John A. J. (John Angel James) Creswell

Born in Maryland in 1828, John Angel James Creswell trained as a lawyer and built his public life in a period of deep national conflict. He served in Maryland politics, then in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, where he was associated with the Union cause and the Republican Party during and after the Civil War.

He is especially remembered for serving as U.S. Postmaster General under President Ulysses S. Grant. In that role, he was linked with efforts to modernize and reform the Post Office Department, helping shape a service that touched everyday life across the country.

Creswell died in 1891. Although he is better known as a public figure than as a literary author, his life reflects a remarkable path through nineteenth-century American law, government, and reform.