Dancing at Lighnasa

New Jersey
David Brearly was born in 1745 at Spring Grove. He attended but did not graduate from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton). He chose law as a career and originally practiced at Allentown, New Jersey. In 1767 he married Elizabeth Mullen.
In 1779 Brearly was elected as chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, a position he held until 1789. He was 42 years of age when he participated in the Constitutional Convention. Although he did not rank among the leaders, he attended the sessions regularly. Brearly opposed proportional representation of the states and favored one vote for each of them in Congress. He also chaired the Committee on Postponed Matters.
Brearly's subsequent career was short. He presided at the New Jersey convention that ratified the Constitution in 1788, and served as a presidential elector in 1789. That same year, President Washington appointed him as a federal district judge, and he served in that capacity until his death.
Jonathon Dayton was born at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, in 1760. He obtained a good education, graduating from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton) in 1776. He immediately entered the Continental Army. Achieving the rank of captain by the age of 19.
During the 1780s Dayton divided his time between land speculation, legal practice, and politics. He sat in the assembly in 1786-87 and was chosen as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Dayton spoke with moderate frequency during the debates and, though objecting to some provisions of the Constitution, signed it.
After sitting in the Continental Congress in 1788, Dayton became a foremost Federalist legislator in the new government. He became a member of the New Jersey council and speaker of the state assembly. In 1791, however, he entered the U.S. House of Representatives becoming Speaker in the Fourth and Fifth Congresses.
William Houston was born in 1746. He attended the College of New Jersey (later Princeton) and graduated in 1768...