15th – Cold Rainy day., Wind N.W. – Went with all hands to the Meadows to head down a Thorn Hedge, which was accomplish’d altho the day was very unfavorable – Haul’d 2 Loads of Rails ~ S. Hughes call’d & drank tea
From the journal of Captain Henry Thompson, April 15, 1814. Courtesy the Friends of Clifton.
14th Cloudy morning but turn’d out to be a fine day – Went to Town, return’d to Dinner – Mr. Geo. Brown rode out to beg an Orange for a Sick Lady, which he obtain’d. Haul’d four loads of Rails from Fortune –
From the journal of Captain Henry Thompson, April 14, 1814. Courtesy the Friends of Clifton.
13th – Fine day – Wind East – Went to the Meadows and Town, return’d to Dinner. Fredk. haul’d 4 wagon loads of Rails from Fortune. Mr. & Mrs. Wirgman/Peter/Maria Peters & Mary Sterett drank Tea with us.
From the journal of Captain Henry Thompson, April 13, 1814. Courtesy the Friends of Clifton.
12th – Cold day – Wind N.E. Went to Town, return’d to Dinner. Hooper commend’d Fence to protect the Ever-greens on Eastern [end?] of the House. Paid Wm. Foose $6 on acct. of Post & Rail Fence putting up at the Meadows
From the journal of Captain Henry Thompson, April 12, 1814. Courtesy the Friends of Clifton.
11th – Return’d Home at one O’Clock from Hagerstown, with my four Sons all in good Health, after a Pleasant & satisfactory Journey & found all well at home
From the journal of Captain Henry Thompson, April 11, 1814. Courtesy the Friends of Clifton.
On April 11, 1814, Samuel Blodget, a man who symbolized the growth and ambition of celebrated in early America, died penniless at a Baltimore hospital. Born in New Hampshire in 1757, Blodget served as a Captain in the state militia during the American Revolution then became a successful merchant in Boston. He moved to Philadelphia in 1789 where he founded the Insurance Company of North America and pursued a amateur passion for architecture with a design for the First Bank of the United States (1795). Both the insurance business and the bank building have survived up through the present.
Blodget soon moved again to the new capital in Washington, DC where he successfully lobbied to win the position of superintendent of buildings and founded the city’s first bank. His once secure career began to fall apart when his mounting debts landed him in a debtor’s prison in 1802. His circumstances may have helped inspire his 1806 publication of Economica: A Statistical Manual for the United Statesnow considered the first American book on economics. The book did little to reverse his fortunes, however, and Blodget died in poverty at the age of 57.
