Biography/History

Samuel Relf (1776-1823), a respected journalist, and editor and owner of the National Gazette of Philadelphia, is better-remembered by posterity than either of his contemporaries whose letters constitute this collection. Relf was born in Virginia on March 22, 1776, and at an early age was brought by his mother to Philadelphia. As editor and owner of the National Gazette, he made his imprint on the community. In 1819, however, due to financial reverses he lost the paper. Reif was also author of a novel, Infidelity, or the Victims of Sentiment (Philadelphia, 1797).^[1] He died in Philadelphia at age 47 on February 14, 1823. His widow, Sarah Poyntell Relf, the oldest daughter of William and Ann Poyntell, was born September 30, 1780 and died on September 5, 1865.^[2]

William Poyntell , son of Jonathan and Anne Tayler Poyntell, was the father-in-law of Samuel Relf. He was born in Oxfordshire, England on March 23, 1756. He came to Philadelphia as a boy of fifteen, and at the time of his death on September 10, 1811 was a well-to-do, retired Philadelphia merchant. His widow, Ann, died on October 6, 1829 at the age of seventy. William and Ann Poyntell and at least five of their children, including a young William (1791-1817), are buried in St. Peter's Churchyard, Philadelphia.^[3]

William Tayler , whose letters appear in the collection, was an uncle of William Poyntell. He apparently lived in England and owned a London business. He was also a correspondent in London for the National Gazette. Other than what can be discerned from his letters, nothing is known about him.

Wilson, James Grant and John Fiske, ed. Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, volume V. (New York, 1888), p. 219.

Bronson, William White. The Inscriptions in St. Peter's Churchyard, Philadelphia. (Camden, 1879), pp. 44-45, 251-252, 260, and passim.

Ibid.