John Shreve

John Shreve (April 8, 1762 – September 8, 1854) began his military service in the 2nd New Jersey Regiment from the outbreak of the Revolutionary War when he was thirteen years old.
John Shreve was born on April 8, 1762 to Israel Shreve and Grace Curtis. John was welcomed into a large family of Quaker farmers that had settled at Mount Pleasant in Burlington County, New Jersey. The Shreve homestead, Mount Pleasant, and the Curtis homestead, Ogston, sat next to one another.
While living near Salem, Ohio, John wrote his autobiography on April 8, 1853: "My mother died when I was about nine years old. My father married again in about three years after."
Prior to the outbreak of war in 1775, John lived with his father on "Franklin Park Farm" at Rancocas.
The 2nd New Jersey Regiment was raised on October 9, 1775 and Israel Shreve was appointed Lieutenant colonel. Israel took John with him into the regiment where he received the rank of ensign.
After a new regiment was raised, Israel was appointed Colonel and John was appointed First Ensign. After the Battle of Short Hills, that occurred on June 26, 1777, John was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on July 1.
After Israel was wounded during the Battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777, John accompanied him through Philadelphia to New Jersey. He then took his father to Reading, Pennsylvania and rejoined the regiment at Whitemarsh.
John resigned from military service on March 20, 1781.
John and Israel were admitted as original members in the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Jersey when it was established in 1783.
Abigail Ridgway, daughter of Solomon and Mary Burr Ridgway, was born on January 4, 1765 in Burlington County. On September 9, 1786, John and Abigail were joined in marriage by a Quaker ceremony in Burlington County. They became the parents of nine children.
In 1788, the John Shreve family removed to Fayette County, Pennsylvania where he purchased a farm in the vicinity of Perryopolis.
Abigail died on June 4, 1808. Her son, John Jr., who was born on November 15, 1789, died on March 23, 1813. Mother and son were interred in the Providence Meeting House Cemetery.
On November 5, 1829, John was granted a certificate of acceptance by Salem Monthly Meeting. He joined six of his children who had removed to the vicinity of Salem in Columbiana County, Ohio.
Cleveland Weekly Leader, September 20, 1854:
"Mr. John Shreve, an old Revolutionary soldier, died at the residence of his son in law, Dr. Jones, in Mount Vernon [sic] Sept. 9th, aged ninety-three years and five months. He served as a soldier under General Green [sic]; through the revolutionary war."
Democratic Transcript, October 11, 1854:
"He was a man of vigorous intellect and strong memory; he was benevolent to a fault, and often contributed to relieve the wants of others beyond what his own necessities would strictly justify. He was an ardent friend of freedom, strongly devoted to the principles of liberty, for which he had fought and bled under Washington. We have noticed concisely a few of the leading incidents in the life of one who served his country, both in peace and war, with a faithfulness that won the approbation as such men as Washington and Lafayette and the community in which he resided."
John was interred in Mount Union Cemetery, Stark County, Alliance, Ohio. He lies beside his eldest child, Dr. Joseph Shreve, and his granddaughter, Lucretia Jones.