John Fell

Who was John Fell?

John Fell was an American merchant and jurist. Born in New York City, he was engaged in overseas trade and had acquired a small fleet of ships by the time he moved to Bergen County, New Jersey, in the 1760s, and lived at "Peterfield", a home in present-day Allendale, New Jersey that has become known as the "John Fell House". He served as judge of the court of common pleas in Bergen County from 1766 to 1774. With the coming of the American Revolutionary War, he became chairman of Bergen County's committee of correspondence and the committee of safety. He was Bergen County's leading delegate to the Provincial Congress of New Jersey in 1775. In 1776 Fell was elected to a one-year term in the New Jersey Legislative Council representing Bergen County.