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Note: rmantown as his country summer home, one of the finest houses in colonial America when completed 1767, with the most elaborate furnishings available. It is today a National Trust 1763 PA
Education: studied law London, England Religion: Quaker, they found their support for the military incompatible with Quaker pacificism, converted to Anglican, owned slaves Note: not a Revolutionary patriot, he signed the colonies' nonimportation agreement protesting King George III's taxes but refused to relinquish his crown appointment as chief justice. Perceived as a Loyalist, he spent a year under house arrest in New Jersey, laid low through remainder of the war, but returned to public life by the late 1780s
WAR: When American troops under Gen. George Washington marched on Germantown, a regt. of 125 British soldiers barricaded in Cliveden distracted Washington; a battle ensured and when the Americans withdrew in chaos there were abt 77 American dead on Chew's land and 2-3 British died in the house. Many were buried on the property. In 1824-25 Benjamin Chew, Jr., welcomed the Marquis de Lafayette, visiting Germantown as part of a triumphal American visit
Note: Occupation: Chief Justice of Pennsylvania Colony's Supreme Court; built "Cliveden" 1763 in Ge
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