John Reading

John Reading (6 June 1686 – 5 November 1767) was the first native-born governor of the British Province of New Jersey, serving in 1747, and again from September 1757 to June 1758. His father, Colonel John Reading, was the first major landowner in Hunterdon County. Governor Reading was one of the founders and trustees of the College of New Jersey, which later became Princeton University. The Reading family is still influential in the state of New Jersey. Early life and political career John Reading was born at Gloucester, New Jersey on 6 June 1686. John and his sister Elsie were sent with their mother to England for education, where they remained for several years. Upon return to the United States Reading assisted his father in his work as a surveyor and in the management of his extensive landed interest. He inherited a large estate upon his father's death in 1717, especially in land, which made him the wealthiest man in Hunterdon county.