Biography
A Delegate, Representative, and a Senator from New Hampshire; born in Waltham, Middlesex County, Mass., May 14, 1732; attended Waltham schools, and graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1752; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1756 and commenced practice in Waltham, Mass.; moved to Portsmouth, N.H., in 1758 and later to Londonderry; member, State general assembly 1768-1769; judge-advocate in the Admiralty court and attorney general 1769-1774; moved to Holderness in 1775; State attorney for three years; Member of the Continental Congress 1780-1782 and 1785-1786; chief justice of the State supreme court 1782-1789; member of the State constitutional convention in 1788; elected to the First and Second Congresses (March 4, 1789-March 3, 1793); chairman, Committee on Elections (Second Congress); president of the State constitutional convention in 1791; elected as a Pro-Administration (later Federalist) to the United States Senate in 1792; reelected in 1798 and served from March 4, 1793, until his resignation effective June 12, 1801, due to ill health; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Fourth and Sixth Congresses; died in Holderness, Grafton County, N.H., May 18, 1803; interment in Trinity Churchyard.
Courtesy of Biographical Directory of the United States Congress