Shearjashub Bourne

Shearjashub Bourne (or Bourn, 1721-1781) was a son of Ezra and Martha Bourne. He was baptized in Sandwich, Massachusetts in 1726. He graduated from Harvard College. He married Ruth Church in Bristol in 1747. Shearjashub and Ruth had three children: Martha, Shearjashub, and Benjamin. Beginning in 1750, Shearjashub was a member of the Rhode Island General Assembly. In 1754, he was a justice of the peace for Bristol. In 1761, he was lieutenant colonel of the Bristol County Militia Regiment. By the next year, he commanded the regiment and served on the Rhode Island Council of War. As of the 1774 Rhode Island Census, there were three black people (likely enslaved) living in the Bourne household. In May, 1776, when Rhode Island’s Act of Renunciation was passed, Shearjashub was again serving in the General Assembly. By 1777, he was serving as a justice of the Rhode Island Superior Court.