Book Of Stuff

73

Church was set up in business in London by his wealthy uncle, John Barker of Mansel Street, a director of the London Assurance Company. According to a defamatory account of his career published in 1794, Stock Exchange speculation and gambling were responsible for his bankruptcy in August 1774, when he was described as a grocer, with premises in Mark Lane.To escape his creditors he went to America where, under the alias of John Carter, he was one of three commissioners appointed by the Continental Congress on 26 July 1776 to audit the accounts of the army in the northern department. He obtained leave to resign his commission on 15 Sept. 1777, with the plea that 'important business requires his immediate presence in Boston'.Three months earlier he had eloped with the daughter of Philip Schuyler, one of Washington's major-generals, who, being ignorant of Church's 'family, his connections, and situation in life', found the match 'extremely disagreeable'. Mrs Schuyler's parents, the Van Rensselaers, interceded to bring about a reconciliation and Church was accepted into the family. He established a close friendship with Alexander Hamilton, who married his wife's sister in 1780.

In Boston, Church embarked on a variety of business ventures, including banking and shipping, and speculated in currency and land. He and his business partner, Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth of Hartford, Connecticut, secured a contract for provisioning the French forces in America in 1780, and two years later they were contracted as sole suppliers to the American army as well. Church prospered, and James McHenry, Washington's former secretary, noted in 1782 that he had 'riches enough, with common management, to make the longest life very comfortable'.