Francis E. Spinner

Francis Elias Spinner (January 21, 1802 – December 31, 1890) was an American politician from New York. He served as Treasurer of the United States from 1861 to 1875, and was the first administrator in the federal government to employ women for clerical jobs.

Life His father was John Peter Spinner (born in Werbach, Baden, January 18, 1768; died in German Flatts, New York, May 27, 1848), a Catholic priest who became a Protestant, married Mary Magdalene Fidelis Brument, emigrated to the United States in 1801, and was pastor of two German-speaking Dutch Reformed churches, at Herkimer and German Flatts until his death.

Francis Spinner was the eldest of nine children, six sons and three daughters. His father instructed him in languages, and in the common schools of Herkimer County he learned English grammar, reading, writing and arithmetic. His father required Spinner to learn a trade.

Early career Francis elected to become a merchant, and for about a year was employed as a clerk in a store. The store failed, and Francis was apprenticed to a confectioner in Albany.

In Albany, Spinner made the acquaintance of some educated men who took an interest in his welfare. Peter Gansevoort allowed him the use of his library. Two years after his arrival, when his father found he was being employed as a salesman and bookkeeper, Spinner was removed from that situation and apprenticed to a saddle and harness maker in Amsterdam, New York. Here Spinner became a shareholder in the circulating library, and studied its volumes when he wasn't busy learning his trade. Douglas was so successful that Spinner later stated, "her first day's work settled the matter forever in her and in the women's favor. The men left and women took their place." He subsequently employed seven more women.

Spinner's suggestion was taken up, and he carried it into effect successfully, though not without much opposition. The women were first employed to count money, and later took up various clerical duties.

Resignation and later career He resigned his office because of a disagreement over staffing appointments. A new Secretary refused to give him final say over his staff. Spinner thought that, as a bonded officer, he should have control over the appointment of clerks for whose acts he was responsible. When he resigned his office, the money in the treasury was counted. The result showed a very small discrepancy, and many days were spent in recounting and examining the books of accounts, until finally the mistake was discovered.

In 1875, he ran on the Republican ticket for New York State Comptroller but was defeated by Democrat Lucius Robinson. He moved south, and for some years he lived in camp at Pablo Beach, Florida, where he lived a vigorous outdoor life, It was completed in 1894, but never installed in front of the U.S. Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. Following years in storage, the Herkimer chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution petitioned for the statue to be transferred to his home town. faces Spinner's birthplace. The statue's base bears a likeness of his famous signature, which was then well-known from its appearance on U.S. Treasury notes. The inscription reads:

The fact that I was instrumental in introducing women to employment in the offices of the government gives me more real satisfaction than all the other deeds of my life.