Jacob Crowninshield (1770-1808)

He is credited with bringing the first elephant to America (in perfect health) on April 13, 1796. Its story is recalled largely from the letters kept by one of the ship's officers, Nathaniel Hawthorne, father of the famous author of the same name. It was a two-year old female from Bengal in India and had cost Crowninshield $450. On arriving in New York he exhibited the elephant at the corner of Beaver and Broadway and had already agreed to sell it to Mr. Owen for $10,000 who exhibited the animal in Philadelphia, Baltimore, the Carolinas, and up and down the east cost until circa 1822. Crowninshield was appointed to Jefferson's cabinet in his second administration as Secretary of the Navy but turned the position down on account of his ill-health.