Samuel L. Gouverneur
Encyclopedia
Samuel Laurence Gouverneur (1799–1865) was a lawyer and civil servant who was both nephew and son-in-law to the fifth President of the United States
.
. His father was Nicholas Gouverneur and mother was Hester Kortright, the sister of U.S. First Lady
Elizabeth Kortright Monroe
.
He graduated from Columbia University
(then known as Columbia College) in 1817.
Gouverneur served as private secretary to President James Monroe
, who was married to his mother's sister Elizabeth Kortright Monroe.
Gouverneur married Monroe's daughter (his first cousin
), Maria Hester Monroe, on March 9, 1820. The wedding was officiated by the Rev. William Dickinson Hawley
. It was the first wedding held in the White House
for a child of a president. However, the first documented wedding ceremony held in the White House was when Dolley Madison
, wife of President James Madison
, arranged the wedding of her youngest sister, Lucy Payne Washington
to Supreme Court Justice Thomas Todd
in 1812.
There might have also been a private wedding of Abigail Adams
' maid Betsy Howard in 1801.
General Thomas Jesup
was groomsman at the wedding. There were only 42 guests; not even the cabinet was invited.
After returning from a week honeymoon, Commodore and Mrs. Stephen Decatur
gave the couple a reception at the Decatur House
on May 20, 1820. Another ball had to be cancelled because Decatur died two days later in a duel.
Gouverneur was a member of New York State Assembly
in 1825
. He was Postmaster of New York City
from 1828 to 1836.
While in New York he invested in racehorses, and the Bowery Theatre
along with James Alexander Hamilton
, son of Alexander Hamilton
, and Prosper M. Wetmore.
Gouverneur helped former president Monroe to press his claims to Congress to repay mounting debts.
After Elizabeth Monroe's death in 1830, Monroe came to live at the Gouverneur's home, and died there in 1831.
Gouverneur was executor of Monroe's estate, which had to be sold off to pay the debts.
Monroe was buried in the Gouverneur family vault at the New York Marble Cemetery
, until descendants had the remains moved to the James Monroe Tomb
in the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia
. A ceremony was held the at the Gouverneur vault 175 years later, on July 8, 2006.
Monroe's personal papers were left to Gouverneur, who also was asked to support his wife's sister Eliza Monroe Hay (also his cousin, then a widow). Gouverneur started work on publishing the papers or a book on Monroe, but it was never finished. After Mrs. Hay died in 1840, the Gouverneurs moved to Washington, DC. Gouverneur worked in the consular bureau of the US Department of State from 1844 to 1849. After congress agreed to buy the papers of Madison, Gouverneur proposed a similar arrangement, which was finally concluded in 1850. Some personal papers would be retained for a few generations.
Samuel and Maria had three children: James Monroe Gouverneur (1822–1885), a deaf-mute
who died at the Spring Grove Asylum in Baltimore, Maryland; Elizabeth Kortright Gouverneur (1824–1868) who married Henry Lee Heiskell; and Samuel Laurence Gouverneur, Jr. (1826–1880), who married Marian Campbell (1821–1914), and became the first U.S. consul
in Fuzhou
, China
(then spelled Foo Chow). On June 20, 1850, his first wife died at the Oak Hill estate, which was finally sold in 1852. In September 1851 he had married Mary Digges Lee (1810–1898), granddaughter of Thomas Sim Lee
(1745–1819), and retired to the Lee estate called "Needwood", near Frederick, Maryland
. This stressed family relations during the American Civil War
, with Gouverneur associated with the Union government, while his in-laws had deep roots in the confederate states.
Obituaries state he died on September 29, 1865.
He left his estate to his second wife.
Other sources say he lived until 1867.
His graddaughter Rose de Chine Gouverneur born in China in 1860, married Roswell Randall Hoes (1850–1921) and died on May 26, 1933. Their sons Gouverneur Hoes (1889–1943) and Laurence Gouverneur Hoes (1900–1978) established the James Monroe Museum and Memorial LIbrary in the Fredericksburg, Virginia
building that housed the James Monroe Law Office
, administered by the University of Mary Washington
.
The Gouverneur house at 63 and 65 Prince Street at Lafayette Street in New York, was sold in 1832 to Miles R. Burke. After three years it was owned by John Ferguson and then was sold to Charles H. Contoit in 1873, and then Daniel Mahoney in 1900.
On April 28, 1905 a historical plaque was place on the building in a ceremony with several descendants in attendance. A crowd of "thousands" included General Frederick Dent Grant
and an amry attachment.
However, by the 1920s the once-elegant pair of houses had fallen into disrepair and were covered in advertisements.
A group tried to save one of the house in the 1920s, but it suffered damage when a move was attempted.
