Samuel Meredith

Samuel Meredith (born 1741 in Philadelphia , Province of Pennsylvania , †  February 10, 1817 in Wayne County , Pennsylvania ) was an American politician who attended the Continental Congress as a delegate from Pennsylvania .

As a teenager, Samuel Meredith was educated at Doctor Allison's Academy , a private school in Philadelphia. Then he embarked on a career in the commercial trade. After the outbreak of the American Revolution , he joined the Continental Army in 1776 and initially served with the rank of major during the War of Independence . He commanded a battalion and was promoted to Brigadier General of the Pennsylvania Militia on April 5, 1777 . In 1778 he retired from the military.

After serving in the Pennsylvania colonial parliament before the Revolution, Meredith continued his political career. From 1786 to 1788 he took up his mandate as a delegate to the Continental Congress, whose meetings at that time took place exclusively in New York . On August 1, 1789, he took over the post of inspector ( Surveyor ) in the port of Philadelphia. Eventually he was appointed Treasurer of the United States by US President George Washington to succeed Michael Hillegas . He was the first to hold this high position in the Treasury Department after the US Constitution came into effect and held it from September 11, 1789 until his resignation on December 1, 1801.

Meredith then retired to his country estate, "Belmont Manor," near the small town of Pleasant Mount in Wayne County. He died there in February 1817 and was buried in the family cemetery on his property.

Web links

• Samuel Meredith in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Samuel Meredith in the database of Find a Grave (English)