Sunday, August 19, 2012

A Forgotten Radnorian

It's something of a mystery, at least to me, but every one of the fifteen Treasurers of the United States appointed since 1949 has been a woman, indeed five of the last six have been Latinas.  It must be a quaint custom in a far off country of which we know less than we think.

To avoid any misunderstanding, the Treasurer is not responsible for the corruption and on-going destruction of western capitalism.  No, that would be the similarly named but quite separate Secretary of the Treasury.  But still it's an important role and was even more so in 1789 when George Washington appointed the son of an old friend to the post.  The son was Samuel Meredith and his father, Washington's friend, was one Reese Meredith, born in Llandegley in 1708.  You can read about Reese and his connections here.

To listen to some accounts you'd think Radnorshire was a remote backwater which the speaker had personally discovered.  The truth is that the county has been as much at the centre of things as anywhere else.  Examine the will of some humble fellow who died 300 years ago and one shouldn't be too surprised to find a reference like this:




No comments: