CHAPTER Vn 

 JOHN AlTD STEPHEN GANO 



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AlVIINISTER of prominence in New York and New 

 Jersey dm-iug the Revolutionary period was Rev. 

 John Gano,a Baptist. This exceptionally able fapust^^^^^ 

 man who was to come into somewhat intimate relations Patriot 

 with Washington, was a descendant of the French refugee 

 family of Ganeau, which settled in Rhode Island. It was • 

 John Gano's great-grandfather Francis who came to this 

 country to escape persecution. John was born at Hope- 

 well, New Jersey, 1727, being thus six years older than 

 Washington. He has left a most interesting autobiog- 

 raphy, in which he states that he believed himself con- 

 verted when about eighteen. His father was a Presbyte- . 

 rian, but his mother was a Baptist, and after careful consid- 

 eration he thought it his duty to join a Baptist church. 

 Thus that denomination gained a minister of great in- 

 fluence and usefulness. He early felt convictions of duty 

 to enter the ministry, and decided to do so, though he 

 shrank from the calling. He was educated at Princeton 

 College, at "that time kept in Newark, and governed by 

 President Biu-r, with whom I was a great favourite he 

 tells us. Before leaving college he began to preach and 

 made a missionary journey to Virginia. He was gifted 

 as writer and speaker, had a fine presence and great 

 magnetism, so that his fame grew rapidly and he was re- 

 peatedly invited to pa^storates before his studies were 

 finished. Morristown became his temporary home, and 

 subsequently he accepted the call of the church there 

 The church record for October, 1755, says : Mr. Gano 

 at the earnest request of the church concluded to settle 



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