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Mayor of Georgetown, District of Columbia, United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rev. David Wiley (1768 – October 14, 1812) was an American surveyor, politician, writer, scientist, and Presbyterian minister who served as postmaster and mayor of Georgetown, District of Columbia.[1]
David Wiley | |
---|---|
Born | 1768 Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Died | October 14, 1812 43–44) Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S. | (aged
Occupation(s) | Surveyor, minister |
Known for | Mayor of Georgetown |
David Wiley was born in 1768 in Pennsylvania. He graduated from the College of New Jersey (later Princeton) in 1788. From 1788 to 1789, Wiley was a tutor at Hampden Sidney College in Virginia.[2] Wiley married Susan Wynnkoop and they had four children.[3][4]
Wiley was ordained as a Presbyterian minister by the Presbytery of Huntingdon on April 9, 1794, and installed as pastor of two congregations in Centre County, Cedar Creek and Spring Creek.[2]
During this period, Wiley also served as the first stated clerk of the Presbytery.[2] He served subsequent congregations and in temporary vacancies until April 1801, when he requested and obtained permission to move to the Presbytery of Baltimore, which covered a wide region that included Virginia.[5]
In 1801, Wiley was requested by Stephen Bloomer Balch to move to Georgetown to succeed him[6] as the principal and headmaster of a private school, the Columbian Academy.[7] Wiley also taught several subjects at the academy, including philosophy, mathematics, geography, and Greek.[8][9] His pupils included Thomas Bloomer Balch.[10]
In 1802, Wiley wrote to President Thomas Jefferson encouraging the appointment of his friend William R. Cozens to be the first Librarian of Congress.[11]
According to The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, in October 1804, Wiley, along with Abraham Bradley Jr., made a series of astronomical observations near the White House to determine its longitude and latitude.[12]
In 1805, President Jefferson considered appointing Wiley as a leader of the Red River Expedition of the Southwestern United States.[13]
Wiley served as the secretary of the Columbian Agricultural Society.[14]
In 1806, Wiley was elected as a trustee of the Presbyterian Church in Georgetown. He also served as a voting member of the Presbyterian General Assembly.[15]
From 1810 to 1813, Wiley was the first editor of the Agricultural Museum, the first agricultural periodical magazine published in the United States.[16][17] The magazine discouraged excessive importation in the United States and included Thomas Jefferson among its readers.[18][19][20][21]
Wiley served as Georgetown's postmaster[22] and was appointed by the United States Congress to serve as Turnpike commissioner from 1809 to 1811.[15] From 1811 to 1812, served a one-year term as mayor of Georgetown, succeeding Thomas Corcoran.[23]
Wiley died on October 14, 1812, while staying at Jordan's Inn in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He had been traveling to the region on a government survey.[24]
An 1801 painting of Wiley by Charles Peale Polk is in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery.[25][26]
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