4. Hunter (1746–1788) was a merchant, planter, and owner of a ferry: Donald Jackson et al., eds., The Diaries of George Washington (6 vols., Charlottesville, 1976–79), I, 296n; W. W. Abbot, ed., The Papers of George Washington: Confederation Series (6 vols., Charlottesville, 1992–97), V, 11n. He wrote an almost identical letter on Aug. 27 and a similar one, but from Richmond, on March 28, 1783 (APS).

5. If indeed he means “Mrs.” and not an abbreviation for “Messieurs,” the only Mrs. Strange we know of is Isabella Strange, wife of the engraver Robert Strange (XXXIII, 226n; XXX, 256n). She recently had returned from Paris to London, but none of her letters from this period are extant: James Dennistoun, Memoirs of Sir Robert Strange … (2 vols., London, 1855), II, 183. There was in fact a James Strange of Richmond who ten years later had business dealings with Thomas Jefferson: Jefferson Papers, XX, 390; XXII, 201, 203–4, 444; XXVII, 805.