including his young son Jonathan) were sent to support an invasion of Canada, but were diverted to New York's Mohawk Valley where Colonel Dayton was put in charge of constructing fortifications to protect the colonists from Loyalist and Indian insurrections. These fortifications included Fort Dayton in what is now Herkimer, New York.
In 1777, Dayton set up a spy network for George Washington on Staten Island to work in parallel with an established American intelligence agent, John Mersereau.
In December 1778, New Jersey named him as a delegate to the Continental Congress, but he remained with the army and did not attend the Congress. He was promoted to brigadier general in the Continental Army in 1783, and later to major general of militia.
He served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1791–1792 and 1794–1796, and was mayor of Elizabethtown from 1796-1805.
Elias Dayton married Hannah Rolfe in 1757 and together had nine children including Hannah (b. 1858), Jonathan (1760-1824), Mary (1763-1849), Elias Bailey (b. 1764-1846), William (b. 1764), John (1764-1804), Aaron (b. 1766), Horatio (b. 1770), and Sarah (1771-1820).
Son, Jonathan Dayton (October 16, 1760 – October 9, 1824) was an American politician from the U.S. state of New Jersey. He was the youngest person to sign the United States Constitution and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, serving as the fourth Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and later the U.S. Senate. Jonathan Dayton was arrested in 1807 for treason in connection with Aaron Burr's conspiracy, he was never put on trial, but his national political career never recovered.
Elias Dayton died at age 70 and was interred at the First Presbyterian Churchyard in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
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Additional Information:
Colonel of the Elizabethtown Volunteers, NJ Militia who captured the Blue Mountain Valley
Colonel of 3rd NJ Regiment of regulars who defended Ticonderoga
He was put in command of the NJ Brigade 20 Jul 1780 and took part in Battles of Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and Yorktown