Strangers – Today

Dr. Daniel Llewellyn Beaver, December 5, 1814 — May 6, 1899

Dr. Daniel Llewellyn Beaver was an American medical doctor. He graduated from Pennsylvania College in 1841, and served as the first president of the Pathological Society, after the dissolution of the Berks County Medical Society. Beaver was also a member of the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania.

Source — Source — Source

James Le Ray de Chaumont, November 13, 1760 – December 31, 1840

James Le Ray de Chaumont was a farmer and land investor. He was the son of  Jacques-Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont, who was a friend of Benjamin Franklin and supporter and supplier of aid to the cause during the American Revolution.  Le Ray de Chaumont was French, but became an American citizen through marriage. He acquired extensive landholdings in upstate New York, where the modern day towns of Le Ray and Chaumont are named after him. The Le Ray family supported commerce and infrastructure in the region, and built multiple homes and manors there. Le Raysville, in Pennsylvania, also bears the family's name. The Record of Strangers indicates that Le Ray de Chaumont visited the Athenaeum on multiple occasions.

Source — Source

Joseph Gardner Swift, December 31, 1783 — July 22, 1865

Joseph Gardner Swift was an American military and civil engineer. In 1802, he became the first graduate of the recently established U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. Swift maintained close ties to West Point while working as an army engineer in North Carolina and New England, while quickly rising through the ranks during the War of 1812. He was made Colonel and Chief Engineer of the Army in 1812, and later, the Superintendent at West Point. Swift resigned from the Army in 1818 and continued his career as a civil engineer. He acted as surveyor for the Port of New York, along with multiple other important projects in the city's development. This visit to the Athenaeum came while Swift was in charge of the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad in Maryland. Later in 1829, he would assume his role as superintendent of the harbor improvements on Lake Ontario, a position he held for the next 16 years.

Source — Source — Source

The Chevalier Frans Mattheus Wenceslas Testa

The Chevalier Frans Mattheus Wenceslas Testa was a Dutch diplomat. He served as the Chargé d' Affaires of the Netherlands to the United States beginning in 1845, and is listed as holding the position as late as 1854.

Source — Source — Source