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Epaphroditus Champion

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General Epaphroditus Champion
Portrait of Champion by Anson Dickinson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Connecticut's At-large district
In office
March 4, 1807 – March 3, 1817
Preceded byTheodore Dwight
Succeeded byEbenezer Huntington
Member of the Connecticut General Assembly
In office
1791-1806
Personal details
Born(1756-04-06)April 6, 1756
Colchester, Connecticut Colony, British America
DiedDecember 22, 1834(1834-12-22) (aged 78)
East Haddam, Connecticut, U.S.
Political partyFederalist
Spouse
Lucretia Hubbard
​
(m. 1781)​
RelationsHenry Champion (brother)
Children3
Parent(s)Colonel Henry Champion
Deborah Brainard Champion
OccupationWar Veteran, Politician, Landowner

Epaphroditus Champion (April 6, 1756 – December 22, 1834) was an American politician and military officer from Connecticut. He served as a U.S. Representative from Connecticut.

Early life

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Champion was born in Colchester in the Connecticut Colony, son of Colonel Henry Champion and Deborah (Brainard) Champion.[1] He was educated both by private tutors and in the common schools.

Champion's brother Henry Champion was a major in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and served in the Connecticut state house of representatives.[2] [3]

Career

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Coat of Arms of Epaphroditus Champion

During the American Revolutionary War, Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull directed Champion's father, Connecticut state commissary Colonel Henry Champion, to collect cattle and drive them to Valley Forge. Champion helped his father gather a herd of 300 cattle at Hartford, Connecticut and drive them west to King's Ferry, across the Hudson, into New Jersey, across the Delaware to Washington's famished troops west of the Schuylkill. They were devoured in five days prompting Champion to remark that the cattle were so thoroughly eaten that "you might have made a knife out of every bone."[4] Champion was named assistant commissary to Trumbull in 1776, and was the first Commissary General of the Continental Army.[5][6]

Champion moved to East Haddam, Connecticut in 1782. He served as a captain in the Twenty-fourth Regiment of the Connecticut State militia from 1784 to 1792, as major from 1793 to 1794, as lieutenant colonel from 1795 to 1798, and as brigadier general of the Seventh Brigade from 1800 to 1803.[7][8]

He worked as a merchant, shipowner, exporter and importer. He was successful in conducting trade in the West Indies.[9] Champion was a member of the Connecticut state assembly from 1791 to 1806.[10] He was elected as a Federalist candidate to the Tenth United States Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1807 to March 3, 1817.[11] After serving in Congress, he resumed his former business activities. Champion served as commissary general of provisions for army pensioners in 1832.[12]

Personal life

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Mrs. Epaphroditus Champion (Lucretia Hubbard) by Anson Dickinson

In 1781, Champion married Lucretia Hubbard (1760–1836). Together, they had three children:[13][14]

  • Lucretia Champion (1783–1882)[13]
  • Clarissa Champion (1785–1801)[13]
  • Epaphroditus Champion, Jr. (1786–1841).[13]

Champion died on December 22, 1834, in East Haddam, Connecticut. He is interred in Riverview Cemetery in East Haddam. His epitaph reads, "Talents, benevolence and integrity characterized his spotless life."[8]

Legacy

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Champion's home in East Haddam is included in the East Haddam Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The home is named the General Epaphroditus Champion House and was built in a late-Georgian style.[15]

References

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  1. ^ "Epaphroditus Champion (1756 - 1834)". Ancestry.com. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  2. ^ "Champion, Henry (1751-1836)". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  3. ^ Descendants of the brothers Jeremiah and John Wood. W. S. Wood. 1885. p. 11.
  4. ^ Roth, David Morris (1974). Connecticut's war Governor, Jonathan Trumbull. Pequot Press. pp. 45–46. ISBN 9780871061492.
  5. ^ "Epaphroditus Champion (1756-1834)". The Strangest Names in American Political History. July 21, 2011. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  6. ^ "The Champion Story: General George Washington and The Champion Family of Colchester". Colchester Historical Society. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  7. ^ "CHAMPION, Epaphroditus, (1756 - 1834)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  8. ^ a b The Connecticut Quarterly, Volume 2. Connecticut Quarterly Company. 1896. p. 126.
  9. ^ "Deming, Perkins, and Quincy families papers, 1762-1950". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  10. ^ "Epaphroditus Champion (1756-1834)". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  11. ^ "Rep. Epaphroditus Champion". Govtrack.us. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  12. ^ United States. Government Printing Office (1903). Congressional serial set. United States. Government Printing Office. p. 119.
  13. ^ a b c d "Epaphroditus Champion (1756-1834)". The Strangest Names in American Political History. July 21, 2011. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  14. ^ "Lucretia Champion Bacon". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  15. ^ "East Haddam Historic District". Living Places. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
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U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Connecticut's at-large congressional district
March 4, 1807 – March 3, 1817 		Succeeded by
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