Belknap (Jeremy) is born in Boston.

The son of Joseph and Sarah (Byles) Belknap, Jeremy Belknap graduates from Harvard College, becomes a minister, and serves initially in Dover , New Hampshire. He marries Ruth Eliot in 1867, is installed as pastor of the Federal Street Church on April 4, 1787, and lives on Summer Street. Belknap becomes an historian, a founder of the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1791,* and continues as minister of the Federal Street Church until his death in Boston on June 20, 1798.