James Ewing House

James Ewing House
903 Ye Great St.
Map / Directions to the James Ewing House
Map / Directions to all Greenwich Revolutionary War Sites

***This house is a private residence.***
***Please respect the privacy and property of the owners.***

This house, which was built in 1773, was the home of James Ewing, one of the Greenwich Tea Burners. [6] He also served as an officer in the Cumberland County Militia during the war. His brother Thomas, another tea burner, served as a surgeon in the militia. The two Ewing brothers were at Fort Washington in 1776, at the same time that Philip Vickers Fithian was there as a chaplain. [7]

Later in the war, James Ewing represented Cumberland County during the 1778 and 1779 sessions of the New Jersey General Assembly. [8] He remained politically active after the war. In 1790, President George Washington appointed him the Commissioner of Loans for New Jersey. [9] He later served as the Mayor of Trenton from 1797-1803.

In 1798, while serving as Mayor, Ewing published a twenty-eight page pamphlet titled "The Columbian Alphabet," which proposed a simplified system of spelling for the English language. He sent a copy of the pamphlet to George Washington, who was then in retirement at Mount Vernon, his home in Virginia. Washington sent Ewing the following reply: [10]

Mount Vernon 26th Feby 1799

Sir
The Columbian Alphabet which you were so polite as to send me, came safe, and for which I pray you to accept my thanks. It is curious, and if it could be introduced, might be useful for the purposes proposed; but it will be a work of time, it is to be feared, before it shall be adopted, generally. I am Sir Your most Obedt Hble Servant

Go: Washington

On December 14, less than ten months after writing this letter, George Washington died at Mount Vernon. James Ewing remained in Trenton for the rest of his life. He died October 23, 1823, and is buried at the Presbyterian Church of Trenton. His simplified method of spelling was never adopted.