Aaron Hankinson
Aaron Hankinson (February 7, 1735 – October 9, 1806) was a farmer, a military officer in the American Revolution, and a New Jersey legislator.
He was born in Matawan, in what is now Monmouth County, New Jersey, to Rachel Mattison and Joseph Hankinson. As a youth, his family moved to Readington Township in the northern Highlands of Hunterdon County. On February 9, 1764, he married Mary Snyder, and they moved to Sussex County, north of the village of Stillwater, in Upper Hardwick. His father bought 363 acres and divided part of it between Aaron and his brother William.
During the Revolution, Hankinson was commissioned a captain in the Sussex County Militia on July 26, 1775, under Colonel Ephraim Martin. He was promoted to colonel the next year and served at Sandy Hook to defend the New Jersey coast near New York Harbor. In 1777 his militia fought at the Battle of Brandywine and later took part in the Battle of Germantown near Philadelphia. In the Minisink region, north of the Delaware Water Gap and around the Neversink River, Hankinson and his men protected the area from Loyalists, Tory forces, and their Native American allies led by Captain Joseph Brant. Pulaski’s Legion had previously defended this area before moving to South Carolina. By the end of the war, Hankinson had been promoted to brigadier general.
After the war, Hankinson entered politics and was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly, serving multiple terms from 1782 to 1786 and again from 1788 to 1792.
Memoirs by Schaeffer describe him as a farmer, a devoted member and leader in the Hardwick church, and at one time its chorister. He died on October 9, 1806, and was buried in the Yellow Frame Presbyterian Churchyard (Upper Hardwick), on the border between Fredon and Frelinghuysen townships. The tombstone notes him as Brigadier General Aaron Hankinson, who died October 9, 1806, aged 71 years, 8 months, and 2 days.
Aaron and Mary had 13 children. Among his descendants is William A. Newell, a former governor of New Jersey.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 09:53 (CET).