Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-08-04
THE LATE JOHN MOUNTZ.

The following communication was transmit
ted to the City Councils at their last meeting,
by Mayor Crawford:
MAYORS OFFICE, GEORGETOwS. ID. c.
August |, 1851.
To ,be Boards of AkfermeR and Common
COKnciiWeH
GENrSEMES The occasion for which you are
assembled is full of melancholy interest 1t is
with pain that announce to you the decea Sc
of our venerable clerk, John MOuntz, Esq. lie
expired at his residence. on Bridge st, in this
place, this morning, in the bosom of his family,
after brief illness, in the S7th year of his age.
Exempt from most of the infrmities of age, to
the day Of his recent and fatal sickness he was
still capable of valuable effort.
The record of his services is nearly our whole
municipal history. Georgetown was incorpOra-
ted in 1889, and by the journal of the proceed
ings of the Corporation, kept in his own char
acteristic handwriting, it appears that on
Monday, the 18th day of November, 1871, John
Mountz, jr., is appointed clerk, in the room of
Thomas Turner, who hath resigned; and from
that time, when a youth Of scarcely twenty-One
years Of age, be entered upon his duties, to the
moment Of his death he has filled the same office,
having been annually reelected for sixty-six
consecutive years; thus presenting an instance
Of official service not more distinguished for its
extraordinary IL not unexempled duration than
by its eminent merit and usefulness.
To you who knew him it is almost superfu-
Ous TO say that his singular discretion. rigid in
tegrity. and exemplary skill and fidelity in the
discharge Of his duties, through all the yiclssi
tudes OF fortune incident to this long tract of
time, commanded this abiding public conf
dence
During my short intercourse with him have
had frequent occasion to remark the sterling
qualities, the good sense, the honest purpose,
the patient spirit the punctuality. the firm
tr1Ia tha 1o- w but tIo
busy hand" which, in the maturity of his FAC
ulties, rendered him a model clerk. His ven-
erable presence in the town hall was ever well
come; and it was with unfeigned regret that
learnt that death had forever severed my rela
tiOns with this most faithful public servant and
time-hOnOred depOsitary Of so many interesting
local and official traditions.
To show how completely he stood in the
midst of pOsterity, it may not be inappropfiate
10 mention that he was present and assisted the
Father OF his Country in the ceremonies at the
laying Of the cornerstone of the Capitol Of the
United States at Washington, and that he was
m eyewitness of the encampment of the French
troops in our suburbs when on their march to
the battle at Yorktown, which closed the mill
tary operations Of the Revolutionary war
am sure you will agree with me that his
simple, peaceful and virtuous life the univer-
sal esteem in which he was held, AMI his init
mate Identification with the Corporation, by
pubIlc services.
invoke at your hands marked tributes Of pro-
found respect to his memory.
A portrait of his familiar and placid counten-
nnce would grace the walls Of the Town Hall,
in which, for almost two-thirds OF a century,
with daily constaney that never tired, he Ia
bored in his vocation; and L therefore respect
fully suggest an appropriation TO secure from a
competent artist copy Of the excellent like
ness known to be in existence, to be suspended
in the Clerk 8 Ofice-a suggestion which, can
not doubt, will receive q cordial response from
the hearts Of the people.
Very respectfully, your Obedient servant,
RICHARD Il. CRAWFORD, Mayor.