Lloyd Wharton, Midshipman

Lloyd Wharton. Lloyd Wharton was born in 1764, oldest son of influential Philadelphian’s Thomas Wharton, Jr. and Susannah Lloyd Wharton who were married just two years before at Christ Church on 4 November 1762. Until his death in May of 1778, Thomas Wharton, Jr. was the first President of the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council, succeeding Benjamin Franklin who presided over the former Committee of Safety. Susannah Lloyd was descended from Thomas Lloyd, President of the Provincial Council. According to the testimony of his brother-in-law William Haight (1762-1837) in pension application #S. 884, Lloyd Wharton of Philadelphia was a midshipman aboard the frigate Trumbull and with about forty sailors was placed onboard the Gen. Monk and separated from the crew of the Trumbull, eventually put on the Jersey prison ship. These events would have occured after the capture of the frigate Trumbull by the frigate Iris and the 18 gun ship General Monk, formerly the Continental frigate Hancock and privateer General Washington, on 28 August 1781. The Trumbull had left port on 8 August 1781, presumably a short time after Wharton’s previous release from the British after his capture on the frigate Confederacy just four months before. Lloyd Wharton would have been about 17 years old at the time of the Confederacy’s capture. According to Volume 2, Page 106 of Names of Persons Who Took the Oath of Allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania Between the Years 1777 and 1789, Philadelphia native Lloyd Wharton, lately 21 years old, took the oath of allegiance on 29 September 1785. Lloyd Wharton married Mary Rogers, born on 17 July 1767, daughter of Isaac Rogers and Hannah Tallman. No evidence can be found of children prior his death in Bordentown, NJ on 10 February 1799 at age 35. Lloyd Wharton’s widow Mary’s younger sister, Sarah Rogers Haight died later the same year on 1 August 1799. Mary apparently remained close to the Haight family as she was interred in the family vault at Morristown, NJ after her death in October of 1847. Two years after his death, Wharton’s younger brother Kearney would name his son Lloyd born, 25 February 1801, to honor the sailor’s memory. Interestingly, his namesake added the surname Bickley by an 1843 act of legislature and was subsequently known as Lloyd Wharton Bickley.