Early Mint Personnel

Dr. James Rush (1786 - 1869), was the seventh child of Dr. Benjamin Rush and Julia Stockton. Following in the footsteps of his father, he studied at both Princeton University and at Edinburgh. After returning to Philadelphia, he obtained his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1809. In 1819, James married Phoebe Anne Ridgway (1799-1857), daughter of the wealthy Philadelphia merchant Jacob Ridgway (1768-1843). Rush and his wife resided on Chestnut street, west of 19th street in Philadelphia, in a home that James Rush had designed and built. It was at this house, which was large enough to accommodate approximately eight-hundred guests, that they threw some of the most lavish parties in Philadelphia. After the death of her father, Phoebe inherited an estate worth over a million dollars, which after her death in 1857, was passed to her husband.

On April 27th, 1813, he was appointed Treasurer of the United States Mint, replacing his father. He held this post until resigning on September 12th, 1830. He retired from public life after only a short time, to pursue his literary and scientific interests. He published several books, the most well known of which was The Philosophy of the Human voice: embracing its physiological history; together with a system of principles, which was published in six revised editions during his lifetime. After his death, Rush left his estate to found the Ridgway Branch of the Library Company of Philadelphia. His estate was administered by his brother-in-law, Henry J. Williams.

Tristam Dalton (1732—1817), was born in Newburyport, Mass., May 28th, 1738. He attended Dummer Academy, Byfield, Mass., and graduated from Harvard College in 1755. He studied law and was admitted to the bar, but did not practice. Instead, he engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was a delegate from Massachusetts to the convention of committees of New England Provinces, which met in Providence, R.I., December 25th, 1776. Dalton was also a member of the State house of representatives in 1782-1785, and served as speaker in 1784. At the same time, he was elected to the Continental Congress in 1783 and 1784, but did not attend. After being a member of the State senate from 1785-1788, he was elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4th, 1789, to March 3rd, 1791, although he was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election in 1790. Dalton was appointed as Treasurer of the U. S. Mint in 1792 and remained until he resigned on April 23rd, 1794. In later life, he was surveyor of the port of Boston, Mass. from November 1814 until his death there on May 30th, 1817. He is buried in the churchyard of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Newburyport, Essex County, Mass.

Hon. William Findley (1763-1846) Findley, the fourth Governor of Pennsylvania under the Constitution of 1790, from December 16th, 1817, to December 19th, 1820, was born at Mercersburg, Franklin county, June 20th, 1763. He commenced life as a farmer, on a portion of his father's estate, which at the death of his father in 1799, he inherited. The first office which he ever held was that of Brigade Inspector of militia. In 1797, Findley was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the State Legislature and he was again elected to the House in 1803. He proved himself a leading member, and one of the most useful in the House, being placed in the most responsible positions. On January 13th, 1807, he was elected State Treasurer, and was annually re-elected to that office for eleven years, when he resigned to assume the duties of Chief Magistrate.

At the session of the Legislature, 1821-2, Governor Findley was elected to the Senate of the United States for the full term of six years. At the expiration of his Senatorial term he was then appointed Treasurer of the United States Mint at Philadelphia on September 13th, 1830 and resigned that office on account of the infirmities of age in 1845. He died at Harrisburg, at the residence of his son-in-law, Governor Shunk, November 12th, 1846. Governor Findley was a very popular man.

Dr. Nicholas Way (1746 - 1797) Way had come to Philadelphia from Wilmington in 1794, encouraged by his old friend and classmate, Benjamin Rush and lured by an appointment to a federal government sinecure, as Treasurer of the Mint. He also became one of the city's top obstetricians. he was appointed Treasurer of the Mint on may 20th, 1794, replacing Dalton. During the epidemic of 1797 he organized a group of doctors to visit the poor. He succumbed to the “Yellow Fever” at the beginning of September, 1797 and was buried in the Friends Burial Ground on September 3rd.

Mint Treasurers

Albion Cox (17?? - 1795) Cox was involved with coining the state coppers of New Jersey in 1786. Due to being sued by his companions in that venture however, he was condemned to debtors prison, but escaped to England. Ironically in 1793, he was offered the position of Assayer with the United States Mint, although he was not anxious to return to America. Cox was provisionally engaged with the Mint on March 8th, 1793 and purchased assaying equipment to bring back to America. Both he and the equipment arrived in May, 1793 aboard the ship “Pigon”.

Both Henry Voigt (Coiner) and Albion Cox (Assayer), were unable to post the bonds required by law so that they could handle the silver and gold bullion, preventing coinage in those metals. Only after the bonds were lowered by an act of Congress on March 3rd, 1794, was Cox officially commissioned as Mint Assayer on April 4th, 1794. Early in 1795, when Congress was investigating the Mint and ideas were being put forth to end the establishment, Cox recommended John Harper as a person to perhaps contract the coinage with. In July, out going Mint Director DeSaussure wrote the President stating that Cox most likely would not remain with the Mint and was preparing to go into business on his own account. However, on Friday November 27th, 1795 Cox died from a sudden apoplectic fit.

