Timothy Banger to Thomas Jefferson, 26 September 1816
From Timothy Banger
Phila Sepr 26. 1816
Sir,
Duty required me to write the enclosed for the Commissary General, but gratitude compels me not to lose the present favourable opportunity of thanking you for your kindness to me, when I arrived in this Country in the year 1793. The temporary employment you was so good as to give me, on the application of my good friend the late Doctor Rush, laid the foundation for my continued employment to this day, and under the blessings of Providence, I have done well. The freedom I have taken you will no doubt excuse; & believe me, when with sincere wishes for your health & happiness, I subscribe myself
Timothy Banger
It would afford me great pleasure, if I could be useful to you in this place, in any way.
RC (MHi); postscript adjacent to closing and signature; at foot of text: “His Excellency Thos Jefferson late Prest of the U. States”; endorsed by TJ as received 5 Oct. 1816 and so recorded in SJL. Dft (DNA: RG 107, LRSW); lacking postscript; filed with Banger to John C. Spencer, 1 Feb. 1842. Enclosure: Banger (for Callender Irvine) to TJ, 26 Sept. 1816.
Timothy Banger (1773–1847), Universalist preacher and government clerk, was born in London, England, and immigrated in 1793 to Philadelphia, where he lived thereafter. After working at the Treasury Department register’s office, 1794–97, he served as a War Department clerk under the superintendent of military stores, held a similar position at the federal arsenal in his adopted hometown, and from at least 1814 until 1840 was chief clerk at the commissary general’s office (Abel C. Thomas, A Century of Universalism in Philadelphia and New-York [1872], 55–6; John F. Meginness, ed., History of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania [1892], 741; Joseph Nourse to Samuel Hodgdon, 16 Feb. 1797 [DNA: RG 94, PRWP]; Harold C. Syrett and others, eds., The Papers of Alexander Hamilton [1961–87], 23:92n; Philadelphia Gazette & Daily Advertiser, 3 May 1802; DNA: RG 29, CS, Pa., Philadelphia, 1810–30; Muster Rolls of the Pennsylvania Volunteers in the War of 1812–1814 [1880], 736, 738–9; A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States [Washington City, 1822], 58; Letter from the Secretary of War, transmitting A report of the number of persons employed in the public service … with the names of persons removed from office between 4th March, 1829, and 30th September, 1841 [27th Cong., 2d sess., Executive Documents, no. 58], 50; Philadelphia Public Ledger, 2 June 1847).