19 Facts About Joseph Hewes

Joseph Hewes was an American Founding Father and a signer of the Continental Association and US Declaration of Independence.

Joseph Hewes's parents were members of the Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers.

Joseph Hewes is a Merchant here and our Member for the Town; indeed the Patron and greatest honour of it.

In 1757 Joseph Hewes was appointed justice of the peace for Edenton.

The first order of business, of this First North Carolina Provincial Congress, was Joseph Hewes reading some of the letters from the Committees of Correspondence from other colonies.

Joseph Hewes's mother lived about 40 miles away in New Jersey.

Joseph Hewes had relatives just a couple of miles south of Philadelphia in Chester County.

Joseph Hewes was appointed to three committees: the finance committee, the committee writing the rules and regulations for the army and a committee to inquire into the ore and lead resources of the colonies.

Late in 1775 Joseph Hewes was appointed to the Naval Board and to the Marine Committee.

Joseph Hewes kept the accounts of the Naval Board, conducted the bulk of its correspondence and was responsible for getting John Paul Jones his commission in the Navy.

Secondly, there is no evidence that Joseph Hewes changed his mind suddenly on the matter of independence.

Joseph Hewes was appointed to this committee and to two others that became the Naval Committee which later evolved into the Marine Committee.

Joseph Hewes was selected for these committees not only because of his marine experience but for his business and accounting acumen.

Stephen Hopkins chaired the committee and Joseph Hewes kept its accounts as well as handling a good portion of it correspondence.

Joseph Hewes claimed that if Joseph Hewes were elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress it would be in violation of the new North Carolina Constitution.

Joseph Hewes served on the Marine Committee so according to Penn's argument, Joseph Hewes was not eligible to serve in the Continental Congress.

Penn suggested that Joseph Hewes had amassed a fortune from his work on the Marine Committee and that he was frequently absent from meetings of the Congress.

Mr Joseph Hewes, having at an early period demonstrated his zealous attachment to the cause of American Freedom, he was appointed by the voice of his fellow citizens a Delegate to the First Congress, and from that time to his death enjoyed the fullest confidence of his country.

Joseph Hewes was a member of Unanimity Lodge No 7, visited in 1776, and was buried with Masonic funeral honors in the Christ Church Burial Ground, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.