James Rush

4th Mint Treasurer

1813 - 1830

Tristam Dalton

1st Mint Treasurer

1792 - 1794

Nicholas Way

2nd Mint Treasurer

1794 - 1797

Dr. Benjamin Rush (1745 - 1813), was born to John Rush and Susanna Hall on December 24th, 1745 in the Township of Byberry in Philadelphia County, which was then about 14 miles outside Philadelphia. The township was incorporated into Philadelphia in 1854, and now remains one of its neighborhoods. His father died when he was six, and Rush spent most of his early life with his maternal uncle, the Reverend Samuel Finley. He attended Finley's academy at Nottingham which would later become West Nottingham Academy.

In 1760, he completed a five-year program earning him a Bachelor of Arts degree at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), and then studied medicine under Dr. John Redman in Philadelphia. Redman encouraged him to further his studies at the University of Edinburgh, where he earned a medical degree. While in Europe practicing medicine, he learned French, Italian, and Spanish. Returning to the Colonies in 1769, Rush opened a medical practice in Philadelphia and became Professor of Chemistry at the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania).

He published the first American textbook on chemistry, several volumes on medical student education, and wrote influential patriotic essays. He was active in the Sons of Liberty and was elected to attend the provincial conference to send delegates to the Continental Congress. He consulted Thomas Paine on the writing of the profoundly influential pro-independence pamphlet, Common Sense. He was appointed to represent Pennsylvania at the Continental Congress and was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

In 1777 he became surgeon-general of the middle department of the Continental Army. Conflicts with the Army Medical service, specifically with Dr. William Shippen, Jr., led to Rush's resignation in 1778. As General George Washington suffered a series of defeats in the war, Rush campaigned for his removal, as part of the Conway Cabal, losing his trust and ending Rush's war activities. Rush later expressed regret for his actions against Washington. In a letter to John Adams in 1812, Rush wrote, "He [Washington] was the highly favored instrument whose patriotism and name contributed greatly to the establishment of the independence of the United States."

In 1783 he was appointed to the staff of Pennsylvania Hospital, of which he remained a member until his death. He was elected to the Pennsylvania convention which adopted the Federal constitution. He became Professor of medical theory and clinical practice at the University of Pennsylvania in 1791, though the quality of his medicine was quite primitive even for the time: he advocated bleeding (for almost any illness) long after its practice had declined. He became a social activist, an abolitionist, and was the most well-known physician in America at the time of his death. He was also founder of the private liberal arts college Dickinson College, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Rush was also a founding member of the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons (known today as the Pennsylvania Prison Society), which greatly influenced the construction of Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. He was appointed treasurer of the U.S. Mint on November 20th, 1797 to replace his recently deceased friend Nicholas Way, serving until his death on April 19th, 1813. At his death, he was buried at Christ Church in Philadelphia.

Joseph Richardson Jr. (1752 - 1831), was born in Philadelphia on December 4th, 1752. Richardson was a Philadelphia silversmith and son of silversmith Joseph Richardson Sr. His father was the engraver of medals for the Quaker Society, the 1757 Indian Peace medals and possibly also executed the Colonel Armstrong Kittaning medal. The younger Richardson, designed and engraved the oval shaped Indian Peace medals used during Washington’s Presidency, especially those used for the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. Richardson worked in both gold and silver and was in partnership with his brother, Nathaniel Richardson, from 1785 to 1791 in the firm of Joseph and Nathaniel Richardson. Later, he was in partnership with James Howell under the name of Richardson & Co. Richardson was also a well known Philadelphian Quaker.

After the death of Albion Cox, Charles Gilchrist, who provided the security for Cox, applied for the position of Mint Assayer. However, Richardson was appointed by President Washington on December 12th, 1795. He served faithfully in the position for the next 35 years and passed away while still in office, on March 11th, 1831.

Joseph Richardson Jr.

2nd Mint Assayer

1795 - 1831

John Richardson (1790 - 1866), was born on May 13th, 1790. The son of Joseph Richardson Jr., John was engaged as the assistant assayer at the Mint for ten years prior to his fathers death and was highly skilled in that regard, according to Mint Director Samuel Moore.

John was appointed as the Mint Assayer upon his fathers death on March 31st. 1831. However, he resigned a year later in April of 1832, due to finding the employment uncongenial to his tastes. Even though he decided the work was not for him, he was still considered a good man and was highly esteemed. Later he became a book dealer, and passed away on October 1st, 1866.

