John Berrien (November 19, 1711April 22, 1772) was a farmer and merchant from Rocky Hill, New Jersey. He was appointed a justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1764 and was a trustee of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, for eleven years.
Biography
Berrien was born on November 19, 1711, at Newtown on Long Island, now known as Elmhurst, Queens. He was the grandson of Cornelius Jansen Berrien. His parents were Peter Berrien and Elizabeth Woodhull Edsall.
After his first wife died, and they had no children. In 1759 he married again, to Lady Margaret Eaton. He and Margaret had a total of six children. Their son John Berrien (1759–1815) became a brigade major during the American Revolutionary War.
Although Berrien was a prosperous and prominent individual, on April 21, 1772, he drowned himself by jumping into the Millstone River. He was believed to have committed suicide, because of "lunacy", as one account said at the time.