21Tobias Lear to Alexander Hamilton, 5 January 1790 (Washington Papers)
By direction of the President of the United States, I have the honor herewith to transmit to you a letter from the Governor of Virginia, dated December 18th, 1789, enclosing an Act (which is likewise sent you) of the general Assembly of that Commonwealth, passed Novr 13th 1789, to convey to the United States in Congress assembled certain Land for the purpose of building a Light House on Cape...
22Tobias Lear to Alexander Hamilton, 18 January 1790 (Washington Papers)
By order of the President of the United States, I do myself the honor to transmit you a letter from His Excellency Thomas Jefferson The Secretary for Foreign Affairs to the United States, dated at Paris Augt 27th 1789, and likewise the copy of a letter from Messrs Wilhem & Jan Willinck, N. & I. Van Stephorst & Hubbard to Mr Jefferson, dated at Amsterdam 13th Augt 1789 —both of which the...
23Tobias Lear to James Madison, 7 February 1790 (Washington Papers)
In obedience to the command of the President of the United States, I have the honor to enclose you a Letter from Peyton Short Esquire resigning his Commission of Collecter of the Port of Louisville in Kentucky, & to request that you will be so good as to consult with Mr Brown, and any other Gentlemen from Virginia who are acquainted with characters in that part of the Country, upon a suitable...
24Tobias Lear to Clement Biddle, 14 February 1790 (Washington Papers)
I have been duly favoured with your letters of the 9th and 10th inst. —the latter enclosing the President’s acct as it then stood with you. In reply to your wish to know the President’s birth day, it will be sufficient to observe that it is on the 11th of February Old Style; but the Almanack-makers have generally set it down opposite to the 11th day of the present Style. How far this may go...
25Tobias Lear to Gerard Bancker, 20 February 1790 (Washington Papers)
I have been favored with your Letter of th⟨is⟩ date, accompanying a Sett of the Laws of the St⟨ate⟩ of New York, as lately revised, which you sent for ⟨the use⟩ of the President of the United States, in pursuan⟨ce of⟩ concurrent Resolutions of the Senate & Assembly of ⟨the⟩ State of New York. The Sett of Laws has been delivered to th⟨e President⟩ of the United States, who requests that his...
26Tobias Lear to Daniel Grant, 28 February 1790 (Washington Papers)
About 3 or 4 weeks ago I wrote to Philadelphia to know if a good Cook could be had from that City for the family of the President of the United States—I received for answer that a complete one could not be found there at that time, but that it was probable one might be obtained from Baltimore, and Mr Moyston had accordingly written to Baltimore for one who had lately gone thither from Philada....
27Tobias Lear to Clement Biddle, 5 March 1790 (Washington Papers)
I have been favored with your letters of the 16th & 23d ultimo. We are furnished with a Carpet for the room which I had described to you; but are therefore no less obliged to you for the trouble you have had in making inquiries respecting it. The President will thank you to make an addition of two hundred bushels to the quantity of Buckwheat you have procured for him. It is probable that it...
28Tobias Lear to William Goddard & James Angell, 6 March 1790 (Washington Papers)
You will be pleased to insert the enclosed advertisement in your paper for six weeks successively and charge the same in your annual account with the President of the United States—which account you will be good enough to present whenever it becomes due. I am, Gentlemen, Your most obedient Servant LB , DLC:GW . William Goddard and James Angell (d. 1797) were the publishers of the Maryland...
29Tobias Lear to Clement Biddle, 3 June 1790 (Washington Papers)
New York, 3 June 1790. “The Cook arrived and entered upon his duty on the 1st of may; he gives us good dinners, and the Steward says he conducts himself well. We are much obliged by your agency in obtaining him.” ALS , PHi : Washington-Biddle Correspondence; copy, in Lear’s writing, ViMtvL ; LB , DLC:GW . For the search for a cook for the presidential household, see Tobias Lear to Daniel...
30Tobias Lear to Thomas Jefferson, 23 June 1790 (Washington Papers)
By the command of the President of the United States T. Lear has the honor to enclose for Mr Jefferson perusal a Letter from the Count de Estaing to the President which was alluded to by Mr Short in the letter which Mr Jefferson laid before the president at the time when he delivered the above letter from the Ct de Estaing. Likewise two letters a Memorial & a treatise upon establishing a...
31Tobias Lear to Clement Biddle, 11 July 1790 (Washington Papers)
I have to acknowledge your favors of the 24th of June and the 4th & 8th of the present month; the former enclosing the Account of coach hire &c. paid by you—and the latter covering Mr Hare’s bill & rect for Porter sent to Mount Vernon. The President will thank you to inform me if plated waiters, suitable for carrying tea round to company, can be had with you—their sizes & cost—There are some...
