By Tim Grant and Eliza Rasmussen
July 9, 2024
Philadelphia Mint employee Jess Easterday recently took a genealogy test and received surprising results. Her first cousin eight-times removed is American Revolutionary War hero, and Congressional Gold Medal recipient, Daniel Morgan.
Jess started working at the Mint in 2020 and currently works in the Coining Division. She was fascinated with the Mint’s celebrated past and how it continued to make history with its coin and medal programs. She had no idea until the genealogy test that she had a personal connection to one of those programs.
“At first, I did not know who he was,” said Jess. “But after some research, I found out he was a Congressional Gold medal recipient and that we made a medal for him here at the Mint! I was super excited and very eager to find out any information I could!”
Daniel Morgan was born in New Jersey in 1736. Early in his life, he decided to join America’s fight for independence and served under Generals Washington, Gates, and Greene, eventually reaching the rank of brigadier general. In 1781, Morgan won a brilliant victory at the Battle of Cowpens. For the victory, Congress awarded him a Congressional Gold Medal. It was the eighth gold medal authorized by Congress.
According to Mint medal historian R.W. Julian, “The gold medal awarded to General Daniel Morgan was in a special category all of its own as the [gold] medal was struck twice in two different mints more than a half century apart.”
As the United States Mint was not established until 1792, many early gold medals were struck at the Paris Mint under the direction of Thomas Jefferson. The Morgan medal dies were engraved by world-renowned French engraver Augustin Dupre who also created medals for John Paul Jones, General Greene, and Benjamin Franklin. Many experts agree that the Morgan medal was Dupre’s masterpiece.
What made Morgan’s gold medal so unique? Morgan received his gold medal in 1790. When he passed away in 1802, the gold medal was left to his grandson who secured it in a Pittsburgh bank vault. In 1818, the medal was stolen, and it was never recovered.
In 1836, Congress passed a law authorizing a second gold medal to be struck for the general’s family. New dies were cut in Paris and shipped to the Philadelphia Mint where, in 1839, they were used to strike another gold medal for General Daniel Morgan which was presented to Morgan’s great-grandson. The new medal contained 4.79 ounces of pure gold. Financier J.P. Morgan, who believed he was related to General Morgan, purchased the medal in 1885. After that, the medal disappeared.
Until 2022. The medal mysteriously surfaced when an anonymous seller contacted Stack’s Bowers Auction House. The medal arrived at the auction in its original Mint leather case resting in a purple velvet interior. There, after six minutes of bidding, the medal, including buyers fee, sold for $960,000, a new record for an American medal.
The Philadelphia Mint artifact collection has several General Morgan gold medal artifacts including plasters, galvanos, bronze medals, and antique dies. While the dies used to strike the original medal in Paris were never found, research shows that the second pair of French dies were still being used in 1885. Are the preserved dies secured in the Mint vault the ones that were used to strike the second gold medal in Philadelphia in 1839? We may never know, but the research continues.
Jess is glad to be part of the Mint family and Mint history. “To be working here and to know that my family has been part of the history here for over 200 years is a mix of emotions from excitement to feeling extremely grateful. I hope to continue my family’s legacy and hope to make some memories here for the future.”
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