Jeremy Belknap

Jeremy Belknap ( born June 4, 1744 Boston, Massachusetts, † June 20, 1798 ) was an American Congregational clergyman and historian. He is known especially for his three -volume history of the State of New Hampshire (1784-1792), regarded as one of the first historiographical works of the United States with a scientific claim.

Life and work

Belknap for three generations, was born into a family of artisans in Massachusetts resident. He attended Harvard College ( BA 1762) and then taught four years as a schoolmaster, but at the same time prepared for the priesthood before. From 1767, he was pastor of the church in Dover New Hampshire. Here he remained until 1787, when he was appointed to the Long Lane Church in Boston, whose vicar he remained until his death in 1798. 1792 Harvard awarded him the title of Doctor Theologiae, and rose to a Belknap curators.

In the 1770s he began his work on the history of New Hampshire. The first volume, of treating them the history of the state of the arrival of the first European explorers until the year 1715, appeared 1784th The second, published in 1791, is the history of New Hamsphires to 1790 from. For the completion of the third volume, a description of the geography, culture and politics of the state, the New Hampshire government granted him a scholarship of £ 50 1794-98 he also published a two-volume series of biographical sketches of important Americans. Although Belknap the tradition of Puritan history comes from his History of New Hampshire is different about the historiographical works of Edward Johnson, Cotton Mather, or not yet located Thomas Prince at a salvation-historical interpretation of New England's history. Belknap understood the history rather than science and devoted much time to the study of sources to ensure the accuracy of its information. In order to create a central repository for the storage and exploration of the written heritage of New England, he and some like-minded people in 1791, the first historian of U.S. society, which up to now existing Massachusetts Historical Society.

According to him, founded in 1840 Belknap County was named.

Works

• The History of New Hampshire. Three volumes, Philadelphia 1784-1792: Volume I: Comprehending the events of one complete century from the discovery of the River Pascataqua ( 1784 digitized )
• Volume II: Comprehending the events of seventy -five years, from MDCCXV to MDCCXC (1791; digitized )
• Volume III: Containing a geographical description of the state, with sketches of its natural history, productions, improvements, and present state of society and manners, laws, and government (1792; digitized )