Fell, John, 1721-1798

FELL, John, a Delegate from New Jersey; born in New York City, February 5, 1721; attended the public schools; engaged in overseas commerce and also in agricultural pursuits; moved to Bergen County, N.J.; appointed judge of the court of common pleas on September 30, 1766, and served until October 1, 1774; member of the Provincial Congress which met in Trenton in May, June, and August 1775; chairman of the committee of safety of Bergen County, N.J.; member of the provincial council in 1776; captured by the British and held as a political prisoner from April 23, 1777, until January 1778, when he was released; Member of the Continental Congress 1778-1780; member of the State council in 1782 and 1783; moved to New York City in 1793, and subsequently to Coldenham, N.Y., where he resided with his son John until his death on May 15, 1798; interment in Colden Cemetery.

<p>John Fell (1721–1798) was an American merchant and jurist. Born in New York City, he was engaged in overseas trade and had acquired a small fleet of ships by the time he moved to Bergen County, New Jersey, in the 1760s, and lived at "Peterfield", a home in present-day Allendale, New Jersey that has become known as the "John Fell House". He served as judge of the court of common pleas in Bergen County from 1766 to 1774. With the coming of the American Revolutionary War, he became chairman of Bergen County's committee of correspondence and the committee of safety. He was Bergen County's leading delegate to the Provincial Congress of New Jersey in 1775. In 1776 Fell was elected to a one-year term in the New Jersey Legislative Council representing Bergen County.</p>

<ul><b>RACES</b>
<li>02/11/1789 NJ At-Large Lost 0.20% (-19.73%)</li>
<li>12/31/1779 NJ Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1778 NJ Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1777 NJ Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li>12/31/1776 NJ Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
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