29
IV.
“AMERICA’S FIRST CIVIL SERVANT”: A BIOGRAPHY OF JOSEPH NOURSE Joseph Nourse, the oldest child of James and Sarah Nourse, was the first occupant of
Dumbarton House; consequently his residency is the focus of the historical interpretation of the building. The museum actively collects and exhibits decorative and fine arts once owned and used by the Nourse family, as well as comparable examples of furnishings appropriate to their residency at Dumbarton House. In addition to the museum collections and the period room displays, the educational programs and exhibitions illustrate the social, cultural, and political history of the early years of the young Republic, generally referred to as the Federal period (1790-1830). Joseph Nourse was born on July 16, 1754, in London, England. In 1761, he began his schooling at the Streatham School and continued his education at various English educational institutions, including the Clapham School, the Loughborough House School, and the Soho Square School. 31 In 1768 and 1769, he apprenticed in his father’s woolen drapery business until the family’s departure for America. In 1769, at the age of 15, he came to America with his parents and siblings, and worked at “Piedmont,” his father’s farm in Berkeley County, Virginia, until he was 18 years of age. Now considered a young adult, Joseph Nourse began to explore professional opportunities. Undoubtedly, his father’s established friendships with several of his highly influential neighbors—themselves leaders in the political and military communities— would play a critical role in shaping the young man’s future career. Two such influential neighbors were General Horatio Gates and General Charles Lee, whose plantations were near the Nourse property. Because of Lee’s prolonged absence from his estate—“Prato Rio”—due to the war, Lee asked James Nourse to manage many of his personal affairs. In exchange for this favor of management, on January 22, 1776, Gates wrote Lee a letter from Cambridge in which he asked Lee to propose Joseph Nourse for a position in Robert Morris’s shipping and banking firm, Willing, Morris and Company. 32
31 For a brief year-by-year documentation of the early life of Joseph Nourse, compiled in his own hand, see the chronology contained in Charles J. Nourse, Commonplace Book (Nourse Family Papers, #3490-a, Box 9, Folder dates 1754-1842, University of Virginia Library, Special Collections Department). 32 Letter, Horatio Gates to Charles Lee, January 22, 1776; Collections of the New-York Historical Society for the Year 1871, Publication Fund Series, The Lee Papers, Volume I, 1754-1776, (New York: The Society, 1872), pp. 251-252.