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
.
Life
Samuel Laurence Gouverneur was born in 1799 in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. His father was Nicholas Gouverneur and mother was Hester Kortright, the sister of U.S. First Lady
First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...
Elizabeth Kortright Monroe
Elizabeth Kortright Monroe
Elizabeth Kortright Monroe was First Lady of the United States from 1817 to 1825, as the wife of James Monroe, fifth President of the United States, who held the office for two terms.-Early Life and Marriage:...
.
He graduated from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
(then known as Columbia College) in 1817.
Gouverneur served as private secretary to President James Monroe
James Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
, who was married to his mother's sister Elizabeth Kortright Monroe.
Gouverneur married Monroe's daughter (his first cousin
Cousin
In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term . The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of...
), Maria Hester Monroe, on March 9, 1820. The wedding was officiated by the Rev. William Dickinson Hawley
William Dickinson Hawley
William Dickinson Hawley was an Episcopal clergyman who served as Chaplain of the Senate.- Early years :William Dickinson Hawley was born in 1784 in Manchester, Vermont, the fifth child of Jabez Hawley and Phoebe Peet. He first studied for the law under Judge Peter Radcliffe in New York City...
. It was the first wedding held in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
for a child of a president. However, the first documented wedding ceremony held in the White House was when Dolley Madison
Dolley Madison
Dolley Payne Todd Madison was the spouse of the fourth President of the United States, James Madison, and was First Lady of the United States from 1809 to 1817...
, wife of President James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
, arranged the wedding of her youngest sister, Lucy Payne Washington
Lucy Washington
Lucy Washington , one of eight children born to John Payne and Mary Coles, was the sister of Dolley Madison, the wife of American President James Madison. She first married Major George Steptoe Washington, a nephew of American President George Washington...
to Supreme Court Justice Thomas Todd
Thomas Todd
Thomas Todd was an American attorney and U.S. Supreme Court justice. Raised in the Colony of Virginia, he studied law and later participated in the founding of Kentucky, where he served as a clerk, judge, and justice. He was married twice and had a total of eight children. Todd joined the U.S...
in 1812.
There might have also been a private wedding of Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams was the wife of John Adams, who was the second President of the United States, and the mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth...
' maid Betsy Howard in 1801.
General Thomas Jesup
Thomas Jesup
Brigadier General Thomas Sidney Jesup, USA was an American military officer known as the "Father of the Modern Quartermaster Corps". He was born in Berkeley County, West Virginia. He began his military career in 1808, and served in the War of 1812, seeing action in the battles of Chippewa and...
was groomsman at the wedding. There were only 42 guests; not even the cabinet was invited.
After returning from a week honeymoon, Commodore and Mrs. Stephen Decatur
Stephen Decatur
Stephen Decatur, Jr. , was an American naval officer notable for his many naval victories in the early 19th century. He was born on the eastern shore of Maryland, Worcester county, the son of a U.S. Naval Officer who served during the American Revolution. Shortly after attending college Decatur...
gave the couple a reception at the Decatur House
Decatur House
Decatur House is a historic home in Washington, D.C., named after its first owner and occupant Stephen Decatur. The house is located northwest of Lafayette Square, at the southwest corner of Jackson Place and H Street, near the White House...
on May 20, 1820. Another ball had to be cancelled because Decatur died two days later in a duel.
Gouverneur was a member of New York State Assembly
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
in 1825
48th New York State Legislature
The 48th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 4 to April 21, 1825, during the first year of DeWitt Clinton's second tenure as Governor of New York, in Albany.-Background:...
. He was Postmaster of New York City
Postmaster of New York City
-Postmasters:*Ebenezer Hazard 1775 *Samuel L. Gouverneur 1828 to 1836*Cornelius C. Van Cott ? to 1904, he died in office.*Edward M. Morgan, First Assistant Postmaster and Acting Postmaster at death of Van Cott *William R. Willcox...
from 1828 to 1836.
While in New York he invested in racehorses, and the Bowery Theatre
Bowery Theatre
The Bowery Theatre was a playhouse in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City. Although it was founded by rich families to compete with the upscale Park Theatre, the Bowery saw its most successful period under the populist, pro-American management of Thomas Hamblin in the 1830s and 1840s...
along with James Alexander Hamilton
James Alexander Hamilton
James Alexander Hamilton was the third son of Alexander Hamilton. He graduated from Columbia University, was an officer in the War of 1812, and served as acting Secretary of State to Andrew Jackson. He then became a U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York....
, son of Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...
, and Prosper M. Wetmore.
Gouverneur helped former president Monroe to press his claims to Congress to repay mounting debts.