Albion Cox

1st Mint Assayer

1793 - 1795

John Richardson

3rd Mint Assayer

1831 - 1832

Jacob R. Eckfeldt (1803 - 1872), was born in Philadelphia in March of 1803. Jacob was the eldest son of Chief Coiner Adam and Margaretta Eckfeldt and was educated at the classical academy of a Dr. Wylie and Mr. Engles. Early on, he was employed as a subordinate manager at a cotton mill in Trenton for several years until that business faltered. He began employment at the Mint in the parting room under Joseph Cloud, the then current Melter and Refiner.

On April 30th, 1832 he was appointed as the Mint Assayer to replace the resigning John Richardson. During 1834 he and his foreman were stricken with small pox, but both soon recovered. On October 19th, 1835, he married Emily M. Levering of Philadelphia. To this union was born a son, Jacob Bausch Eckfeldt, who eventually went to work in the Mint under his father in 1865.

Together with his good friend and Brother-in-law William E. DuBois, Eckfeldt authored a book in 1842 titled “A Manual of Gold and Silver Coins of All Nations, struck within the past century”. They would again collaborate in 1850 on the book, “New Varieties of Gold and Silver Coins, Counterfeit Coins and Bullion, with Mint Values”.

After forty years in the position of Mint Assayer, he passed away on August 9th, 1872. William E. DuBois was appointed to proceed him and his son Jacob B. was appointed as assistant Assayer at the same time.

Jacob R. Eckfeldt

4th Mint Assayer

1832 - 1872

David Ott (17?? - 179?) The original Mint act failed to provide for a Melter / Refiner. David Ott was the headmaster of the German Lutheran School in Philadelphia and first worked for the mint in late December 1792 or early January 1793, as he was paid $24.17 for assaying coins on January 7th, 1793. He then began the work of melter / refiner starting on November 1st, 1794. Once the Congressional Committee investigating the Mint recommended in a report of February 9th, 1795 that a provision should be made for an officer to take charge of the process of reducing the bullion after it was assayed and melting it into ingots or bars for the rolling mills, Ott was temporarily appointed to that job pro tem, on March 3rd. However, he was never commissioned as the Melter / Refiner and resigned on November 7th, 1796.

David Ott

1st Melter / Refiner

1793 - 1796

Joseph Cloud (1770 - 1845), was born on August 27th, 1770, in Chester county, Pennsylvania. He began working for the Mint on November 12th, 1796, to replace David Ott, and he was officially commissioned on January 2nd, 1797. Joseph was elected to America's oldest scholarly organization, the American Philosophical Society (founded by Benjamin Franklin), in 1806. He served as Secretary (1812) and Curator (1814-22) under Thomas Jefferson who was President of the Society from 1797 to 1814.

He was married, Aug. 21, 1797, to Eliza, daughter of Enoch and Elizabeth (Maris) Taylor, of West Bradford. He was at the head of the melting and refining department of the United States mint, at Philadelphia, until Jan. 14, 1836, when he resigned on account of failing eyesight. Besides two daughters, Eliza and Elizabeth, who died young, he had a son, Joseph, born Dec. 17th, 1800, who was married to Elizabeth Roberts. The younger Joseph owned what was known as the Como farm, in West Bradford, and was familiarly spoken of as young Dr. Cloud, he died on June 2nd, 1834. His son, Edwin Cloud, resided in Franklin township. The elder Joseph died July 31st, 1845 in Radnor, and was buried at Laurel Hill.

Joseph Cloud

2nd Melter / Refiner

1796 - 1836

Benjamin Franklin Peale (1795 - 1870), was born in Philadelphia on October 15th, 1795, one of the sons of famed artist Charles Willson Peale. When he was born, his father requested that the members of the American Philosophical Society give him his name and he was named after the founder of the society, Benjamin Franklin. For most of his life he was known simply as Franklin. Young Peale early on showed a taste for mechanics, and his father gave him every facility to improve himself in any direction in which nature seemed to lead him. Part of his general education was received at the University of Pennsylvania and part at the Germantown Academy. At the age of seventeen he entered the machine shop of Hodgson & Bro. in Delaware. He soon grew to be a skilled mechanic and draughtsman. Some time after, he became manager of his father's Museum. He assisted Matthias Baldwin in the construction of the first locomotive built in this country. From 1822 until 1833 he was employed as the manager of the Philadelphia Museum.

In 1833 Peale entered the Mint Service in Mint Director Samuel Moore’s office. Moore sent Franklin to Europe for two years to observe other Mint facilities and gather information for technological coining improvements for the U.S. Mint, as Assistant Assayer. Once Peale returned from Europe, many new pieces of equipment were installed, culminating in the introduction of new steam presses in late 1835 and early 1836. He was made the Chief Coiner after Adam Eckfeldt retired and recommended him for the post. He held this position until 1854, although leaving under some interesting circumstances, and he passed away on May 5th, 1870.

Franklin Peale

3rd Melter / Refiner

1836 - 1839

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