Charles Clinton

Who was Charles Clinton?

Charles Clinton was a French and Indian War Colonel, the father of American Revolutionary War general James Clinton and Vice President of the United States George Clinton, and the grandfather of New York Governor DeWitt Clinton.

Charles Clinton was born in Corbay, County Longford, Ireland to James Clinton a soldier in Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army who fought during the battle of Drogheda killing many Irish and was rewarded with land in Ireland and Elizabeth Smith, the daughter of a captain in Cromwell's Army.

In May 1729, the Clinton family chartered a ship from Dublin called the George and Anne and sailed for Philadelphia with a group of neighbors and friends intending to settle in Pennsylvania. According to his papers, he paid for ninety four of the passengers. The captain of the ship intentionally starved the passengers, possibly as a way to steal their belongings. Ninety-six of the passengers died, including a son and a daughter of Charles Clinton. In October 1729 they arrived at Cape Cod, and after paying a large ransom for their lives, the survivors were allowed to disembark.

In the spring of 1731, the group moved to Ulster County, New York, where they settled in an area called Little Britain about eight miles from the Hudson River and sixty miles north of New York City. His life there is well described in this selection from DeWitt Clinton's Memoir: