Joseph Nourse (London, England, 16 July 1754 – Washington D.C., 1841) was the first

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

Register of the Treasury The Register of the Treasury was an officer of the United States Treasury Department. In 1919, the office of the Register became the Public Debt Service which, in 1940, became the Bureau of the Public Debt. The Register's duties included filing the ...

whose career spanned forty years and six presidential administrations. He played a key role in administering the finances of the new Republic. Nourse first served during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of ...

as military secretary to General Charles Lee. He returned for a short time to his family's farm in

Berkeley County, Virginia Berkeley County is located in the Shenandoah Valley in the Eastern Panhandle region of West Virginia in the United States. The county is part of the Hagerstown- Martinsburg, MD- WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the co ...

(now

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). He settled in

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in 1779, where he served as assistant auditor general for the Board of Treasury. He was elected register in 1781, where he assumed responsibility for keeping the financial records and accounts of the new government. He also authenticated each piece of

Continental currency Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-Revolutionary history of the United States. John Hull was authorized by the Massachusetts legislature to make the earliest coinage of the colony (the ...

by personally signing it. In 1800, he moved with the federal government from

to the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He purchased a residence at 3101 P Street in

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. In 1804, he acquired Cedar Hill, now known as

Dumbarton House Dumbarton House is a Federal style house located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was completed around 1800. Its first occupant was Joseph Nourse, the first Register of the Treasury. Dumbarton House, a federal period histor ...

, where he lived until 1813. As Register of the Treasury, he worked closely with four administrations and early political leaders of the new nation. When

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame a ...

was elected president in 1829, Nourse was forced from office. A

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investigation claimed that Nourse owed the government $11,769.13 due to misappropriation of funds. Nourse countered that the government owed him for "uncompensated services". A Federal circuit court awarded him about $23,582, but it was seven years after his death until his heirs were able to collect.

References

1754 births 1841 deaths United States Department of the Treasury officials People from Georgetown (Washington, D.C.) {{US-gov-bio-stub