32Tobias Lear to Alexander Hamilton, 13 July 1790 (Washington Papers)
New York, 13 July 1790. Encloses warrants for the superintendents of lighthouses requested that day by the Treasury Department. LB , DLC:GW . Lear had probably obtained the president’s signatures only that day on the ten commissions that Hamilton intended to forward to the lighthouse superintendents appointed since March 1790, when Hamiltion had explained to them why receipt of their...
33Tobias Lear to Richard Varick, 19 July 1790 (Washington Papers)
In compliance with your request signified in your polite letter, I have the honor to inform you that the President of the United States will have the pleasure to see you tomorrow at 10 O’clock, if that hour should be convenient & agreeable to you. with great Respect I have the honor to be Sir, Your most Obedt Servt ALS , NHi : Richard Varick Papers. Richard Varick (1753–1831) moved from...
34Tobias Lear to Clement Biddle, 22 July 1790 (Washington Papers)
New York, 22 July 1790. Encloses a draft on the Bank of North America for $200 to be credited to GW’s account. ALS , PHi : Washington-Biddle Correspondence; ADfS , ViMtvL ; LB , DLC:GW . Biddle acknowledged receipt of the bank check on 26 July 1790 ( PHi : Clement Biddle Letter Book).
35Tobias Lear to Captain Hollis, 26 July 1790 (Washington Papers)
New York, 26 July 1790. Requests delivery to the bearer, Francis Parman, of the three mares that GW sent on 1 June to be put to John Jay’s horse in Bedford Town, Westchester County, N.Y., and asks that an account of the cost for their care and arrangements for its payment also be transmitted through Parman. LB , DLC:GW . The name Hollis does not appear in the Federal Census of 1790 for Bedford...
36Tobias Lear to Sarah Nestor, 9 August 1790 (Washington Papers)
The President of the United States of America has lately received a Petition from you, praying his assistance in gaining some information relative to your Son Richard Nestor who came over to this Country some years ago. In consequence of which he ordered one of the Gentlemen of his family to make the desired inquiry of a Gentleman belonging to Portsmouth in Virginia, who has been so good as to...
37Tobias Lear to Clement Biddle, 17 August 1790 (Washington Papers)
I acknowledge the rect of your favor of the 11th Inst.—and will thank you to get & deliver to Mr Lewis, the Presidents Nephew who will have the pleasure to deliver this, a German & English Dictionary for the Presidents German Gardner —and charge the same to the President’s Acct. The President went on Saturday to R. Island —he will return in about 8 days & I think will leave this for Virginia...
38Tobias Lear to “John A. Dingwell”, 18 August 1790 (Washington Papers)
The letter which you addressed to General Knox and myself, enclosing one for the President, came to hand this morning; and as the President is not expected to return from Rhode Island in less than 6 or 8 days from this time, we have, so far as is in our power, complied with your wishes, as you will see by the enclosed engagement. I will now add, that Colo. McGillivary and the Indians leave...
39Memorandum from Tobias Lear, 18 August 1790 (Washington Papers)
On Wednesday at 3 O’clock P.M. the person who had written several letters under the signature of Jno. A. Dingwell, came to the House of the President & had an interview with Genl Knox & T. Lear with whom he left the enclosed papers; and promised to get copies of such others as he could come at, & likewise give all the verbal information that he could obtain—Jno. A. Dingwell’s real name is...
40To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 3 September 1790 (Washington Papers)
I have the honor to enclose such letters and papers as have come to hand since my last. The British Packet arrived here last evening; but brings no decided accounts as to the War between Great Britain and Spain. She left Falmouth on the 12th of July, at which time the English fleet was lying in Torbay. This contradicts a report in the Philadelphia and Alexandria papers of an engagement having...
41To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 12 September 1790 (Washington Papers)
I have been honored with your letter of the 5th instant; and am happy to find by accounts of your departure from Philadelphia, that Mrs Washington’s indisposition was not such as to retard your journey, which you had some apprehensions of when you wrote. As the weather for the week past has been pleasant, I trust the wishes of your friends have been answered in your having had an agreeable...
42To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 17 September 1790 (Washington Papers)
I have been honored with your letter of the 9 Inst. from Baltimore; and in consequence of your suggestion I have written to Mr Morris, requesting him to inform me at what time the house would be ready to receive the furniture. By the Post of last evening I received a letter from Colo. Biddle in which he says one of the Committee had informed him that the house would not be ready before the...
43To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 20 September 1790 (Washington Papers)
Since I had the honor to write to you on the 17th Inst. I have received a letter from Mr Morris, in which he thinks it best that the furniture should not be removed sooner than the first of next month. This is about the time I had fixed upon for our departure from this place; and everything will then be in perfect readiness for shipping. It is a work of more time than I had any idea of, to...
