Samuel Osgood - Postmaster General and New York Career

Postmaster General and New York Career

When a new U.S. government was installed in 1789, President Washington appointed Osgood the first Postmaster General under the new U.S. Constitution, replacing Ebenezer Hazard who was commissioned postmaster of the city of New York by the Continental Congress. Osgood served as Postmaster from 1789 to 1791. One of the first things Osgood would do is make the Post Office in Baltimore the new regional headquarters, whose postmaster was Katherine Goddard. Osgood ordered Goddard to resign from her post and was replaced by John White.

The seat of the Federal Government at that time was in New York City and the official residence of the President was located at 3 Cherry Street which was the home of Samuel Osgood and his family. Osgood offered the mansion to Washington so that the President and his wife would have what was then considered the finest house in the city as their home. The residence thus became America's first executive mansion.

When the Federal Government moved to Philadelphia for a ten-year period before finally settling in Washington, D.C., Osgood chose to remain in New York and resigned his post in 1791. Osgood was a presidential elector in 1792, and cast his votes for George Washington and George Clinton.

He was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1800-01 and 1802, and was Speaker in 1800-01. In 1803, he was appointed by President Thomas Jefferson as Naval Officer of the Port of New York, a position he held until his death. For the last year of his life he was President of the new City Bank of New York.

Osgood was a member of American Philosophical Society, and in his later years devoted time to writing and study. He had an extensive correspondence with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson among others. He died at home (3 Cherry Street) in New York City in 1813 and was buried in the Brick Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. The church is located at what is now the corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-seventh Street.

His birthplace in North Andover, Massachusetts is located on a street named for his family. Col. Osgood's portrait has been housed in the President's Room of the U.S. Capitol since the Lincoln presidency.