~ Henry Laurens, President of Congress ~

• Presided over the Continental Congress which drafted the Articles of Confederation.  He had become President of Congress on November 1, 1777, succeeding John Hancock.  A signer of the  Articles of Confederation, he was elected Minister to Holland, October 21, 1779, and sailed early in 1780.  He was captured on the voyage and held prisoner in the Tower of London for fifteen months; was released, December 31, 1781, in exchange for Lord Cornwallis.
• Prominent state legislator 1757-1777, member American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, 1772-1792.
• Appointed one of the peace commissioners and signed the preliminary Treaty of Paris, November 30, 1782.  Died at the age of 68 on December 8, 1792.  His remains were cremated, the first white cremation on record in America and his ashes interred on his estate "Mepkin", on the Cooper River, thirty miles above Charleston.
• His Masonic affiliations include being a member of Solomon Lodge No. 1, Charleston, South Carolina, serving as Treasurer in 1755, and Grand Steward of the Provincial Grand Lodge in the same year.