Benjamin Williams Crowninshield

Benjamin Williams Crowninshield
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 2nd district
In office March 4, 1823 – March 3, 1831
Preceded by	Gideon Barstow
Succeeded by	Rufus Choate
5th United States Secretary of the Navy
In office January 16, 1815 – September 30, 1818
President	James Madison James Monroe
Preceded by	William Jones
Succeeded by	Smith Thompson
Personal details
Born	December 27, 1772 Salem, Massachusetts
Died	February 3, 1851 (aged 78) Boston, Massachusetts
Political party	Federalist National Republican
Spouse	Mary Boardman (d. 1840)
Occupation	Merchant

Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (December 27, 1772 – February 3, 1851) served as the United States Secretary of the Navy between 1815 and 1818, during the administrations of Presidents James Madison and James Monroe.

Biography

Crowninshield's grave at Mount Auburn

Crowninshield was born in Salem, Massachusetts the son of a sea captain and merchant of the Boston Brahmin Crowninshield family. He worked in the family shipping business, Geo. Crowninshield & Sons, served at sea, and was also active in politics. His family owned the lands near Mineral Spring Pond, where the first Crowninshield family was cradled in the country. He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1811 and the state Senate in 1812.

Crowninshield became Secretary of the Navy in January 1815, a position almost held by his brother Jacob Crowninshield ten years earlier, at the end of the War of 1812 and managed the transition to a peacetime force. This included implementation of the new Board of Commissioners administrative system and the building of several ships of the line, the backbone of a much enhanced Navy. He also oversaw strategy and naval policy for the war with Algiers in 1815.

After leaving Navy office in 1818, Crowninshield returned to business and political affairs in Massachusetts, prospering in both. In addition to serving two more terms in the Massachusetts House, he was also elected to four terms the United States Congress from 1823 to 1831.

On his passing in 1851, Benjamin Williams Crowninshield was interred in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Crowninshield was the great-great-grandfather of Charles Francis Adams III, also Secretary of the Navy from 1929 to 1933.

Namesake

The destroyer USS Crowninshield (DD-134) was named in his honor.

Family tree

Crowninshield-Bradlee family tree
Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (1772–1851) Francis Boardman Crowninshield (1809–1877) Jonathan Mason Warren (1811–1867) Annie G. Crowninshield (1815–1905) Edward A. Crowninshield (1817–1859) George Casper Crowninshield (1810–1857) Benjamin W. Crowninshield (1837–1892) Alice Crowninshield (1839–1902) Josiah Bradlee III (1837–1902) Frederic Crowninshield (1845–1918) Caspar Crowninshield (1837–1897) Fanny Crowninshield (1839–1911) John Quincy Adams II (1833–1894) B.B. Crowninshield (1867–1948) Frederick Josiah Bradlee I (1866–1951) Helen Suzette Crowninshield (1868–1941) Frank Crowninshield (1872–1947) Harriet Sears Crowninshield (1869–1905) George Caspar Adams (1863–1900) Charles Francis Adams III (1866–1954) Frederick Josiah Bradlee Jr. (1892–1970) Josephine de Gersdorff (1896–1975) Constance Crowninshield Coolidge (1892–1973) Ray Atherton (1883–1960) Jean Saltonstall (1921–2011) Ben Bradlee (1921–2014) Sally Quinn (1941–) Martha Raddatz (1953–) Benjamin Bradlee Jr. (1948–) Quinn Bradlee (1982–)
Notes:

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

• United States Congress. "Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (id: C000946)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2009-03-04

See also

• Stephen Decatur