Women of the Constitution by Janice E. McKenney

Author:Janice E. McKenney
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2012-12-11T16:00:00+00:00

Elizabeth (Betsy) Sherburne Langdon

Birth: 1751, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Parents: John Sherburne and Elizabeth Moffat

Marriage: 4 February 1777, John Langdon (1741–1819)

Children: Elizabeth (Eliza) (1777–1830); John (born and died 1779)

Death: 2 March 1813, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Elizabeth Sherburne was born in 1751 into a prominent New Hampshire family. Her grandfather, Henry Sherburne of Portsmouth, a merchant, drew up a pedigree in 1710, tracing the family name from his grandfather to Sir Richard Sherburne of Stonyhurst, who died in 1513. His wife, Elizabeth’s grandmother, was Dorothy Wentworth, the sister of the first Governor John Wentworth and an aunt of Governor Benning Wentworth. Henry and Dorothy Sherburne lived in great style in the first brick mansion built in Portsmouth.1

Their son, Elizabeth’s father, John Sherburne, also a prominent merchant in Portsmouth, was a registrar of the Court of Vice-Admiralty and a judge of probate in Rockingham County from 1773 to 1776. He was on a committee to inform the representatives to the General Court of New Hampshire of the dangers to personal liberty that the Stamp Act posed, and he, with others chosen by Portsmouth, informed every town to oppose the sale of tea. Elizabeth’s father was also a trustee of Dartmouth College from 1774 to 1777. Her mother was John Sherburne’s second wife, Elizabeth Moffat, the daughter of John Moffat, of Portsmouth.2

Elizabeth had three siblings: John and Dorothy, who died young, and Samuel (1757–1830), who took an additional name by act of the legislature and became known as John Samuel. An officer in the Continental Army, he lost a leg during a British attack on 29 August 1778 in Rhode Island. After the war, John Samuel served in Congress and became a judge of the United States Court for the District of New Hampshire.3

Elizabeth Sherburne, known as both a beauty and a belle, became the bride of John Langdon on 4 February 1777 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.4 Elizabeth’s cousin, Sarah Sherburne, married John’s brother, Woodbury Langdon.

John and Woodbury Langdon came from a large family. John had spent some time at sea when he was young, eventually went into the mercantile business, and prospered. A vigorous supporter of the American Revolution, he attended various assemblies, sat on the New Hampshire Committee of Correspondence, and participated in the seizure of Fort William and Mary in the Portsmouth harbor in 1774. The following year he served as speaker of the New Hampshire assembly and sat in the Continental Congress. In 1776 he accepted a colonelcy in the New Hampshire militia and became the state’s agent for British prizes on behalf of the Continental Congress, a lucrative position he held throughout the war. He also organized and paid for General John Stark’s expedition in 1777 from New Hampshire against the British forces of General John Burgoyne and was in command of a militia unit at Saratoga when Burgoyne surrendered.5

The Langdons’ daughter Elizabeth was born on 4 December 1777, less than two months after a fine dinner party they gave to honor Baron von Steuben. Elizabeth was baptized on 21 December

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