Gilbert Rodman

Gilbert Rodman (August 21, 1800 – January 15, 1862) was a Pennsylvania attorney and government official who served as acting Solicitor of the United States Treasury.

Biography

Gilbert Rodman was born in Bensalem, Pennsylvania on August 21, 1800. He clerked for a Philadelphia merchant, studied law with George M. Dallas and became an attorney, first in Lancaster, and then in Philadelphia.^[1][2]

In 1829 Samuel D. Ingham of Pennsylvania was appointed Secretary of the Treasury and asked Rodman to accompany him. Rodman rose through the ranks of the department to become Chief Clerk, or primary assistant to the Secretary, serving until his death.^[3][4][5]

Rodman occasionally acted as Solicitor of the Treasury and Secretary of the Treasury during the absences of the primary office holders or when there were interregnums.^[6]

During the Zachary Taylor administration Rodman was sent to San Francisco to investigate irregularities in the collections of customs duties.^[7][8][9]

Rodman died in Washington, D.C. on January 15, 1862.^[10][11]

References

1. Life of John Davis, by William Watts Hart Davis, 1886, page 98
2. The Philadelphia Bar: A Complete Catalogue of Members From 1776 to 1868, by David Paul Brown, 1868, page 17
3. A genealogical and personal history of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, by William Watts Hart Davis, Volume 1, 1876, page 163
4. The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge, published by Gray and Bowen, Boston, 1831, page 130
5. Newspaper article, Washington Intelligence, Oswego (N.Y.) Commercial Times, March 8, 1861
6. The Political Register and Congressional Directory, published by Houghton, Osgood and Company, 1878, page 230
7. The Adventures of James Collier: First Collector of the Port of San Francisco, by Grant Foreman, 1937, 49
8. J. Ross Browne, Confidential Agent in Old California, by Richard H. Dillon, 1965, page 25
9. Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, in Obedience to the Resolution of the Senate Calling for "Information Relating to the Security and Collection of the Revenue in California, etc., Accompanied by a Report From Gilbert Rodman, Esq., Special Agent, published by U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1850
10. Genealogy of the Rodman family, 1620 to 1886, by Charles Henry Jones, 1886, page 49
11. The Salmon P. Chase Papers, by Salmon Portland Chase, edited by John Niven, Volume 1, 1993, page 326