artist and founder of Peale’s Museum. Born in the Hall of the American
Philosophical Society, October 15, 1795, he was presented to the society
by his father, when four months old, as “the first child born in the
Philosophical Hall,” and with a request that the society should name him.
He was accordingly named after the chief founder and first President of
the Society—Franklin.
Young Peale early showed a taste for mechanics, and his father gave
him every facility to improve himself in any direction in which nature
seemed to lead him. Part of his general education was received at the
University of Pennsylvania and part at the Germantown Academy. At the age
of seventeen he entered the machine shop of Hodgson & Bro., Delaware.
He soon grew to be a skilled mechanic and draughtsman. Some time after
he became manager of his father’s Museum. He assisted Baldwin in the
construction of the first locomotive built in this country. In 1833
Mr. Peale entered the Mint service, and was sent to Europe by Director
Moore to examine into foreign Mint methods. He brought with him valuable
apparatus for the Assay Department, together with other important
improvements and suggestions. He was appointed Melter and Refiner in 1836
and Chief Coiner in 1839. He introduced the first steam coining press,
the milling machine and some other of our more modern forms of Mint
machinery.
Mr. Peale’s administration as Chief Coiner may be said to mark an era in
the mechanic arts of Minting. Being specially fitted, by natural genius
as well as education, for the position which he adorned, his mildness,
integrity, gentlemanly bearing and high moral and mental culture
constituted him a model officer. His connection with the service lasted
until 1854. He died on the 5th of May, 1870.
GEORGE K. CHILDS, appointed December 12, 1854.
LEWIS R. BROOMALL, appointed June 30, 1861.
JOHN G. BUTLER, appointed November 30, 1863.
A. LOUDON SNOWDEN, appointed October 1, 1866.
(For sketch of A. Loudon Snowden, see list of Directors and
Superintendents, page 92.)
COLONEL O. C. BOSBYSHELL. On the 4th of May, 1869, Ex-Governor Pollock,
then Director of the Mint, appointed Col. Bosbyshell Register of
Deposits. His course in the Mint was so satisfactory that, without
solicitation, he was made assistant coiner by Col. A. L. Snowden, the
then coiner, on the 1st of October, 1872. Upon Col. Snowden’s appointment
as Postmaster of Philadelphia, Col. Bosbyshell was appointed Coiner of
the Mint by President Grant, on the 15th of December, 1876, and remained
in that capacity until January, 1885, when, to the regret of all parties
having business relations with him, he tendered his resignation to accept
a responsible position in the Controller’s Office, tendered him by his
friend, Col. Robert P. Dechert.
WILLIAM S. STEEL was born in the City of Philadelphia, on the 1st of
March, 1841. He received a good common school education, and in 1856
entered the office of David Cooper & Co., at Girard’s wharves, remaining
engaged in mercantile pursuits till 1861. At 19 years of age he was
appointed by Colonel James Ross Snowden, then Director of the United
States Mint, First Assistant Weigh Clerk. In this position he served
continuously through Colonel J. Ross Snowden, ex-Governor Pollock, and
Colonel A. Loudon Snowden’s administrations. In September, 1862, just
before the battle of Antietam, Mr. Steele entered the State service,
and served with the Thirty-second Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers,
until discharged by expiration of term. When Colonel A. Loudon Snowden
was transferred to the Post Office, January, 1877, Mr. Steele, upon the
recommendation of the then Coiner, Colonel O. C. Bosbyshell, became
Assistant Coiner, a position he filled in a most acceptable manner, until
Colonel Bosbyshell’s retirement in February, 1885, when he was made
Coiner.
HARRY A. CHESTER, Assistant Coiner, was born in Philadelphia (Northern
Liberties), September 10, 1852, and educated in the North East
School, Sixth Section. He was an attachee of the National House of
Representatives from 1876 to 1882, clerk in Register of Wills’ Office
from January 1, 1883, until May, 1885, when he was appointed by Colonel
A. Loudon Snowden as Assistant Weigh Clerk, and promoted by Hon. Daniel
M. Fox in October, 1886.
DR. HENRY LEFFMANN was appointed Chief Coiner at the Philadelphia Mint
January 10, 1888, by President Cleveland. Dr. Leffmann was born in
Philadelphia September 9, 1847, and was educated in the public schools of
Philadelphia, including four years at the Central High School. He devoted
three years in practical study in the laboratory of Dr. Charles M.
