David Ramsay letter to Jedidiah Morse

Collection — Folder: 1

Identifier: MSS 2/086

Scope and Contents

Letter, 14 Dec. 1813, concerns printing and distribution of Ramsay’s Memoirs of the life of Martha Laurens Ramsay (1811) and projected first volume of his Universal history Americanized (1819). Typescript transcript of letter by Samuel X Radbill, [ca. 1987], is included.

Published in Brunhouse, Robert L., "David Ramsay, 1749-1815: Selections from His Writings," Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, N.S. vol. 55, pt. 4 (1965), pp. 177-178.

Dates

Creation: 1813-12-14

Creator

Ramsay, David (Person)

Biographical / Historical

David Ramsay, politician and physician, was born in Lancaster County, Pa., on 2 Apr. 1749. He married Sabrina Ellis (d. 1776) in 1775, Frances Witherspoon (d. 1784) in 1784, and Martha Laurens (d. 1811) in 1787. Ramsay died of pistol wounds at Charleston, S.C., on 8 May 1815. Ramsay received an M.B. from the Medical School, Philadelphia, in 1773. He opened a medical practice in Charleston, S.C., circa 1774, and became Surgeon to the Charleston Battalion of the Artillery. In 1780, he received an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Ramsay was a member of the South Carolina legislature from 1776-1780, 17811782, and 1784-1790. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress, 1782-1785, and a senator from South Carolina in 1792, 1794, and 1796.