Signer of the Declaration of Independence, born in Ireland in 1716, and, leaving home clandestinely, emigrated to America in 1736 as a redemptioner, being bound out on his arrival to an iron-founder at Durham, PA, for whom he worked as a clerk. On the death of his employer he married the widow, becoming proprietor of the iron-works. He removed to Northampton, where he established an iron-mill and was elected to the Pennsylvania assembly in 1764; became a county court judge in 1770; a member of the provincial assemblies that convened in Philadelphia during 1774 and 1775, and in 1776 was elected to the Continental Congress that met July 20th, and served until March 1777. He was not, therefore, present when the vote was made adopting the Declaration of Independence, but he signed the document. He died at Easton, PA, on the 23rd of February 1781.
