© Copyright 2020 - The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. TEL (215) 546-3181 FAX (215) 546-5167
For inquiries, please contact our IT Department
- Title
- John Smith Papers, 1802-1819
- Description
- The collection contains correspondence and documents covering the government and military careers of John Smith; they primarily related to his career as the United States marshal for the district of Pennsylvania during the War of 1812., John Smith was appointed United States Marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by Thomas Jefferson on March 28, 1801, replacing John Hall. He was reappointed by James Monroe on November 27, 1818, for a four-year term, but in January 1819 he was removed from office and replaced by Samuel D. Ingram. Smith was listed in the Philadelphia city directories as “late marshal” from 1819 to 1822, and was not listed thereafter. He married Elizabeth Turner on October 15, 1795, at St Michael and Zion Lutheran Church, Philadelphia. No date of death is known. Smith also had a long military career, serving almost continuously from 1776 until 1814, when the 1st Regiment of the Pennsylvania Cavalry, which he commanded, was disbanded., United States Marshals were public servants appointed by the President; their primary function was to provide local support for the operation of federal courts. The post involved a wide range of duties including procuring witnesses, serving subpoenas and warrants, and paying the fees and expenses of court clerks, judges, federal attorneys, and jurors. Marshals advertised seized property and oversaw its sale. In addition, until 1870, marshals conducted the federal census, and collected a variety of statistical information on behalf of the federal government., In time of war, such as the War of 1812, the marshal's duties expanded to include keeping track of enemy aliens living in the U.S., issuing passports for their domestic travel, and guarding and providing for British prisoners of war.
- Creator
- Smith, John, marshal
- Date
- 1793
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | MSS McA MSS 026
- Title
- McAllister Small Manuscript Collections, 1781-1857 (inclusive)
- Description
- McAllister Small Manuscript Collections consists of sixteen small groups of papers that were isolated from the McAllister Miscellaneous Manuscripts because of their cohesive content. Most of the material is the papers of merchants and businessmen in Philadelphia, but also included are letters related to the theatre, law, politics, religion, and literary publishing. The collection, too, holds a small group of early nineteenth century requests for water service in the city of Philadelphia., On deposit at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. For service, please contact the Historical Society at 215-732-6200 or http://www.hsp.org., John A. McAllister (1822-1896) was an antiquarian collector in Philadelphia. During his lifetime, he acquired all sorts of Americana, ranging from printed books and pamphlets to ephemera and manuscripts. The latter material includes substantial records groups such as family papers and business records, as well as the smaller groups of papers as found here: they are each not extensive enough to stand alone as a collection, yet are too cohesive in content to remain filed within the McAllister Miscellaneous Manuscripts.
- Creator
- McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector
- Date
- 1781
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | MSS McA MSS 002, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A64728#page/1/mode/1up