History of Hopewell, (Somerset County) Maryland United States of America

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Thomas Lorraine McKenney, author, was born in Hopewell, Somerset county, Md., March 21, 1785. He attended school at Chestertown, Md., and engaged in mercantile business in Washington-D.C. He was appointed superintendant of the U.S. Indian trade by President Madison, April 2, 1816, as successor to Gen. John Macon. In 1819 an act of congress prevented the President from appointing officers for the trade department without the consent of the senate and he was re-appointed and confirmed. On March 11, 1824, a bureau of Indian Affairs was organized in connection with the war department and he was appointed chief of the bureau. In 1822 charges of favoritism and a corrupt abuse of his trust were preferred against him. The case was tried before a committee of congress, where he was completely vindicated. He was a special commissioner with Gen. Lewis Case in 1826 to negotiate an important treaty with the Chippewa Indians at Fond du Lac, Mich. Ty., and He also visited various tribes and induced them to remove their settlements west of the Mississippi river in 1827. He was dismissed from office, Oct. 1, 1829, by President Jackson. It was generally believed that he was in default, but in 1888 all his accounts were settled in full. He is the author of: Sketches of a Tour to the Lakes, of the Character and Customs of the Chippewa Indians and of the Incidents Connected with the Treaty of Fond du Lae (1827); A History of the Indian Tribes (with James Hall, 3 vols., 1838-44); Essays on the Split of Jacksonianism as Exemplified in its Deadly Hostility to the Bank of the United States (1835), and Memoirs, Official and Personal, with Sketches of Travels among the Northern and Southern Indians (1846). He died in New York city, Feb. 19, 1859.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Hopewell, (Somerset County) Maryland

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