David Wiley | |
|---|---|
 Charles Peale Polk, David Wiley, c. 1801, in the National Portrait Gallery | |
| Born | 1768 Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | October 14, 1812 (aged 43–44) Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Surveyor, minister |
| Known for | Mayor of Georgetown |
Rev. David Wiley (1768 – October 14, 1812) was an American surveyor, politician, writer, scientist, and Presbyterian minister who served as postmaster and mayor of Georgetown, District of Columbia.[1]
Biography[edit]
Early life and ministry[edit]
David Wiley was born in 1768 in Pennsylvania. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton) in 1788. From 1788 to 1789, Wiley was a tutor at Hampden Sidney College in Virginia.[2] Wiley married Susan Wynnkoop and they had four children.[3][4]
Wiley was ordained as a Presbyterian minister by the Presbytery of Huntingdon on April 9, 1794, and installed as pastor of two congregations in Centre County, Cedar Creek and Spring Creek.[2]
During this period, Wiley also served as the first stated clerk of the Presbytery.[2] He served subsequent congregations and in temporary vacancies until April 1801, when he requested and obtained permission to move to the Presbytery of Baltimore, which covered a wide region that included Virginia.[5]
Academic and political career[edit]
In 1801, Wiley was requested by Stephen Bloomer Balch to move to Georgetown to succeed him[6] as the principal and headmaster of a private school, the Columbian Academy.[7] Wiley also taught several subjects at the academy, including philosophy, mathematics, geography, and Greek.[8][9] His pupils included Thomas Bloomer Balch.[10]
In 1802, Wiley wrote to President Thomas Jefferson encouraging the appointment of his friend William R. Cozens to be the first Librarian of Congress.[11]
According to The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, in October 1804, Wiley, along with Abraham Bradley Jr., made a series of astronomical observations near the White House to determine its longitude and latitude.[12]
In 1805, President Jefferson considered appointing Wiley as a leader of the Red River Expedition of the Southwestern United States.[13]
Wiley served as the secretary of the Columbian Agricultural Society.[14]
In 1806, Wiley was elected as a trustee of the Presbyterian Church in Georgetown. He also served as a voting member of the Presbyterian General Assembly.[15]
From 1810 to 1813, Wiley was the first editor of the Agricultural Museum, the first agricultural periodical magazine published in the United States.[16][17] The magazine discouraged excessive importation in the United States and included Thomas Jefferson among its readers.[18][19][20][21]
Wiley served as Georgetown's postmaster[22] and was appointed by the United States Congress to serve as Turnpike commissioner from 1809 to 1811.[15] From 1811 to 1812, served a one-year term as mayor of Georgetown, succeeding Thomas Corcoran.[23]
Death[edit]
Wiley died on October 14, 1812, while staying at Jordan's Inn in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He had been traveling to the region on a government survey.[24]
Legacy[edit]
An 1801 painting of Wiley by Charles Peale Polk is in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery.[25][26]
References[edit]
- ^ "Franklin and His Friends: Portraying the Man of Science in Eighteenth-Century America"". npg.si.edu. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ a b c Gibson, William J. (1874). History of the Presbytery of Huntingdon. Bellefonte Press Company Print. pp. 234–235.
- ^ Wynkoop, Richard (1904). Wynkoop Genealogy in the United States of America. Knickerbocker Press.
- ^ Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine. R.R. Bowker Company. 1916.
- ^ "History". Presbytery of Baltimore. July 1, 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ Ecker, Grace Dunlop (1933). A Portrait of Old Georgetown. Garrett & Massie, Inc. pp. 41–43.
- ^ Ruth L. Woodward and Wesley Frank Craven, Princetonians, 1784–1790: A Biographical Dictionary [Princeton, 1991], 313–16)
- ^ Fortune, Brandon Brame; Warner, Deborah Jean (1999). Franklin and His Friends: Portraying the Man of Science in Eighteenth-century America. Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-8122-1701-8.
- ^ Crew, Harvey W. (1892). Centennial History of the City of Washington, D. C.: With Full Outline of the Natural Advantages, Accounts of the Indian Tribes, Selection of the Site, Founding of the City ... to the Present Time. H. W. Crew.
- ^ McClintock, John (1889). Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. Harper & brothers. p. 312.
- ^ "Founders Online: To Thomas Jefferson from David Stone, 26 January 1802". founders.archives.gov. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ "To Thomas Jefferson from William Lambert, 15 December 1804," Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-45-02-0193 . [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 45, November 11, 1804, to March 8, 1805, ed. James P. McClure et al. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021, pp. 175–176.]
- ^ "Founders Online: From Thomas Jefferson to Henry Dearborn, 29 March 1805". founders.archives.gov. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ Pinkett, Harold T. (1951). "Early Agricultural Societies in the District of Columbia". Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C. 51/52: 32–45. ISSN 0897-9049. JSTOR 40067295.
- ^ a b The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3,1845 by Authority of Congress. 1845.
- ^ Corral, Westerners Chicago (1944). The Westerners Brand Book. The Westerners.
- ^ Kane, Joseph Nathan, Famous First Facts. A Record of First Happenings, Discoveries and Inventions in the United States, H.W. Wilson Company, 1950
- ^ Demaree, Albert Lowther (1941). The American Agricultural Press, 1819–1860. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-93058-1.
- ^ The Agricultural Museum. published. 1811.
- ^ Nettels, Curtis P. (July 28, 2017). The Emergence of a National Economy, 1775–1815. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-49675-7.
- ^ "Founders Online: John Mason to Thomas Jefferson, 18 July 1810". founders.archives.gov. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ Meeting, American Library Association General (1920). Papers and Proceedings of the ... General Meeting of the American Library Association Held at ... The Association.
- ^ D.C.), Columbia Historical Society (Washington (1920). Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C. The Society.
- ^ Abstracts of Vital Records from Raleigh, North Carolina, Newspapers: 1799–1819. Reprint Company. 1979. p. 533. ISBN 9780871522979.
- ^ "David Wiley". npg.si.edu. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
- ^ Schwarz, Robert D. (1987). A Gallery Collects Peales. F.S. Schwarz.
Bibliography[edit]
- Benedetto, Robert; Donovan, Jane; Du Vall, Kathleen (2003). Historical Dictionary of Washington, D.C.. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0810840944.
- Commissioners of the District of Columbia (1913). Annual Report of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia – Year Ended June 30, 1911. Volume IV: Report of the Board of Education. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
- Taggart, Hugh T. (1908). "Old Georgetown". Records of the Columbia Historical Society: 120–224.
- Tindall, William (1922). "The Executives and Voters of Georgetown, District of Columbia". Records of the Columbia Historical Society. The Society: 89–117.
Daniel Reintzel Georgetown.
- Tindall, William (1909). Origin and Government of the District of Columbia. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.