Jonathan Jackson (June 4, 1743 – March 5, 1810) was an American businessman and politician from Newburyport, Massachusetts. He was most notable for his service as a delegate from Massachusetts in the Continental Congress in 1782, the first United States Marshal for the District of Massachusetts from 1789 to 1791, and Treasurer and Receiver-General of Massachusetts from 1802 to 1806.
A native of Boston, Jackson graduated from Harvard College in 1761 and then moved to Newburyport, where he pursued a successful career as an import-export merchant in addition to other business ventures. A Patriot during the American Revolution, Jackson employed his cargo ships as privateers to harass British shipping, executed contracts to provide supplies to the Continental Army, and loaned the Patriot government money. After the Revolution he opposed Shays' Rebellion, became affiliated with the Federalist Party and served in appointed offices including U.S. Marshal and U.S. Supervisor of Internal Revenue for Massachusetts.
In addition to serving terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Massachusetts Senate, Jackson served as the state's Treasurer and Receiver-General. He died in Boston and was buried at Granary Burying Ground in Boston.
Early life
Jonathan Jackson was born in Boston on June 4, 1743, the son of Edward Jackson (1708–1757) and Dorothy Quincy Jackson. He graduated from Harvard College in 1761 and then moved to Newburyport to start a mercantile career by joining the business of merchant Patrick Tracy.
Start of career
In 1766, Jackson became the partner of John Bromfield in a firm that exported Massachusetts goods including rum and flaxseed and imported iron and flour from Pennsylvania, as well as goods from England, Scotland, and the Caribbean islands. In 1774, he went into partnership with John and Nathaniel Tracy, the sons of Patrick Tracy and brothers of Jackson's second wife.
As the start of the American Revolution loomed, Jackson & Tracy & Tracy benefited when the British government's imposition of the Intolerable Acts and closure of Boston Harbor caused New England merchants to use alternative ports. Jackson's business also involved considerable risk; his partners and he sometimes traded in banned products including guns and gunpowder, and one of their ships was seized off the coast of Portugal by the British Navy.
Revolutionary years
Despite his dependence on foreign trade, Jackson became a supporter of the American Revolution. He served in the Massachusetts Provincial Congress in 1775. In 1776, he joined the Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence and was appointed chairman of the state Committee of Safety.
Jackson's descendants include great-grandson Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who served on the U.S. Supreme Court, and fifth great-grandson Patrick G. Jackson, a surgeon who is married to Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.