44To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 22 September 1790 (Washington Papers)
I have the honor to inform you that a Ship arrived here last evening from London after a passage of 36 days from Torbay. By her intelligence is received of the dispute between G. Britain and Spain being finally accommodated. Another Vessel arrived here at the same time from Lisbon in 35 days, and brings the same accounts. I have nothing to add since my letter of the 20th Inst: but the best...
45To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 26 September 1790 (Washington Papers)
I have been duly honored with Your letters of the 17th & 20th of the present month. To such parts of which as have not been anticipated by my letter of the 17th, I shall now reply. The Table Images had been packed up some days before your letter of the 17th came to hand; but precisely in the mode which you there recommended—viz. each Image in a separate box made amply large, with bran put in...
46Tobias Lear to Clement Biddle, 3 October 1790 (Washington Papers)
I have been duly favored with your letter of the 27th Ultimo and this morning Captain Albertson handed me your favor of the 23d. One hundred and sixty dollars is the lowest Captain Alberson will take for his vessels; and this exclusive of the Cabin, which he says was never comprehended in his conversation with you; and that it is always considered as seperate from the vessel when a vessel is...
47To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 3 October 1790 (Washington Papers)
I had the honor yesterday to receive your letter of the 27 of September with the other letters which you were so good as to inclose for me. The Vessel which is to take the furniture on board arrived this morning. The Owner has come in her; and as my letter to Colo. Biddle requesting him to make a written agreement with the owner did not get to hand before the vessel saild from Philadelphia...
48To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 6 October 1790 (Washington Papers)
Nothing of importance has occurred since I had the honor to write to You on Sunday last. We shall tomorrow finish loading the vessel which I have taken to carry the furniture round to Philadelphia. Altho’ she is very capacious, and stows as much as any Vessel of her burthen (80 tons;) Yet I find we shall have many things left which must go under deck; and I have according engaged a freight for...
49To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 10 October 1790 (Washington Papers)
I have been duly honored with your letter of the 3d inst.—and, agreeably to the intimation therein given, shall not fail to communicate such interesting matters as may come to my knowledge, and are not contained in the news-papers. When I get to Philadelphia I shall make it a particular business to gain the information you request respecting Schools. The College, under the circumstances, and...
50To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 14 October 1790 (Washington Papers)
Agreeably to my intention expressed in the letter which I had the honor to write to you on the 10th Inst. I left New York on Tuesday and reached this City yesterday. Neither of the vessels with the furniture and Servants have arrived; but I am in hourly expectation of seeing the one which sailed on Saturday. That which sailed on monday will not probably be in till the last of the week. The...
51To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 17 October 1790 (Washington Papers)
It is not in my power fully to express the pleasing satisfaction which I felt upon perusing your kind favor of the 10th Inst. with which I have been duly honored, to find that the steps which I had taken since your departure from New York meet with your approbation. It is a reward I shall ever prize above all others—and one that it shall always be my study to obtain. Since I had the honor to...
52To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 24 October 1790 (Washington Papers)
Since I had the honor of writing to you on the 17th Instant, we have got all the furniture &ca up to the house; and it is with great satisfaction I can inform you that, sofar as it has been examined, we find it safe and in as good order as when it left New York. The Images for the table, of which I was more apprehensive than of anything else, have not received the smallest injury—they are...
53To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 28 October 1790 (Washington Papers)
The enclosed paper of this date will give a full account of the present state of the College in this City. It was the expectation of this, which I had been informed was about to be published, that prevented my entering so fully into the subject in former letters as I should otherwise have done. To this I will add, that, so far as I have been able to learn, the abilities and characters of the...
54To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 31 October 1790 (Washington Papers)
I was last evening honored with your letter of the 27th Inst.—and am happy to hear that you have returned safe and well from your late excursion. When the rooms are finished the furniture shall be arranged according to their uses; and I am sure Mrs Morris will take a pleasure in giving any advice on the occasion. She had before offered her assistance in a very polite manner, and I had promised...
55To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 4–5 November 1790 (Washington Papers)
Agreeably to the directions given in your letter of the 27th of October, I have endeavoured to get the rent of the house in which you are to reside fixed with the Committee; but my endeavours have been ineffectual. The footing upon which they have placed the matter with Mr Morris puts it out of their power to ascertain the rent at present. I am informed by Mr Mires Fisher, one of the most...
56To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 7 November 1790 (Washington Papers)
I was just about closing a letter to you when I had the honor to receive your favor of the 31st of October. I immediately proceeded to make the necessary inquiry respecting the Carriage; but as Mr Page, the Proprietor, was out of town and did not return till late in the night, I could not see him ’till friday morning. The moment I received the information from him I put it in a Post script to...
