Samuel Osgood
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Samuel Osgood (February 3, 1747– August 12, 1813) was an American merchant and statesman from Andover, Massachusetts. He served in the Massachusetts and New York state legislatures, represented Massachusetts in the Continental Congress and was the first Postmaster General under the U.S. Constitution.
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Early life
John Osgood came to Massachusetts from Andover in England about 1630. Around 1642 he started a new settlement there and named it Andover for his home town. Four generations later, Captain Peter Osgood lived there and in 1747 he had a third son who he named Samuel.
Samuel attended Harvard College, studied theology, and graduated in 1770. But he returned to Andover and followed a mercantile career. He joined the local militia, was elected to represent the town in the colonial assembly and in 1774 to the provincial congress that functioned as a revolutionary government.
The Revolution
Osgoood led a local company of minutemen into the Battle of Lexington and Concord in the spring of 1775. They followed the retreating British, and became part of the Siege of Boston. As more troops assembled, he was made Major of as brigade while serving at Cambridge. He became an aide to General Artemas Ward, and was promoted to Colonel. When the siege succeeded in the spring of 1776 Osgood left the army and returned to the provincial congress.
The Provincial Congress named Osgood to the Masssachusetts Board of War and he seved there until 1780 when the government was reorganized. He was a delegate to the state's constitutional convention in 1779-1780. Under the new Constitution he was elected to the state Senate in 1780. That same year the new government named Osgood as one of their delegates to the Continental Congress and he served there from 1782 until 1784.
After a brief term in the state Assembly in 1784, the governor appointed Osgood a judge in 1785 but he soon resigned when the National Congress made him a commissioner of the Treasury later that year. He moved to New York City to take up this office, which he held until the Congressional Government ended.
New York Career
When a new U.S. government was installed in 1789, President Washington appointed Osgood the first Postmaster General under the new U.S. Constitution. When the Federal Government moved to Washington, D.C. Osgood chose to remain in New York and resigned his post in 1791.
In 1800 Osgood was elected to the New York State House of Representatives. He served there until 1803, part of the time as the Speaker of the House. In 1803, he was appointed to a national post as chief naval officer for the port of New York, a position he held until his death.
Osgood was a member of American Philosophical Society, and in his later years devoted time to writing and study. He had an extensive correspondence with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson among others. He died at home in New York in 1813 and was buried in the Brick Presbytian Church in Manhattan The church was located at what is now at Fifth Avenue and Thirty-seventh street.
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| Preceded by: None |
United States Postmaster General 1789–1791 |
Succeeded by: Timothy Pickering |
