To George Washington from Jonathan Elmer, 2 July 1777
From Jonathan Elmer
Philadelphia, 2 July 1777. Solicits GW’s aid in procuring the exchange or parole of Elmer’s brother-in-law, John Gibbon, or, “if Mr Gibbon cannot be released upon any other terms, his wife begs me to acquaint you, that she has engaged a man to go & remain a prisoner in his room, until an exchange can be effected. This to me is a new expedient, of which I can form no Judgment at present. If your Excellency concieves it probable that such a thing could take place, or any other more elegible mode of relief adopted, should esteem it a singular favour to be speedily informed of it.”
ALS, DLC: Elias Boudinot Papers.
Jonathan Elmer (1745–1817) of Cedarville, N.J., was a prominent physician who in the 1760s had been a member of the College of Philadelphia’s first medical class. Elmer served in the New Jersey provincial congress in 1775 and at this time was the clerk of Cumberland County and a delegate to the Continental Congress. John Gibbon, who was married to Esther Seeley, a sister of Elmer’s wife Mary, was an enlisted soldier in Capt. Samuel Flanningham’s company of the 3d New Jersey Regiment.