Jacob Crowninshield

Jacob Crowninshield (March 31, 1770 – April 15, 1808) was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts and appointee to the position of U.S. Secretary of the Navy, which he never filled. His brother Benjamin Williams Crowninshield did successfully hold the post; the Crowninshield family in general was prominent in early American maritime affairs. His ancestor, Johann Casper Richter von Kronenscheldt, immigrated from Leipzig. (Ambiguous entry) He was the grandfather of Arent S. Crowninshield. Biography Jacob Crowninshield was born March 31, 1770, in Salem in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. As a young man, he went into partnership with three of his brothers commanding trade ships between the United States and India. In 1796, Crowninshield married Sarah Gardner, daughter of John (a direct descendant of an old planter) and Sarah (Derby, daughter of Richard (1712–1783)). Their daughter Sarah later married the Salem merchant Richard Saltonstall Rogers. Crowninshield was an unsuccessful candidate for election to Congress in 1798, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Dwight Foster, but was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate in 1801.