Cresson, and graduated at Jefferson Medical College in 1869, having been
for some years assistant to the Professor of Chemistry at the College,
and in 1875 was elected Lecturer on Toxicology, which position he held
for a number of years. In 1876 he was elected to take charge of the
laboratory of the Central High School, and remained in that position for
four years. In 1883 he was elected Professor of Chemistry and Metallurgy
in the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery, a position which he still
holds; and he has been for a number of years Professor of Chemistry and
Mineralogy in the Wagner Free Institute of Science. Dr. Leffmann has
been engaged as chemical expert in patent and criminal cases, notably
in the Goerson poisoning case and the chrome-yellow poisoning cases. He
is a member of several American and foreign scientific societies, has
contributed papers to current scientific literature, and has for the past
five years been editor of _The Polyclinic_, a monthly medical journal.
In 1880 he was a candidate for Coroner on the Democratic ticket, but was
defeated, and in 1884 was appointed Port Physician for Philadelphia by
Governor Pattison, and held that position until October, 1887.
ASSAYERS.
JACOB R. ECKFELDT, Sixth Assayer, was born in Philadelphia, 1846. He
entered the Assay Department as Second Weigher, in 1865. By regular
promotions he reached the position of Assistant Assayer, in 1872,
and upon the death of his superior he was appointed and confirmed as
Assayer, December 21, 1881. The position of Assayer is one of great
responsibility, and demands not only scientific training but wide and
special knowledge and experience upon subjects relating to the history
and arts of Coinage. Since the foundation of the Mint there have been but
six official heads of this department.
WILLIAM MCINTIRE was born in Delaware in 1831. He entered the Assay
Department of the Mint as an assistant in September, 1853, which position
he held, with the exception of a short interim while he was engaged in
mercantile business, until October, 1887, when by regular promotion he
was appointed Assistant Assayer.
JACOB R. ECKFELDT.
EXTRACT FROM AN OBITUARY NOTICE BY MR. DU BOIS.
(_Read before the American Philosophical Society, Oct. 4th, 1872._)
Jacob R. Eckfeldt, late Assayer of the Mint, was the son of
Adam and Margaretta Eckfeldt, and was born in Philadelphia,
March —, 1803. He was, therefore, in his seventieth year, at
the time of decease, August 9th, 1872.
In the Spring of 1832, Mr. John Richardson, who had been
Assayer about one year, and did not find the employment
congenial to his tastes, informed Mr. Eckfeldt that he intended
to resign, and wished him to prepare to take the place. Mr. E.
shrank from this responsibility, and declined. But some of his
friends who had influence with President Jackson, presented his
name with a strong recommendation and he was appointed without
being asked as to his party preferences. This occurred on the
30th of April, 1832. He therefore held the office _over forty
years_.
When he entered upon the work, he had to encounter some
embarrassments. The apparatus was old-fashioned, and not
calculated for nice results. The silver assay had been well
performed, without going to a close figure, for many years; but
gold was little known in the country or at the Mint, and it
is not surprising that its assay was incorrectly performed.
Add to this, there was the coarse and cumbrous nomenclature,
brought from the old country, of carats and grains for gold
fineness, and so many grains to the pound for silver fineness.
Close upon all this, that is to say, in June, 1834, came the
celebrated reduction in the standards of our gold coin, one of
the chief measures of the Jackson administration. This changed
gold from a curiosity to a currency; bullion and foreign
coin flowed to the mint, and accuracy of assay was more than
ever needful. Mr. Eckfeldt was equal to the emergency, and
resolutely introduced reforms, which, at first, made the older
officers stand in doubt.
In those days, about the time the new mint edifice on Chestnut
street was finishing, Mr. Peale was sent to London and Paris
to observe the methods of assaying and refining, and to
procure a new apparatus. We were thus supplied with French
beams, weights, and cupel furnaces, and with the appliances
of Gay-Lussac’s humid assay, and the printed details of the
process. Soon after, Mr. Saxton, famous for his skill in
constructing balances and other delicate instruments, returned
from a long schooling in that line in London, and was employed
in the Mint. Thus furnished, Mr. Eckfeldt felt himself “set
up,” and able to compete with the foreign assayers, and if he
was ever more precise, it was because he disregarded certain
allowances which had become a time-honored custom.
