William M. Meredith
| William M. Meredith | |
|---|---|
Mathew Brady Daguerreotype of William Meredith taken during the 1840s
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| Attorney General of Pennsylvania | |
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In office January 16, 1861 – June 3, 1861 |
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| Preceded by | Samuel Anderson Purviance |
| Succeeded by | Benjamin H. Brewster |
| 19th United States Secretary of the Treasury | |
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In office March 8, 1849 – July 22, 1850 |
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| President |
Zachary Taylor Millard Fillmore |
| Preceded by | Robert J. Walker |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Corwin |
| United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania | |
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In office 1841–1845 |
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| President |
William Henry Harrison John Tyler |
| Preceded by | John M. Read |
| Succeeded by | Thomas M. Pettit |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
June 8, 1799 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | August 17, 1873 (aged 74) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Resting place | Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Federalist, Whig, Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Catherine Keppele Meredith (m. 1834 - 1854, her death) |
| Children | Gertrude Gouverneur Meredith William Keppele Meredith Euphemia Ogden Meredith Elizabeth Caldwell Meredith Catherine Keppele Meredith |
| Parents | William Tuckey Meredith Gertrude Gouverneur Meredith (née Ogden) |
| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania |
| Profession | Politician, Lawyer |
William Morris Meredith (June 8, 1799 – August 17, 1873) was an American lawyer and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He served as the United States Secretary of the Treasury, during President Zachary Taylor's Administration.
Born on June 8, 1799 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, William Moore Meredith was the eldest son of William Tuckey Meredith (d. 1844), a successful attorney and after 1814 president of Schuylkill Bank, and who narrowly lost to Nicholas Biddle the presidency of the Bank of the United States. During the year he was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar, 1795, William Tuckey Meredith married the writer and poet Gertrude Gouverneur Meredith (née Ogden) (d.1828). Gertrude was the niece of Lewis Morris, as well as of Gouverneur Morris, and highly educated and respected in her own right, as well as published in Dennie's Port Folio. The couple ultimately had eleven children. William Tuckey Meredith served on the Philadelphia Common and Select Councils, and on the Vestry of Christ Episcopal Church, among other leadership positions in the city. His brother Jonathan Meredith (d. 1872) was a leader of the Bar in Baltimore, Maryland.
William M. Meredith graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1812 (graduation at age 13 not being unusual at the time). After assisting his father in the family's saddlery business, he read law, and was himself admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar.
After his mother's death in 1828, William Moore Meredith helped raise his younger siblings. On June 17, 1834, at the age of 35 and after a ten-year engagement, Meredith married the former Catherine Keppele (d. 1854). They had one son (William, b. 1838, later a published essayist and poet) and four daughters: Gertrude Gouverneur Meredith, Euphemia Ogden Meredith, Elizabeth Caldwell Meredith, Catherine Keppele Meredith. Catherine Meredith also helped care for her husband's siblings, and his father when he was disabled by a stroke in 1839.
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