William Henry Drayton - Philadelphia, PA
N 39° 57.117 W 075° 08.905
18S E 487322 N 4422434
Somewhere at the old western entrance to the Christ Church Cemetery is the remains of William Henry Drayton, a South Carolina patriot. Find the sign and you are a stone's throw from his grave.
Waymark Code: WMCYA4
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 10/25/2011
Views: 14
There is a beautiful marker attached to the brick wall, at the middle of the western wall of this almost 300 year old cemetery. It is attached inside the cemetery, to the left of the defunct west gate. In 1965, the marker makes claim his grove is unknown but further intelligence has narrowed it down to a more specific area, not too far from the marker. I figured 50 or so feet from this marker was good enough to acknowledge a patriot of the United States Revolution and of this country.
William Henry Drayton (September 1742 – September 3, 1779) was an American planter and lawyer from Charleston, South Carolina. He served as a delegate for South Carolina to the Continental Congress in 1778 and 1779. In 1774, while serving in office appointed by English loyalists, he wrote a pamphlet, the American Claim of Rights, that supported the call for a Continental Congress. This got him removed from all government positions which completed his conversion to the Rebel cause. You see, at first, like many Patriots, he opposed an armed conflict or any struggle against their mother country. In 1778, Carolina sent Drayton as a delegate to the Continental Congress where he gave strong support to the military. He died while in office at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Not too sure why he was not a signer of the Declaration if Independence as he was still alive on August 2, when it was finally signed.
The marker reads:
WILLIAM HENRY DRAYTON
1742 - 1779
Clarion Call of the American Revolution
In South Carolina. His eloquence awakened
The sons of his native state to their danger
And brought them to arms, from the mountains
To the Sea. President of Provincial Congress
in 1775, Chief Justice of S.C. 1776, Member
of Continental Congress 1778 until his death
in Philadelphia in 1779, Signer of the Articles
of Confederation. He is buried here in a
Grave unknown and unmarked.
Erected By
S.C. Societies of Daughter of American
Colonists and Daughters of Colonial Wars
1965