A large importation of fine gold bars from France, known as
the French Indemnity, and which came because President Jackson
declared he “would submit to nothing that was wrong,” gave a
fine opportunity for testing and comparing foreign assays; and
it was generally found that these bars were somewhat below
the alleged fineness. A still more important discovery, was
the fact that British Sovereigns ran below their standard of
fineness. This happened when he had been in office less than
three years, and the Director was unwilling to set the finding
of young Eckfeldt against the experience of Old England.
The Assayer being assured and re-assured of the accuracy of
his results, Director Moore consented to notify the British
Government of their error. The result was a closer scrutiny in
the London Mint, and a final acknowledgement that they were
wrong. This was no less a triumph for Mr. Eckfeldt, than it was
a contribution to exact science, and an honor to the American
Government.
It is not surprising, that he felt at first the inconvenience
of passing from one form of nomenclature to another, though to
a better one. A friend remarks, “I recall conversations with
Mr. Eckfeldt, showing how seriously he felt the revolution. He
would _think_ in carats, and _report_ in decimals. And I often
recur to this as illustrating the kind of difficulties which
would arise in case of a decimalising of weights and measures.”
For some years prior to 1842, Mr. Eckfeldt and his Assistant,
in addition to their ordinary duties, engaged in the
preparation of an original and comprehensive work on the Coins
of all Nations; on the Varieties of Gold and Silver Bullion; on
Counterfeit Coins, and on other subjects related thereto. This
was published in 1842, and has long been regarded as a standard
authority. In 1850, they issued a supplementary smaller work,
and again in 1852.
As the United States increased in commerce, wealth and
population, the Mint of course increased in work. In
particular, Mexican dollars came in great quantities for
recoinage. Not only were our vaults full, but our entries and
corridors were at times crowded with rows of kegs. Every day,
for years, we had the constant task of sixteen melts of silver
ingots to melt and assay; and it was a great advantage and
satisfaction to be supplied with the _humid_ apparatus.
The success of gold mining in our Southern States, and
the increasing commerce of New Orleans, gave rise to the
establishment of three branch mints at the South, in 1837;
and it devolved upon Mr. Eckfeldt to become schoolmaster, and
educate the three assayers appointed for those places. The same
had to be done again at a later date for other mints and assay
offices.
In December, 1848, came the first lot of gold grains from
California; and with the opening of the next year the tide
set in most powerfully. I shall not here speak of this great
turning-point in metallic currency any further than as it
affected the mint, or rather the labor which it laid upon
Mr. Eckfeldt and his department. As is well known, the lots
were numerous, and the aggregate amount was enormous. Instead
of making gold assays by dozens, we had to go through with
hundreds every day, following the arrival of each steamer.
We procured young men as operators in the weigh-room and
additional workmen in the laboratory; and in spite all the
help we were overworked. Here let me say that the persons who
have been educated by Mr. Eckfeldt to this profession have
done credit to the selection that was made, not only by skill,
diligence, and good character while here, but wherever they are
now scattered to other mints and assay offices, or to different
pursuits.
The gold pressure continued for about five years, when it was
relieved by the creation of a Government assay office in New
York, and a branch mint at San Francisco. But directly sequent
to this came the change of standard in silver coin, causing
an immense recoinage in small pieces. Thus our daily assays
continued to count by hundreds. This lasted for some years.
When it began to slacken off, a law was passed for calling in
the large copper coins and issuing in their stead pieces of
copper-nickel alloy of much smaller size.
The analysis of Nickel alloys was not well laid down in
the books, and the European or other assays which came
with purchased lots showed an incorrect determination. Mr.
Eckfeldt was therefore obliged to study out and perfect this
assay, which is more tedious and laborious, though of less
consequence, than the assay of the precious metals.
But it was his habit to be as scrupulous in minor matters as
in major; and after the routine was well settled it went on
with the same clockwork regularity as the other branches of
assaying. I need not say that this nickel coinage imposed
another heavy pressure upon the mint for years.
