Frederick David Tschiffely (1780–1839), public official, educator, and translator, was born in Bern, Switzerland. Having attained the rank of captain in the Swiss military, he immigrated to the United States in 1805, settled by 1809 in the District of Columbia, and became a naturalized citizen in 1814. An accomplished linguist, he taught French, Italian, and German and worked as a translator in Alexandria for a time. Finding it difficult to provide for his family, Tschiffely, with the assistance of his fellow Swiss native Albert Gallatin, secured a clerkship at the United States Treasury by 1810. He worked as a clerk at the General Land Office in Washington, 1811–21, and printed land patents for that office from 1815. Following his dismissal in March 1821, Tschiffely went back to teaching, did some translating, advertised his services in Washington as “an Agent for transacting all kinds of public business,” traveled widely in search of gainful employment, and suffered from bouts of intemperance. Following a stint in Baltimore, he returned by early in the 1830s to Washington, where he died (John Gardiner to TJ, 18 July 1822; Ralph Beaver Strassburger, Pennsylvania German Pioneers [1934], 3:174–5; Alexandria Daily Gazette, Commercial & Political, 25 Mar., 26 June 1809; Michael Tepper, ed., New World Immigrants [1979], 1:260; Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, Transmitting a Statement of the Sums Paid to Each Clerk in the Several Offices of the Treasury Department … in the year 1811 [Washington, 1812]; Tschiffely’s naturalization record [DNA: RG 21, CCDCMB, 6 June 1814]; Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, Transmitting a Statement of the Names of the Clerks in the Treasury Department . . . during the year 1817 [Washington, 1818], 18; Washington Gazette, 22, 23 Mar. 1821; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, 27 Mar. 1821, 17 June 1833; Madison, Papers, Retirement Ser., 2:545–6; JHR description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States description ends , 20:26 [7 Dec. 1826]; For 1834. A Full Directory, for Washington City, Georgetown, and Alexandria [1834], 54; gravestone inscription in Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington).