John Deas (217)

John Deas (29 January 1735–30 September 1790) was a merchant, plantation owner, slaveholder, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Deas arrived in Charleston in 1749 to begin a trading venture with his brother David. Business indeed proved good for the brothers and their ships of rice, indigo, and other Carolina produce began to reach buyers in England and the Netherlands. After his wife inherited her father’s plantation, the Deas family divided its time between their home in Charleston and the newly acquired property. As was expected for a man with his wealth and stature, Deas joined a number of institutions—St. Andrew’s Society, St. Cecilia Society, the Freemasons, and the Charleston Library Society—before he was elected to the APS. After the death of his father-in-law, a generous inheritance allowed him and his family to take an extended trip back to Scotland in 1769 where Deas reconnected with family and friends, not returning until 1772. During the American Revolution, Deas served in the military until he eventually surrendered when British troops took control of his corner of South Carolina. Nevertheless, he found ways to support Independence throughout the conflict including supplying horses, forage, and enslaved labor to the Continental army. Though colonial officials interpreted his quiet contributions as acceding to the British, his neighbors recognized him as a contributing Patriot as evidenced by his elections to a series of fraternal and religious organizations, including his election as Grand Master at the Provincial Lodge of Masons in 1781, following the end of the war. When he died in 1790, his commercial and human capital made him one of Charleston’s wealthiest residents. (PI)