After Elizabeth Monroe's death in 1830, Monroe came to live at the Gouverneur's home, and died there in 1831.
Gouverneur was executor of Monroe's estate, which had to be sold off to pay the debts.
Monroe was buried in the Gouverneur family vault at the New York Marble Cemetery
New York Marble Cemetery
The New York Marble Cemetery is an historic cemetery founded in 1830, and located in the interior of the block bounded by East Second and 3rd Streets, Second Avenue, and The Bowery, in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is entered through an alleyway with an iron gate at...
, until descendants had the remains moved to the James Monroe Tomb
James Monroe Tomb
The James Monroe Tomb is the burial place for U.S. President James Monroe in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia, United States. The site is "significant for the execution of its flamboyant and delicate tracery in cast iron, the tomb is a cage over the simple granite sarcophagus of the former...
in the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
. A ceremony was held the at the Gouverneur vault 175 years later, on July 8, 2006.
Monroe's personal papers were left to Gouverneur, who also was asked to support his wife's sister Eliza Monroe Hay (also his cousin, then a widow). Gouverneur started work on publishing the papers or a book on Monroe, but it was never finished. After Mrs. Hay died in 1840, the Gouverneurs moved to Washington, DC. Gouverneur worked in the consular bureau of the US Department of State from 1844 to 1849. After congress agreed to buy the papers of Madison, Gouverneur proposed a similar arrangement, which was finally concluded in 1850. Some personal papers would be retained for a few generations.
Samuel and Maria had three children: James Monroe Gouverneur (1822–1885), a deaf-mute
Deaf-mute
For "deafness", see hearing impairment. For "Deaf" as a cultural term, see Deaf culture. For "inability to speak", see muteness.Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was both deaf and could not speak...
who died at the Spring Grove Asylum in Baltimore, Maryland; Elizabeth Kortright Gouverneur (1824–1868) who married Henry Lee Heiskell; and Samuel Laurence Gouverneur, Jr. (1826–1880), who married Marian Campbell (1821–1914), and became the first U.S. consul
Consul (representative)
The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...
in Fuzhou
Fuzhou
Fuzhou is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong linguistic and cultural area....
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
(then spelled Foo Chow). On June 20, 1850, his first wife died at the Oak Hill estate, which was finally sold in 1852. In September 1851 he had married Mary Digges Lee (1810–1898), granddaughter of Thomas Sim Lee
Thomas Sim Lee
Thomas Sim Lee was an American planter and statesman of Frederick County, Maryland. Although not a signatory to the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation or the US Constitution, he was an important participant in the process of their creation...
(1745–1819), and retired to the Lee estate called "Needwood", near Frederick, Maryland
Frederick, Maryland
Frederick is a city in north-central Maryland. It is the county seat of Frederick County, the largest county by area in the state of Maryland. Frederick is an outlying community of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of a greater...
. This stressed family relations during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, with Gouverneur associated with the Union government, while his in-laws had deep roots in the confederate states.
Obituaries state he died on September 29, 1865.
He left his estate to his second wife.
Other sources say he lived until 1867.
His graddaughter Rose de Chine Gouverneur born in China in 1860, married Roswell Randall Hoes (1850–1921) and died on May 26, 1933. Their sons Gouverneur Hoes (1889–1943) and Laurence Gouverneur Hoes (1900–1978) established the James Monroe Museum and Memorial LIbrary in the Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia located south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,286...
building that housed the James Monroe Law Office
James Monroe Law Office
The James Monroe Law Office located in Fredericksburg, Virginia was used for that purpose from 1786 to 1789. James Monroe would later become the fifth President of the United States .It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966....
, administered by the University of Mary Washington
University of Mary Washington
The University of Mary Washington is a public, coeducational liberal arts college located in the city of Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA. Founded in 1908 by the Commonwealth of Virginia as a normal school, during much of the twentieth century it was part of the University of Virginia, until...
.
The Gouverneur house at 63 and 65 Prince Street at Lafayette Street in New York, was sold in 1832 to Miles R. Burke. After three years it was owned by John Ferguson and then was sold to Charles H. Contoit in 1873, and then Daniel Mahoney in 1900.
On April 28, 1905 a historical plaque was place on the building in a ceremony with several descendants in attendance. A crowd of "thousands" included General Frederick Dent Grant
Frederick Dent Grant
Frederick Dent Grant was a soldier and United States minister to Austria-Hungary. Grant was the first son of General of the Army and President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Grant. He was named after his uncle, Frederick Tracy Dent...
and an amry attachment.
However, by the 1920s the once-elegant pair of houses had fallen into disrepair and were covered in advertisements.
A group tried to save one of the house in the 1920s, but it suffered damage when a move was attempted.