Rash's Surname Index
Notes for John Meredith Jr. READ
John Meredith Read, Jr. was born in Philadelphia on February 21, 1837. The Read family was prominent in American political life; Read's great-grandfather George Read signed the Declaration of Independence and was a framer of the Constitution; his father, John Meredith Read, Sr., was a prominent Pennsylvania jurist who was outspoken on the "Free Kansas" issue and was later appointed Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Read was educated at a military school, followed by college education at Brown University and Albany (New York) Law School, from which he graduated in 1859. That year he was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar and married Delphine Marie Pumpelly.
Read was an active supporter of Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party in the elections of 1860. As a reward, he was promoted to brigadier-general (the youngest man ever to hold this rank) and made adjutant-general of New York State, directing military affairs there during the Civil War with great success, eventually receiving official recognition from the War Department. His support of the Republican party continued through the Civil War, and he was active in General Ulysses S. Grant's campaign for President in 1868. His reward for service this time was to be appointed consul-general to France and Algeria in 1869. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), Read acted as the representative for the German government, protecting German interests and citizens until the Germans re-established diplomatic relations in 1872; for this, the Kaiser eventually tried to confer a knighthood on Read, but Congress never passed the resolution that would have allowed this. Read also looked after American and French interests during the Paris Commune uprising and the second siege of Paris. The French held him in such high esteem that in 1872 the Minister of War appointed him president of a commission to determine whether French troops should be taught English.
Recognizing Read's talents in the diplomatic service, Grant appointed him the first resident minister to Greece in 1873. Once again, his term of office was marked with diplomatic successes. One of his first accomplishments was to gain the release of the American ship Armenia from Greek authorities. In 1876, he compelled the Greek government to revoke an order banning sales of English translations of the Bible. In 1877, he notified the U.S. press that the Russo-Turkish War was disrupting Russia's wheat exports to Europe and that U.S. exports to Europe at that time might capture the market. The resulting grain exports to Europe netted U.S. businessmen $73 million. As minister, he was also responsible for protecting American interests and citizens during the Balkan crisis and War of 1875-1878.
Although Read was acclaimed both in Greece and America for his skillful diplomacy, Congress soon reduced the appropriations for Read's office during the financial slump of the late 1870's. He was reduced to the rank of chargé d'affaires in 1876, and the funding for the legation was cut off completely in 1878. As the Greek crisis with Turkey was at its height (and the Berlin Conference, which was to settle the issue, was still in the planning stages), Read, with the backing of the State Department, the Greek Prime Minister and King George I of Greece, declined to close the mission and remained in Greece at his own expense until 1880, at which time he retired. In 1881, King George made him a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer, the highest award the Greek government could bestow. He was also a member and later President of the Archaeological Society of Athens.
Read gained a reputation during his life as a scholar and historian. His best known work is A Historical Inquiry Concerning Henry Hudson (1866), which made new discoveries concerning the explorer's ancestors and antecedents; he was also the author of The Relation of Soil to Plants and Animals (1860), "First Annual Discourse before the Delaware Historical Society" (1864) and "A Letter in Greek and English addressed to the Archaeological Society of Greece upon the Death of the 5th Earl Stanhope, the Historian of the Reign of Queen Anne" (1875). Read spent his final years in Paris editing his collection of historical manuscripts relating to France, England, America and Greece; he also spent time preparing these manuscripts, as well as his various memoirs and letters, for publication. Read died in Paris on December 27, 1896. His final work, Historic Studies in Vaud, Bern and Savoy; from Roman Times to Voltaire, Rousseau and Gibbon appeared posthumously in 1897.
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