In December 1802, the "living encyclopedia" Samuel Latham Mitchill (1764-1831), was a freshman member of Congress residing in the new capital of Washington. Mitchill wrote a letter to his wife Catharine (née Akerly 1778-1864) back home in New York. Samuel and Catharine were still newlyweds, having been married in 1799 when Mitchill was teaching chemistry, botany, and natural history at Columbia College.

Mitchill, born in Hempstead, New York, graduated from the University of Edinburgh Medical School in 1786. An admired and enthusiastic know-it-all, Mitchill loved to pontificate on anything and everything. Familiarly known as Dr. Mitchill, he was a "chaos of knowledge," and to Thomas Jefferson he was the "Congressional Dictionary." Throughout his life, the national press considered Mitchill an authority whenever there was a question of science or natural history.

Mitchill wrote to Catharine that he had "an Anecdote to give" and then went on to describe a rumor he had heard about the identity of the model for Liberty on United States coins, the "effigy of this coy wood-Nymph" seen on "our Cents, Eagles, &c." He said the "Chief Engraver of the Mint, looked to his own Wife" and "made Copy from that Original." Since "Her face appeared to him beautiful enough to furnish a Model for 'Liberty.'" Mitchill concluded, "They say she is well known in Philadelphia, tho I have never seen her."

The full transcription of this passage is below.

Mitchill may be an untapped source of numismatic learning, as, besides this 1802 letter, I have recently uncovered another intriguing statement linked to him (more to come later!). Since the Newman Numismatic Portal has been unavailable, I consulted Joel Orosz (who is the next best thing) to ask what he knew of Mitchill. In the words of Joel, "Samuel Latham Mitchill is a big name-one of the foremost scientists in the young republic. His Medical Repository published the first inventory of a significant American coin collection in 1801 (that of Rev. John Christopher Kunze)." Joel added, "It appears that SLM might have a lot to teach us about the cradle days of numismatics in the United States."

Joel's mention of Mitchill's Medical Repository steers us to another of Mitchill's eccentric claims to fame. Mere months after he wrote to Catharine about our fair Liberty, Mitchill was strenuously promoting his plan to rename the United States of America as "Fredon" or the poetic "Fredonia." Mitchill believed that "American" had been twisted into a pejorative by the British and that a native of this land should be able to proudly declare himself a Frede, "instead of using the tedious circumlocution that he was 'a citizen of the United States of America.'" Not to mention that "notice will be taken of the association of Fredonia and Macedonia and Caledonia as a word equally potent and melodious in sound."

Needless to say, Mitchill's campaign was not successful. However, the dream of Fredon was popular enough that we can still find it memorialized today, such as by the Village of Fredonia in western New York.

As to his 1802 letter to his wife, it seems that Mitchill must be referring to US Mint Chief Engraver Robert Scot. However, I have found very little about Scot's wife (said to be Eunice Beal, 1751-1806). Perhaps, though, E-Sylum readers have some other thoughts about Mitchill's "Anecdote."

Some of Mitchill's letters have been scanned and transcribed at the University of Michigan, and this letter and others can be found here:https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/mitchill/

Joel added:

References:
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/mitchill/
https://www.numislit.com/pages/books/7218/john-c-kunze/description-of-a-cabinet-of-coins-and-medals-ancient-and-modern
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/11/12/united-states-fredonia
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Medical_Repository/Ma4WAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=fredon