Description:
Commission granted by "The UNITED STATES IN AMERICA IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED / TO David Townsend Esquire / ......a Physician and Surgeon of the Hospitals of the United States from the Seventh day of October 1780....Duty of Physician and Surgeon." This was dated in Philaldephia on "Ninth day of October 1781 in the Sixth Year of Our Independence." There is an American watermark: "S&K" which is not listed in "Gravel." Dr. David Townsend (1753-1829) of Boston served as a surgeon-general of the hospital department during the American Revolution and later practiced medicine in Boston. A typewritten note on the back of his portrait (HD 65.238.1) reads: "David Townsend, Jan 7, 1753-Apr. 13, 1829. Surgeon in Revolutionary Army and Charter Member of the Society of Cincinnati. Eldest son of Shippie Townsend and Ann Balch. Married May 24, 1785 Elizabeth Davis. Sept. 14, 1758-Aug. 14 1833. Daughter of Solomon Davis and Elizabeth Wendell. Portrait by Alexander." Together with his close friend Dr. William Eustis, Townsend was a charter member of the Society of the Cincinnati, a fraternal group founded in 1783 by American military officers and French officers who had aided the American cause. Townsend later became a member of the Standing Committee of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati (1786-1807), Secretary (1807-1821, VP (1821-1825), and President (1825-1929). Townsend was one of nine men to whom Samuel Shaw (1754-1794) gave a Chinese export porcelain teaset (HD 56.105) decorated with the Society of Cincinnati emblems. HD also has his Society diploma (HD 56.105A), letter (HD 56.105B) from Shaw to Townsend sent with the teaset, and his son's, David S. Townsend (1790-1853), Society booklet (HD 56.105C).
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+65.238.2 |
