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: DE
Qualifying Service: Patriotic Service
Birth: 1725 / / DE Death: 04 Apr 1792 Dover / Kent / DE
Qualifying Service Description:
He was a member of the Council of Safety in 1776 and 1780.
1777, he was elected a member of the First Continental Congress
He was appointed peace clerk (1777-1792)
Served as prothonotary of Kent County (1777-1792).
He served at the state’s second Constitutional Convention until he died in 1792.
Additional References:
Delaware Archives, Military and Navel Records, Vol II, pg 748,985,1023
Delaware Archives, Rev War Records, Vol III, pg 1236,1299
Spouse: (1) XX XX; (2) Agnes Bell; Children: James; John; Stephen; George; Nathaniel; Ann; Harriet;Lucy Matilda; Mary
Members Who Share This Ancestor
None*
*This means that the NSSAR has no applications for this Patriot on file.
Instead the information provided is best effort, and from volunteers who have either researched grave sites, service records, or something similar. There is no documentation available at NSSAR HQ to order.
James Sykes was born in 1725, probably in New Castle County, Delaware. He studied law and practiced law in Dover, Delaware.
He served as a Lieutenant in the Dover Militia in 1756 and was a member of the Council of Safety in 1776 and 1780. In 1777, he was elected a member of the First Continental Congress and appointed peace clerk (1777-1792) and prothonotary of Kent County (1777-1792). He also served at the state’s second Constitutional Convention until his death in 1792.
He married Agnes Bell and had eight known children: James, Stephen, George, Nathaniel, Ann, Harriet, Lucy Matilda, and Mary. Some sources maintain that the eldest children belong to an unknown first wife. The family were members of Dover’s Christ Episcopal Church. His son James served as Governor of Delaware, and he had a great-grandson, George, who served as a Major General in the Civil War.
The Patriot died in Dover on 4 April 1792 and was buried at the Christ Episcopal Church.
Send a biographical sketch of your patriot!
Patriot biographies must be the original work of the author, and work submitted must not belong to another person or group, in observance with copyright law. Patriot biographies are to be written in complete sentences, follow the established rules of grammar, syntax and punctuation, be free of typographical errors, and follow a narrative format. The narrative should unfold in a logical manner (e.g. the narrative does not jump from time period to time period) or have repeated digressions, or tell the history of the patriot's line from the patriot ancestor to the author. The thinking here is that this is a patriot biography, not a lineage report or a kinship determination project or other report published in a genealogy journal. The biography should discuss the qualifying service (military, patriotic, civil) of the patriot ancestor, where the service was rendered, whether this was a specific state or Continental service, as well as significant events (as determined by the author) of the patriot's life. This is the entire purpose of a patriot's biography.
Additional guidelines around the Biography writeup can be found here:
Send your submission1, in a Microsoft Word compatible format, to patriotbios@sar.org for inclusion in this space 1Upon submission of a patriot biography, the patriot biography becomes the property of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and may be edited to conform to the patriot biography submission standards.