After this came the substitution of the Bronze alloy; and this
called for another process of assay, and brought us a great
deal of work.
I thus hastily review this sequence of gold, silver, nickel,
and bronze, not only as an interesting part of Mint History,
but to show the varied and abundant services of the untiring,
energetic Principal Assayer, and the masterly skill with which
he met every obligation.
His skill and success as an Assayer and Analyst largely
consisted in his power of finding out what was defective or
erroneous, and in applying the proper remedy. It often seemed
that what was a puzzle to others was to him a matter of quick
insight.
In the assays of certain complex alloys, and of low grades of
gold and silver, he contrived various methods which are not in
print, but which are of great use in the daily manipulations.
And here I may state that he not only introduced great accuracy
and precision in the assays, but carried special investigations
to a delicacy almost incredible. Thus, much interest was
excited by a publication some years ago, both in this country
and across the Atlantic, of his experiment upon the brick-clay
which underlies our city. Taking two samples from the center of
the town and the suburbs he found they contained gold at the
rate of nearly 12 grains (say fifty cents) to the ton of clay
in its ordinary moisture. Other experiments went to prove the
very general diffusion of gold, in infinitesimal proportions.
Some analysts, through want of exactitude, or for the pleasure
of making a sensation, may produce very curious results;
but Mr. Eckfeldt was conscientious, I may say, nervously
scrupulous, about stating anything he was not sure of. Partly
for that reason, partly for the very love of work, he was
laborious to a fault, all his life long.
UNITED STATES MINT OFFICERS.
Washington, D. C., James P. Kimball, Director of the Mint $4,500
Philadelphia, Pa., Daniel M. Fox, Superintendent 4,500
Boise City, Idaho, Norman H. Camp 2,000
Carson City, Nevada, James Crawford, Superintendent 3,000
Charlotte, N. C., Calvin J. Cowles, Assayer 1,500
Denver, Colorado, Herman Silver, Assayer 2,500
Helena, Montana, Russell B. Harrison, Assayer 2,500
New Orleans, La., Andrew W. Smyth, Superintendent 3,500
New York, N. Y., Andrew Mason, Superintendent 4,500
San Francisco, Cal., Edw. F. Burton, Superintendent 4,500
St. Louis, Mo., Eliot C. Jewett, Assayer 2,500
WILLIAM E. DU BOIS.
Extract from an obituary notice by Robert Patterson.
(Read before the American Philosophical Society, November 18, 1881.)
William Ewing Du Bois was born at Doylestown, Pennsylvania,
December 15, 1810. Through his father, Rev. Uriah Du Bois,
he was descended from Louis Du Bois, a French Huguenot of
honorable extraction, who emigrated to America in 1660,
seeking freedom of religious worship, and, in connection with
others of his countrymen, formed the settlement of New Paltz,
Ulster County, New York. Through his mother, Martha Patterson,
daughter of Professor Robert Patterson, of the University of
Pennsylvania, he inherited the Scotch-Irish element which
has exerted so marked an influence in the development of our
country.
The father of Mr. Du Bois was a Presbyterian clergyman, in
charge of churches in and near Doylestown, and was principal of
the Union Academy at that place, a classical school then and
afterwards of high reputation. He was greatly respected, both
as preacher and teacher.
The bright and studious mind of Mr. Du Bois gathered every
advantage from his opportunities, and he was well furnished in
the classics and mathematics, and in English literature. While
yet a boy he developed a freedom and capacity as a writer quite
remarkable.
His oldest brother was an eminent member of the bar, and it
seemed fitting that Mr. Du Bois should, under his guidance,
adopt the law as his profession. He accordingly pursued the
usual course, in the meantime aiding to support himself by
literary work and conveyancing, and was admitted to practice
in September, 1832. But his health failing him on account of
a bronchial affection, he accepted an appointment in the Mint
at Philadelphia, and thus began the life-work by which his
reputation was established.
Mr. Du Bois entered the Mint in September, 1833, and was
first employed in the office of the Director, Dr. Moore. In
1835, at the request of the Assayer, Mr. Jacob R. Eckfeldt,
he was transferred to a more congenial position in the assay
department. Here he continued for the remainder of his life. In
1836 he was appointed Assistant Assayer. In September, 1872, he
succeeded Mr. Eckfeldt as Assayer, and remained at the head of
the department until his death, July 14, 1881, thus completing
nearly forty-eight years of Mint service.
