John Teunis Bergen

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John Teunis Bergen (born 1786; died March 9, 1855) was a United States Representative from New York. Born in Gowanus, Brooklyn, he completed preparatory studies and was appointed a lieutenant in the New York State Militia in 1812, and promoted to captain in 1815. He served in the War of 1812 and was sheriff of Kings County from 1821 to 1825 and again from 1828 until 1831, when he resigned. He purchased the Long Island Patriot in 1829, the name of which was subsequently changed to the Brooklyn Advocate, and which ultimately became the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Bergen was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-second Congress, holding office from March 4, 1831 to March 3, 1833; while in the House he was chairman of the Committee on Accounts. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1832 and engaged in agricultural pursuits near Bay Ridge, New Utrecht (now part of Brooklyn). He moved to Brooklyn and engaged in the grocery business; in 1837, with his sons, he conducted a planing mill in New York City. He moved to Genesee County and engaged in agricultural pursuits. Bergen died in Batavia, New York in 1855; interment was in Batavia Cemetery.

Bergen's second cousin, Teunis Garret Bergen, was also a U.S. Representative from New York as well as a historian.

[edit] References

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress