Was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on the 4th Febru= =ary 1755. His great grandfather emigrated from the isle of Wight in England, among the earliest of those who settled with Penn in Pennsylvania. The family, from the first emigrant down to the subject of this memoir, were Quakers, & chiefly de= =voted to agriculture.

When young he received only an imperfect English education, which in after life he felt & regretted, & which he endeavored to supply, as far as he was able, by his own industry & application to private studies. At the age of fourteen he was taken from school [Nov 15, 1830] 1814 John Lacey. & employed occasionally on the farm, but principally in tending a mill, which his father owned. Here he devoted his leisure moments to reading & study & with the aid of borrowed books acquired a decent stock of useful knowledge.

In this manner his time was principally occupied, till the dis= =putes between Great Britain & the colonies assumed a serious as= =pect. Many of his nearest connections, & most of the Quakers, the sect to which he then belonged, were in favor of the claims of Great Bri= =tain, but he zealously espoused the cause of his country, & united with those who prepared to resist the oppressive measures of the parent country. A volunteer association of young men was for= =med in the county, to learn the use of arms, & he was unanimous= =ly chosen their captain.

On the recommendation of the general congress, several battal= =ions of troops were ordered to be raised in Pennsylvania, for the defense of the country; & the 5th of January 1776, congress appointed him a captain. In about twenty days after he received his commission, he enlisted his full compliment of men; & was attached to the fourth battallion commanded by col. Anthony Wayne; & were directed to ren= =devous at Chester-from Chester they were soon ordered to New York, & from thence towards Canada. About this time a misunder= =standing arose between the colonel & himself; but he continued to serve out the residue of the campaign; during which he was selected by general Sullivan to go express into Canada, with com= =munications to general Arnold; tho a hazardous undertaking, he effected it to entire satisfaction. When the army went into winter quarters he sent in his resignation, accompanied with a detailed statement of his reasons for a proceedure so little congenial with his wishes, & his original views, but which existing circumstances, in his opinion, imperiously required him to adopt.

On the 22d of March 1777 he was appointed an officer, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, to organize & class the militia of Pernsyl= =vania, to call out the classes, & fine those who should prove de= =linquent. On the 6th of May following he was appointed lieutenant colonel in the militia.

After the British had taken possession of Philadelphia, a draft was made on the militia of Bucks county to releive those whose time of service had nearly expired, & being & anxious for active employment he solicited & obtained command of a regiment, from the officer whose term it was to take the field. Having collected between three and [Nov 19, 1830] 1814 John Lacey. four hundred men, he marched from Newtown, & in the beginning of November joined general Potter's brigade at Whitemarsh. While on this tour of duty, he was engaged in frequent skirmishes with parties of the enemy, & in one of some severity near the gulph mills on Schuykill, from which he had a narrow escape, in consequence of his perseverance in rallying & encouraging the troops, in the face of a superior force. General Washington, in his orders of the next day, commended him for his conduct on that occasion. After this affair he commanded a detactment of militia on the eastern side of the Schuykill till the close of the campaign.

His active exertions in suppressing intercourse with the Bri= =tish, & breaking up the iniquitous traffic of their adherents, had by this time so strongly excited the tories & disaffected, that they menaced him with personal vengeance; but a spirit so determi= =ned, & devoted to the service as his, was not to be influenced by such considerations.

On the 9th of January 1778, he not being then quite twenty three years of age, the government of Pennsylvania appointed him a brigadier general. Without delay he repaired to his post, & had an important duty to perform, on the lines, while the British occupied Philadelphia. The utmost vigilance was required, to cut off the intercourse of the tories with the city, & to watch the movements of the enemies parties, who denounced vengeance against him, & declared they would have him, dead or alive. He was incessantly employed in this service, till the middle of May, at the head of a fluctuating body of militia, whose force sometimes amounted to five hundred men, but was frequently reduced to half that number. On the first of May, ow= =ing to the misconduct of the officer commanding the scouts, his camp was surprised, by a strong detachment of the British, con= =sisting, according to their own accounts, of four hundred light infantry, three hundred rangers, & a party of light dragoons, under the command of colonel Abercrombie. He was assailed on all sides, about daylight, & was for a short time, in a perilous situation. He determined on a bold expedient, & hastily forming his little band, he fought his way thro the enemy, with the loss of twenty six killed, & an inconsiderable number of wounded, & prisoners.

A number of hazardous enterprizes in the vicinity of the enemy's outposts, requiring great address & dexterity in the [Nov 16, 1830] 1814 John Lacey. execution, were undertaken by him, at the request of gene= =ral Washington; & were performed, for the most part, with success, & always to the satisfaction of the latter. The command= =er in chief imposed upon Lacey an unpleasant duty, to be performed among his neighbors & relations-the derangement of their grist mills, & the destruction of grain, forage, & other private property, to distress the enemy by preventing him from drawing supplies from that part of the country. This painful service he executed reluctantly, but impartially, in all cases.

After the British had evacuated Philadelphia, he was elected a mem= =ber of the general assembly, from the county of Bucks, & took his seat in November 1778. The next year he was elected to the council, of which he was a member for the three succeeding years. In 1780 general Washington apprehensive that the enemy again intended to invade Pennsylvania, general Lacey was ordered to Trenton, New Jersey, with a brigade of the militia; & continued in the service most of the time till october 1781. He was an officer of a remarkable fine, martial appearance, of a determined, en= =terprising character, devoted to the cause of his country. During his last command he married a daughter of colonel Reynolds of New Jersey, & shortly after removed to that State, & settled at the village of New Mills, in Burlington county, where he became largely concerned in iron works. He was for many years an active & useful citizen, having been member of the legislature, justice of the peace, & judge of the county court where he resided.

In the latter part of his life he was much afflicted with the gout, of which he died February 17th 1814 aged fifty nine years.