Author: Church, Edward
Biography:
by
Jackson, Heather (HJ)
CHURCH, Edward (1740-1816: ancestry.com)
The son of Benjamin Church (1704-81) and his wife Hannah Dyer (1714-94), he was born in the Azores on 12 Sept. 1740. His father was a Boston merchant; Edward followed in his footsteps and in the course of his life traded internationally. His brother Benjamin Church MD (1734-78) was imprisoned as a British spy in 1775 and later left the country. Edward is said to have assisted his brother with some of his political verses of the 1760s. He graduated from Harvard in 1759 and in 1763 married Elizabeth Furness (or Furnace) in Boston. They had three children before her death in 1766. His second marriage, to Hannah Skinner, took place about 1772 and they also had three children. After repeated requests for diplomatic posts he was appointed US Consul at Lisbon, 1792-97. He subsequently established a business partnership in Liverpool, England, and also pursued interests in London and Paris. He made his final will in 1815 after suffering a stroke, and died at his rooms in the Adelphi, London, in 1816. He was buried at St. Martin-in-the-Fileds on 16 Apr., leaving an estate valued at under £5000 to his mistress Sarah May, wife of William May, as sole executrix. (ancestry.com 1 Aug. 2025; findmypast.com 1 Aug. 2025; "Edward Church to Benjamin Franklin, 19 November 1784," Founders Online, founders.archives.gov; Kettell) HJ