Stephen Thorn
Open-knowledge reference entry
Stephen Thorn (c. 1771 – after 1825) was an American merchant and politician from New York. He served in the New York State Senate from 1804 to 1808, representing the Eastern District, and later from 1823 to 1825, representing the 2nd District. He also served in the New York State Assembly in 1819.
Early life and business career
Stephen Thorn was born about 1771. He was a merchant-trader in Granville, Washington County, New York, during the early 1790s. An ardent republican, Thorn in 1794–96 solicited support among officials in France for a plan to retake Canada and encouraged a French attack on Quebec from Vermont. He chartered the Olive Branch to carry arms to America for the effort, but it encountered a British naval vessel and was forced to turn back. Thorn eventually abandoned his plans.
In December 1796, he went to London to help Thomas Paine with a reprint of an open letter to George Washington.
Political career
Upon his return to New York, Thorn was an officer in the county and state militia.
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This entry incorporates text from “Stephen Thorn” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.