Reese Meredith (1705-1778)
Reese (Rhys or Rice) Meredith, Merchant, of Philadelphia
He was born at Leominster in Herefordshire, descended from the Meredith family of Presteigne in Radnorshire. He was educated at Oxford University and as a Quaker he came to Philadelphia in 1727 to practise his faith without fear of reprisal. He became a successful merchant but was later disowned by the Quakers for funding the privateer Warren. He married Martha, grand-daughter of Samuel Carpenter of the Slate Roof House, a business partner of William Penn and Deputy-Governor of Colonial Pennsylvania. Reese Meredith kept a townhouse on Walnut Street below Second and for a country home purchased "Green Hill" from Richard Hill on the west bank of the Schuylkill River opposite Fairmount. His silver service was marked with the crest of the Merediths of Radnor (see images): a demi-lion, rampant, collared and chained.
One of his sons (first name unclear) was implicated in a scandal involving Stuart Cairns Maitland: "In playing cards with a gentlemanly black adventurer, named Meredith, he (Maitland) lost one evening in Saratoga something over $100,000. Mr. Meredith was a brother of Samuel Meredith (Secretary of the U.S. Treasury) and the held the appointment of Measurer in the Custom House in New York. Maitland - "being a man of scrupulous ideas of honor" - would have paid every dollar he lost, but his friends would not permit him to do it, and compromised the matter for a very small sum with Meredith."
One of his sons (first name unclear) was implicated in a scandal involving Stuart Cairns Maitland: "In playing cards with a gentlemanly black adventurer, named Meredith, he (Maitland) lost one evening in Saratoga something over $100,000. Mr. Meredith was a brother of Samuel Meredith (Secretary of the U.S. Treasury) and the held the appointment of Measurer in the Custom House in New York. Maitland - "being a man of scrupulous ideas of honor" - would have paid every dollar he lost, but his friends would not permit him to do it, and compromised the matter for a very small sum with Meredith."
