John Steele (1758–1827) was customs collector of Philadelphia from 1808 until shortly before his death. A native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he trained for the Presbyterian ministry. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Steele joined the Continental army, rising from first lieutenant to captain in Pennsylvania regiments between 1776 and 1783 and sustaining a wound at the Battle of Brandywine, 11 Sept. 1777. He later sat in the Pennsylvania senate, including service as speaker, and became a brigadier general in the state militia (Appleton’s Cyclopædia of American Biography [1887–1900], 5:660; Heitman, Continental Army description begins Francis B. Heitman, comp., Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution, April, 1775, to December, 1783, rev. ed., 1914 description ends , 517; Steele to TJ, 9 Sept. 1807, and Samuel Carswell to TJ, 30 Sept. 1807, 6 Aug. 1808 [DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1801–09]; JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States description ends , 2:84, 85, 554 [14, 15 Nov. 1808, 3 Jan. 1827]; Washington National Intelligencer, 5 Mar. 1827).

James Gibbon was the customs collr at richmond.