Andrew Mallet Prevost (1780 - 1850)

Born 10 Mar 1780 in Geneva

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 28 Aug 1850 at age 70 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Gerry Bingham [send private message] and Jim MacArthur [send private message]

Biography

Andrew (Andre) Mallet-Prevost was born in Geneva March 10, 1780. He was fifteen years of age when he landed in America with his mother and two younger brothers. For a number of years he remained with his father in Alexandria, NJ assisting in the management of the estate (in what would become Frenchtown), but in 1804, at the age of twenty-four he removed to Philadelphia and formed a business connection there with his uncle Louis Mallet-Prevost who had left Alexandria some time before.

For some years he seems to have had an uphill fight. One of his earliest ventures was the chartering of a vessel and the taking of a consignment of merchandise to Cuba. His father was interested with him in this, but the outcome was disappointing. No records are extant regarding his subsequent business career; but letters addressed to him from Geneva described him as "Agent," and he was at times referred to as "Banker." It was a difficult thing in those days for a stranger, and a foreigner at that, to make a place for himself in Philadelphia; but that he succeeded is evidenced by the important offices which he filled.

On January 16, 1810, he was married to Catherine Clifton of Philadelphia. She died five years later without issue; and a year or two after he married Hannah Coulter, of Baltimore, daughter of Dr. John Coulter, a noted physician of that city. Hannah Coulter's grandmother was Hannah Mifflin, whose father was Benjamin Mifflin, a first cousin of Governor Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania.

Andrew had six children, Theodore, Charles, Mary, Grayson, Eugene, and Matilda. Theodore died in infancy; Eugene died in 1864, leaving a widow, but no surviving issue.

From an early age Andrew was interested in military matters, devoting special attention to artillery and fortifications. Extensive studies on these subjects, with diagrams and plans which he prepared, are still extant. In 1810 he was commissioned lieutenant of artillery in the Pennsylvania militia. On April 8, 1813, he organized a volunteer company of artillery of which he was made captain. With his company he was at Camp Dupont with the Advance Light Brigade during the war with England. The following year, on September 21, 1814, he was elected major of an artillery battalion; and on November 4 of the next year he was made a lieutenant colonel of artillery. On July 26, 1824, he was commissioned colonel; and on August 3, 1828, he was elected colonel of the "First Regiment of Volunteer Artillery." On June 24, 1833, he was raised to the rank of brigadier general, in command of the "first Brigade, First Division of Pennsylvania Militia." He held that office until March 29, 1842, when, at the age of sixty-two, he retired. He presided at the court martial of Captain John R.C. Smith in 1824, an account of which was published in "Franklin Gazette" of December 1st of that year. On March 2, 1827, he was appointed by the Secretary of War a member of the Board of Visitors to attend the examination of cadets at West Point. In 1837 he was selected to preside at "a large meeting of the citizens of Philadelphia and the adjoining region" called to make representations to the Secretary of the Navy regarding the launching of "the Ship of the Line Pennsylvania." An account of this was published in the "United States Gazette" of July 28, 1837. At one time he served on the Board of Education of Philadelphia.

This brief summary of the offices held by Andrew during a period of thirty years is evidence of the esteem and respect in which he was held, but throws little light upon his intimate character. The people of Philadelphia knew him as a man of sterling worth, public spirited and ready always to serve his adopted country, whether in the field or in civil affairs. His family saw quite a different side. That side is revealed in his correspondence with his mother, to whom he was devotedly attached. It shows him to have been a man of deep affection, of simple nature and of great fortitude under adversity. That correspondence is of too intimate a nature for publication; but there are reproduced, as an appendix to this volume, extracts from a diary kept by him in 1831 during a visit to Geneva. The purpose of that visit was to settle his mother's estate and the estate of his aunt Lydia, Countess of Gallatin, who had left a considerable fortune to Andrew's father.^[1] The diary is interesting, not only as throwing light upon Andrew's personality, but also as descriptive of the times.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ According to The Prominent Families of the United States of America, Andrew's aunt Lydie was married to Pierre de Gallatin, a Chamberlain to the King of Wurtenberg, an area in present day Germany under constant dispute between Protestants and Catholics. Lydie's time there might have been during the 50+ year rule of Charles Eugene (1728-1793), his brother Frederick Eugene I (who died in 1797), or his son Frederick II, who succeeded him after his death. See The wikipedia for the History of Wurtenburg.
2. ↑ The text of this profile was found in Historical Notes and Biographical Sketches Regarding the American Branch of the Mallet Family, 1794-1930; Mallet-Prevost, Severo. New York, 1930. Severo was the grandson of Andrew Mallet-Prevost and son of Grayson Mallet-Prevost (Wikitree profile needed).

• http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/19894218/person/28123692984

• Pennsylvania, Card Indexes to Genealogical Scrapbooks and Research Folders; citation provides evidence for Name, Residence, Birth
• Source: S-738452172 Repository: #R-1193837465 Ancestry Family Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Ancestry Family Tree http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=88371671&pid=53
• Repository: R-1193837465 Ancestry.com