Author: Odell, Jonathan
Biography:
ODELL, Jonathan (1737-1818: ODNB), pseudonym Camillo Querno
Physician, clergyman, Loyalist, Jonathan Odell was born in Newark NJ. His father John Odell was a joiner; his mother Temperance (Dickinson) was a daughter of the President of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton), from which Odell graduated in 1754. After graduating he taught school for a time, studied medicine, and joined the British army as an army surgeon to a regiment in the West Indies. Having determined to become a Church of England clergyman, he then went to England to train for the ministry as a missionary in America. He was duly ordained in 1767 and held his first post in Burlington NJ. He also continued to practice as a physician and was accepted in the New Jersey Medical Society in 1774. In 1772 he married Anne De Cou of Burlington; they went on to have four children. In the Revolutionary War, Odell hoped for concessions for the colonists but maintained his loyalty to the British crown. He was forced to flee from Burlington to New York, where he became a British secret agent and played his part as a go-between in the defection of Benedict Arnold--over which Odell's friend and fellow-satirist John André was captured and executed. Odell became assistant secretary to Sir Guy Carleton. After the War, his property having been confiscated, he went with Carleton to London and sought compensation. He was awarded the position of Secretary and Clerk of the Council for the province of New Brunswick and was thus instrumental in founding, in 1784, the new settlement of Fredericton, where he lived as a pillar of the community for the rest of his life. (ODNB 19 May 2020; DCB 19 May 2020) HJ
Other Names:
- Mr. Odell