Patrick Magruder

Patrick Magruder (1768 – 24 December 1819[1][2]) was the second Librarian of the United States Congress, serving from 1807 to 1815.

Biography

Magruder was born on his family’s estate, Locust Grove, near Rockville in Montgomery County, Maryland. Magruder attended Princeton College and became a lawyer. In 1805, he was elected to the Ninth United States Congress from the third district of Maryland. After the death of John J. Beckley, President Jefferson appointed Magruder to the dual post of Clerk of the United States House of Representatives and Librarian of Congress. (The posts were not separated until 1815.) During the War of 1812, the British burned Washington D.C., including the Library of Congress, which was then housed in the US Capitol Building. After an investigation by Congress into the destruction of the Library and the use of Library funds, Magruder resigned. He was buried on his family’s ancestral estate, Sweden, near Petersburg in Dinwiddie County, Virginia.

References

  1. ↑ Date of birth unknown, according to Dictionary of American Library Biography.
  2. ↑ Dictionary of American Library Biography. (1978). Bohdan Wynar, ed. "Magruder, Patrick (1768-1819)." Littleton, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited. p. 337-339. ISBN 0-87287-180-0
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Thomas Plater		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maryland's 3rd congressional district
March 4, 1805 – March 3, 1807 		Succeeded by
Philip B. Key
Cultural offices
Preceded by
John J. Beckley		 Librarian of Congress
1807–1815 		Succeeded by
George Watterston


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.