Elbridge Gerry

A person riding a BMX bike on a ramp at a skate park during sunset.
Portrait of a man with white hair, wearing a black coat and white cravat, against a dark background.

BORN - July 17, 1744, at Marblehead, MA.  Parents (English ancestry) - Thomas Gerry (b1702-d1774) and Elizabeth Greenleaf Gerry (b1716-d1771).  Five Children – Thomas Gerry (___), John Gerry (___), Elbridge Thomas Gerry (b1744-d1814), Elizabeth Gerry Russell (___), Samuel Russell Gerry (___).  

DIED - November 23, 1814(1814-11-23) (aged 70), at a boarding house in Washington, D.C. from a heart attack.  Religion – Anglican / Episcopalian.  Buried – Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C.  He is the only signer of the Declaration that is buried in the Washington, D.C.

APPEARANCE – The picture above is the portrait of Elbridge Gerry (age ___) painted by James Bogle in 1861, after a portrait by John Vanderlyn.  A small, dapper gentleman with pleasant manners.  Never very popular because of his aristocratic traits.  No sense of humor, frequently changed his mind on important issues, and was suspicious of the motives of others.  Was a conscientious businessman who paid attention to detail.  His patriotism and integrity could never be questioned.   

FAMILY – Married – Ann Thompson (b1763-d1849, was the last surviving widow of a Signer) in 1786.  Ten Children (nine surviving to adulthood) – Catharine Gerry Austin (b1787-d1850), Eliza Gerry Townsend (___), Ann Gerry (b1763-1849), Elbridge Thomas Gerry, Jr. (b1793-d1867), Thomas Russell Gerry (b1794-d1848), Helen Maria Gerry (___), James Thompson Gerry (___), Eleanor Gerry Stanford (___), Emily Louise Gerry (b1802-d1894), Unknown Gerry (___).  Emily Louise was the last surviving daughter of a Signer.   

OCCUPATION – MERCHANT, LEGISLATOR, U.S. CONGRESSMAN, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT.  Graduated from Harvard College (now Harvard University) in 1762.  Joined his father’s counting house business.  Member of the Boston Tea Party.  Member of the Continental Congress representing Massachusetts from 1776 to 1780.  Served at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.  One of three men (Elbridge Gerry, George Mason, Edmund Randolph) who refused to sign the U.S. Constitution because it did not then include a Bill of Rights.  Governor of Massachusetts from 1810 to 1812.  Gerry is best known for the word “gerrymander” which came from his redrawing of electoral districts during his term as governor to favor a political party.   U. S. Congressman from 1789 to 1793.  5th U.S. Vice President under James Madison from 1813 to his death in 1814.

AT SIGNING – Age 32 at signing.  Signed sometime after August 2, when he arrived back in Philadelphia.  John Adams wrote of him during the debates, "If every Man here was a Gerry, the Liberties of America would be safe against the Gates of Earth and Hell."

AFTER SIGNING – Continued to serve in the Congress in Philadelphia until 1780.  Spent heavily on the war from his personal fortune.

HISTORIC SITES

Cambridge Home – Elmwood, Cambridge, MA (1767).  Located at 33 Elmwood Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138.  The home of Elbridge Gerry and his family from 1787 until his death in 1814.  Privately owned.      

Gravesite – Congressional Cemetery, Washington, D.C.(1807).  Located at 1801 E Street Southeast, Washington, DC 20003, Phone 202-543-0539, Website www.congressionalcemetery.org.

Birthplace – Elbridge Gerry House, Marblehead, MA (1730).  Located at 44 Washington Street, Marblehead, MA 01945.  Birthplace and childhood home of Elbridge Gerry.  It is uncertain whether the existing house was the actual house of his birth or an earlier structure on the same site.  Privately owned.      

Gerry’s Landing – Located near the present day Eliot Bridge, Watertown (Cambridge), MA.  Property purchase by Gerry from a relative who operated a landing and storehouse.

A large yellow three-story house with white trim, brick chimneys, and a balcony, surrounded by leafless trees and snow on the ground in winter.

Home of Elbridge Gerry, Elmwood, Cambridge, MA (1767). 

Located at 33 Elmwood Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138.  Privately owned. 

Elmwood, also known as the also the Oliver-Gerry-Lowell House, was the home of Elbridge Gerry and his family between 1787 and his death in 1814.  He rented out large portions of the 100 acre estate to tenant farmers.  In the aftermath of the XYZ Affair, for which Gerry was unjustly criticized, Elmwood was the scene of protests in which Gerry was burned in effigy.    Today, Elmwood is the home of the Harvard University President.