Call Number:

C1151

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 1 box
• 0.2 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Jonathan Odell Collection, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1750-1780 (inclusive)

Creator:

Princeton University. Library. Special Collections and Odell, Jonathan, 1737-1818

Form:

American poetry -- 18th century. and Manuscripts, American --18th century.

Abstract:

Consists of selected material of Jonathan Odell, an eighteenth-century New Jersey clergyman and loyalist in the American Revolution, and his father, John Odell.

Jonathan Odell, a clergyman, was born in Newark, New Jersey, and died in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. He was the son of John Odell and Temperance, a daughter of Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, first president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). Odell graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1754, and received the A.M. degree also from there in 1757. For three years Odell taught at the Nassau Hall Grammar School. He was trained in medicine but entered the Church of England ministry. He served as parish priest at Burlington, N.J., and at Mount Holly, N.J. With the outbreak of the American Revolution, Odell became a strong Loyalist to the British Crown. He wrote poetry that was sung by British prisoners. His case came up before the New Jersey Provincial Congress, and, on July 20, 1776, he was ordered to sign an oath not to aid the British. He was placed on parole, and was ordered to keep within a radius of eight miles from the Burlington County courthouse. He remained there till December, but then fled to New York. There he worked for the Loyalist cause as an administrator and satiric poet-propagandist. In 1784 Odell emigrated to New Brunswick, Canada, having been appointed provincial secretary as a reward for his loyalty to the Crown.

Consists of selected material of Jonathan Odell and his father, John Odell. Included is a contemporary copy of the political poem "The American Times: A Satire in Three Parts" (29 pp.). The poem, attributed to Odell and published in 1780 under the pseudonym "Camillo Querno," is an invective aimed at the American leaders of the Revolution. A portion of the first page has been torn away. It also has been attributed to George Cockings, to Daniel Batwell, to Jonathan Boucher, and to Myles Cooper. The collection contains an undated letter by Odell addressed to John Boynton, a merchant in Philadelphia, as well as the parole oath, written and signed by Odell on 20 July 1776 for the New Jersey Provincial Congress, in which he vows not to aid the British during the American Revolution. Also included is an extract from the will of Odell's father, John Odell, signed by Thomas Barrow and William Smith.