The convention called at Exeter assembled on July 21, 1774, and is now known in history as the “First Provincial Congress” of New Hampshire. There were eighty-five members present, with the speaker of the assembly, Hon. John Wentworth, a relative of the governor in the chair. This distinguished body, composed of the best men in the province, many of whom had seen service in the French and Indian wars, and who can justly be styled the founders of the state, chose for their first representatives to the Continental Congress Maj. John Sullivan and Col. Nathaniel Folsom; and for the first time in the history of his native state does the name of John Sullivan officially make its appearance in its legislative records. It is evident to any one who has read closely the history of the stirring events of the period that some master hand was at work directing all the movements, civil and military, occurring at the time; and that this was the hand of John Sullivan later events prove clearly. The son of an Irish exile, and the grandson of one of the ill-fated defenders of Limerick, he was born in Somersworth, N. H., at a point opposite Berwick, Me., on February 18, 1740. He was educated by his father, who had himself enjoyed the benefits of a liberal and thorough training before he settled in America, and who, through a long life, extending to his one hundred and fifth year, was diligently employed in the education of youth. After a voyage to the West Indies he became a member of the family of Hon. Isaac Livermore, a lawyer of Portsmouth having an extensive practice, and under his instruction prepared himself for his profession. He early exhibited ability of a high order, gained the respect and encouragement of his instructor, and soon acquired a distinguished position at the bar of New Hampshire. Just before reaching his majority he located in the town of Durham, purchased a handsome residence, which is still in existence, and in which he lived up to the time of his death. Such was his professional success, that he married at the age of twenty, and for ten years later he was constantly employed in the most lucrative causes, thereby incurring the resentment of sundry persons in Durham and elsewhere, who petitioned the executive council in 1766, complaining of him for evil practices as attorney-at-law. This trouble, whatever its nature may have been, existed even to the end of his days, and was doubtless at the bottom of the scheme to injure his reputation years after his death; for to this day there are some who would rob him of the credit given him in the state records for planning the capture of the powder at Newcastle and leading the party that effected it.