Mr. Du Bois early took rank as an accomplished assayer, and
long before his death had reached the head of his profession.
The close intimacy between Mr. Du Bois and Mr. Eckfeldt
developed into warm friendship. The tie was made closer by
the marriage of Mr. Du Bois, in 1840, to Susanna Eckfeldt,
the sister of his chief. I shall have to speak of published
works and scientific communications appearing under the names
of Eckfeldt and Du Bois. Although it was understood that Mr.
Du Bois was the sole literary author, yet no separate claim
of authorship was made by either. Whatever of reputation was
earned, each was contented that it might be shared by the
other, and jealousy never for a moment weakened a union that
bound them for life.
In the year 1834 a change took place in the ratio of gold to
silver in the standard of U. S. coins, the effect of which
was to bring large deposits of gold to the Mint. The coinage
previously had been chiefly of silver. The more equal supply of
the precious metals gave active employment in the assay of each
of them, and was, of course, most valuable as an experience
to Mr. Du Bois, who about this time became connected with the
assay department.
In 1837, on revision of the Mint laws and standards brought
about by Dr. Robert M. Patterson, then Director, a reform was
effected in the method of reporting assays, the millesimal
system taking the place of the time-honored but cumbrous
method of carats and grains. About this time, also, the older
plan of assaying silver was abandoned, the humid assay being
substituted, and largely worked under the direct supervision of
Mr. Du Bois.
About 1838 branch mints were organized in the States of
Louisiana, Georgia, and North Carolina. The labors and
responsibilities of the Philadelphia assay department were
increased by this development, partly from the necessity of
instructing assayers for the new branches, and partly in
testing the correctness of the assays made there.
In 1848 the great discovery of gold in California was made
known. This brought a tremendous pressure on every department
of the Mint, and not the least on the assayers. The gold
coinage was, in three years, raised from a little over three
million dollars to more than sixty-two millions. The assays
were often counted by hundreds in a day. But whatever the
pressure in the office, accuracy ruled, and the correctness of
the assays was never impeached.
In 1853 a change was effected in the law for providing
subordinate silver coins. This brought about, for some years
succeeding, an unprecedented coinage of that metal, and still
further increased the labors of the assay department.
He instituted the Cabinet of coins which now adorns the Mint.
This was commenced in 1838. A small annual appropriation
was procured from Congress for this purpose, and the work
of collection committed entirely to Mr. Du Bois. He brought
to it all the enthusiasm which animates most numismatists,
sobered, however, by good judgment. His expenditures were
always judicious. Some of the best of the specimens were culled
from the Mint deposits for the bullion value, merely, of the
pieces. After the collection had taken good shape, and been
well classified, he wrote and published, in 1846, a description
of it, under the title “Pledges of History,” etc. The title
thus selected intimated his opinion as to the real value of
such collections. He thought that a coin should be prized for
its historical teaching, or artistic merit, and discouraged the
rage to possess a piece simply because of its rarity. Mr. Du
Bois acted as curator of the Cabinet until his death.
Another important labor undertaken by Mr. Du Bois (in
connection with Mr. Eckfeldt) was the preparation and
publication, in 1842, of a “Manual of the Gold and Silver Coins
of all nations, struck within the past century.” This was a
work of very great labor, and, from its expense, of some risk
also to the authors. It is admirably arranged, the information
clear, and it embraced every subject of interest at that
date as to coins, bullion, counterfeits, etc. Subsequently,
in 1850 and 1851, supplements were published covering later
topics, made prominent in consequence of the California gold
discoveries.
The writings of Mr. Du Bois were numerous, and continued up to
the year of his death. His papers on numismatics were frequent
and always attractive, his last appearance in print being
in April of this year, in an article on the “Coinage of the
Popes.” To the “American Philosophical Society,” of which he
was elected a member in 1844, he made various communications on
behalf of Mr. Eckfeldt and himself, mostly on topics suggested
by experiences in the assay department. Among the most curious
was one on “The Natural Dissemination of Gold,” by which we
were astonished to learn that this precious metal is found in
appreciable quantity in the clays underlying our city.