Author: Dexter, Samuel
Biography:
DEXTER, Samuel (1761-1816: ancestry.com)
The son of a prosperous Boston merchant, Samuel Dexter, and his wife Hannah (Sigourney) Dexter, he graduated from Harvard in 1781 and was called to the bar in Worcester County in 1784. On 7 Mar. 1787 he married Catherine (or Katharine) Gordon of Charlestown; they had at least four children. Dexter entered politics as a member of the State House of Representatives for Charlestown in 1788, then became a Congressman and Senator in Washington. From 1800 to 1802 he was a cabinet minister under Adams, first as Secretary of War and then as Secretary of the Treasury. At the change of government, he resumed his career as a high-profile barrister while maintaining an active interest in political causes. He moved back to Boston in 1805 and died at Athens NY on 4 May 1816. His body was brought back for burial at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge MA. (ancestry.com 25 Aug. 2025; DAB; Appleton) HJ