BLENNERHASSETT, HARMAN (1765-1831)

This article appears in Volume V04, Page 58 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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BLENNERHASSETT, HARMAN (1765-1831) , Irish-American lawyer, son of an Irish country

gentleman

GENTLEMAN (from Lat. gentilis, " belonging to a race or gens," and " man "; Fr. gentilhomme, Span. gentil hombre, Ital. gentil huomo, in its
original
- ORIGINAL
and strict signification, a term denoting a man of good family, the Lat. generosus (its invariable transl

of English stock settled in Co. Kerry, was born on the 8th of October 1765. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and in 1990 was called to the Irish bar. After living for several years on the continent, he married in 1796 his niece, Margaret Agnew, daughter of Robert Agnew, the lieutenant-

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

of the Isle of Man. Ostracised by their families for this step the couple decided to settle in America, where Blennerhassett in 1798 bought an island in the Ohio river about 2 M. below Parkersburg, West Virginia. Here in 18o5 he received a visit from Aaron Burr (q.v.), in whose conspiracy he became interested, furnishing liberal funds for its support, and offering the use of his island as a rendezvous for the gathering of arms and supplies and the training of volunteers. When the conspiracy collapsed, the mansion andisland were occupied and plundered by the Virginia militia. Blennerhassett fled, was twice arrested and remained a prisoner until after Burr's release: The island was then abandoned, and Blennerhassett was in, turn a

cotton

planter in Mississippi, and a lawyer (18'9-1822) in Montreal, Canada. After returning to Ireland, he died in the island of

Guernsey

GUERNSEY (Fr. Guernesey)

on the 2nd of February 1831. His wife, who had considerable literary talent and who published The Deserted Isle (1822) and The Widow of the Rock and Other Poems (1824), returned to the United States in 184o, and died soon afterward in New

York

City while attempting to obtain through Congress payment for property destroyed on the island.
See William H. Safford, Life of Harman Blennerhassett (Cincinnati, 1893) ; W. H. Safford (editor), The Blennerhassett Papers (Cincinnati, 1864) ; and " The True Story of -Harman Blennerhassett," by Therese Blennerhassett-Adams, in the Century Magazine for July
190I, Vol. lxii.

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