Varnum, James M. (James Mitchell), 1748-1789

VARNUM, James Mitchell, (Brother of Joseph Bradley Varnum), a Delegate from Rhode Island; born in Dracut, Middlesex County, Mass., December 17, 1748; was graduated from the College of Rhode Island, Warren, R.I. (later Brown University, Providence, R.I.), in 1769; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1771 and commenced practice in East Greenwich, R.I.; served in the Revolutionary Army, and was colonel of the ``Kentish Guards'' in 1774 and of Varnum's Rhode Island Regiment in 1775; commissioned colonel of the Ninth Continental Infantry in 1776; brigadier general of State troops December 12, 1776; brigadier general in the Continental Army February 21, 1777, and was honorably discharged March 5, 1779; appointed major general of State militia in May 1779; resumed the practice of law in East Greenwich, R.I.; Member of the Continental Congress 1780-1781, and 1787; appointed a judge of the United States Court in the Northwest Territory in 1787; moved to Marietta, Ohio, in 1788, and died there January 10, 1789; interment in Mound Cemetery.

<p>James Mitchell Varnum (December 17, 1748 – January 9, 1789) was an American legislator, lawyer, general in the Continental Army, and a pioneer to the Ohio Country.</p>

<p>Varnum resigned his commission in 1779, and was a delegate to the Continental and Confederation Congress, as well as one of two “supreme” judges appointed to the Northwest Territory. He died in Marietta, Ohio in January 1789.</p>

<p>James Mitchell Varnum was born in Dracut, Massachusetts. As a young man he matriculated at Harvard College only to transfer to the college in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly known as "Rhode Island College" (the college later named Brown University), He graduated with honors in the college's first graduating class in September 1769. In Rhode Island he met his future wife, Martha "Patty" Child, whom he married on February 2, 1770.</p>

<ul><b>RACES</b>
<li>12/31/1787 RI Continental Congress Lost 30.81% (-38.37%)</li>
<li>12/31/1786 RI Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1780 RI Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
</ul>