Post by perogo on Jul 10, 2014 13:03:34 GMT -5
Name: Richard P. Bessett
State:
Pennsylvania
District: 3
Party: Federalist
Date of Birth: 20 November, 1750
Place of Birth: Somewhere in the Laurentian Mountains, Quebec
Place of Residence: Philadelphia, PA
Family: Wife-Maria, Children-Thomas, Simon, Henrietta
Born to french voyageurs, Richard spent the early part of his life living the fur trading life, traveling the great freshwater lakes inland to trade with the Indian tribes on the banks of the mighty lake they call "Gitchi-gami". In his early life, he would recall, "he did not know he was an American. I was wilder then, and I saw the General more as a suspicious benefactor." Indeed Richard and his brother Robert received a contract and payment from General George Washington himself to recruit Indians to the American cause.
He used the money he made as a trader to pay for an education. Richard took to education and urban life with the same veracity to explore that made him a great trapper and trader. At the age of 27, he vowed to travel the world, and travel he did: Zurich, Prague, Rome, Paris, London. In Paris, Richard found a well of intellectuals, radicals, and others to soak up with his appetite for knowledge. He claims later in life to have drank both Benjamin Franklin and the Marquis de Sade under the table at a underground tavern near the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
In London, Richard completed his education in law, and returned to the United States in 1785. He settled in Philadelphia, because as he said "at the time, it was the most American thing I could think to do." As a lawyer and a merchant trader, Richard gained a reputation as an active citizen and honest businessman. Though his unorthodox background and manner did and still cause many strange looks, Richard's friends credit these as simply the quirks of an otherwise serious statesman.
State:
Pennsylvania
District: 3
Party: Federalist
Date of Birth: 20 November, 1750
Place of Birth: Somewhere in the Laurentian Mountains, Quebec
Place of Residence: Philadelphia, PA
Family: Wife-Maria, Children-Thomas, Simon, Henrietta
Born to french voyageurs, Richard spent the early part of his life living the fur trading life, traveling the great freshwater lakes inland to trade with the Indian tribes on the banks of the mighty lake they call "Gitchi-gami". In his early life, he would recall, "he did not know he was an American. I was wilder then, and I saw the General more as a suspicious benefactor." Indeed Richard and his brother Robert received a contract and payment from General George Washington himself to recruit Indians to the American cause.
He used the money he made as a trader to pay for an education. Richard took to education and urban life with the same veracity to explore that made him a great trapper and trader. At the age of 27, he vowed to travel the world, and travel he did: Zurich, Prague, Rome, Paris, London. In Paris, Richard found a well of intellectuals, radicals, and others to soak up with his appetite for knowledge. He claims later in life to have drank both Benjamin Franklin and the Marquis de Sade under the table at a underground tavern near the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
In London, Richard completed his education in law, and returned to the United States in 1785. He settled in Philadelphia, because as he said "at the time, it was the most American thing I could think to do." As a lawyer and a merchant trader, Richard gained a reputation as an active citizen and honest businessman. Though his unorthodox background and manner did and still cause many strange looks, Richard's friends credit these as simply the quirks of an otherwise serious statesman.