57To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 14 November 1790 (Washington Papers)
I have been duly honored with your letters of the 7th and 10th Instants. Mr Page’s coach sat off this morning for Mount Vernon; he chose to send it thus early lest the weather or some other cause might delay it a day or two on the road; and in that case there would nevertheless be time for it to reach Mount Vernon on the 20th or 21st. He, however, charges only six days, as before mentioned,...
58To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 21 November 1790 (Washington Papers)
This letter, which will acknowledge the receipt of, and will reply to your favors of the 12th and 14th Insts. with which I have been duly honored, is intended to meet you at Baltimore. Page’s Coach, I presume, reached Mount Vernon on friday or Saturday; as it left this place on Sunday last. Your letter of the 10th was handed to me in due time by Mr Solderstone the Swedish Consul (whose name...
59Tobias Lear to John Field, 7 January 1791 (Washington Papers)
The President of the United States having observed in the papers of this morning that a number of respectable citizens have engaged in a benevolent plan for the relief of such persons as the inclemency of the season and other circumstances had reduced to great distress, he has directed me to transmit ten pounds to you as the Treasurer, to be applied in such a manner as may best answer the...
60Tobias Lear to Daniel Grant, 8 January 1791 (Washington Papers)
Mrs Washington requests me to present, and begs your acceptance of her best thanks for the very excellent mutton and pair of canvas-back Ducks which you have been so polite as to send to her. I have delayed acknowledging the receipt of your letter or informing you of the safe arrival of the mutton until we should have an opportunity of judging of its goodness otherwise than by the eye. This...
61Tobias Lear to Francis Bailey, 26 January 1791 (Washington Papers)
The President of the United States has received Mr Bailey’s polite note offering him the perusal of an english translation of Lavater’s treatise on physiognomy and has commanded T. Lear to return his thanks to Mr Bailey for his politeness, and to inform him that the President’s time is so much occupied by business as not to permit him to profit of Mr Bailey’s offer. LB , DLC:GW . Johann Caspar...
62Tobias Lear to John Quincy Adams, 2 February 1791 (Washington Papers)
When I was at Bush Hill this Morning it was my intention to have requested your Company to dine tomorrow at the Presidents, by his desire; but as I did not see you at that time it slipped my recollection, and occasions you the trouble of this letter, which is to make the same request—to which you will be kind enough to give an Answer by the Servant. I am Dear Sir Your most Obedt Servt ALS ,...
63Tobias Lear to the United States Senate and House of Representatives, 3 February 1791 (Washington Papers)
I will thank you to send me, from time to time, two copies of such bills as may be printed by order of the Senate, previous to their passing into laws; and likewise two copies of your Journals as they are printed. I am induced to make this request from a wish which the President of the United States often expresses to see the bills in this stage. If there are any bills of this description now...
64Tobias Lear to Edmund Randolph, 23 February 1791 (Washington Papers)
The President has desired me to transmit to you the enclosed containing a copy of a bill exhibited in the High Court of Chancery of Virginia relative to certain lots drawn as prizes in Colonel Bird’s lottery, and to request that you would take some opportunity to remind him of the business, and do the necessary in it before his departure from this place. The President thinks he shall be too...
65Tobias Lear to Alexander Hamilton, 28 February 1791 (Washington Papers)
The President has commanded me to transmit the enclosed to you from Mr Thatcher and request that you will give it the consideration it may merit—The President also requests that you will take occasion to converse with some others of the gentlemen from Massachusetts on this subject—and to mention it likewise to some from New Hampshire. I have the honor to be very respectfully & sincerely Your...
66Tobias Lear to Ebenezer Hazard, 28 February 1791 (Washington Papers)
By the command of the President of the United States T. Lear has the honor to return to Mr Hazard the enclosed proposals for printing by subscription a collection of State-Papers, which Mr Hazard submitted to the President and which have been subscribed by him. The whole or any part of the money for the President’s subscription will be paid by T. Lear whenever Mr Hazard may chuse to receive...
67Tobias Lear to Henry Knox, 1 March 1791 (Washington Papers)
By the President’s command, T. Lear has the honor to transmit to the Secretary of War the enclosed letter, which has just come to the President’s hands; signed by a number of the Inhabitants of Washington County in the State of Pennsylvania, expressing their apprehensions of the depredations of the Indians in that quarter. The President requests that the secretary will give the subject that...
68Tobias Lear to William Deakins, Jr., 5 March 1791 (Washington Papers)
The President has directed me to enclose the within advertisement to you—and request that you will be good enough to hand one to the Printer at Georgetown, and forward the other to the Printer at Frederick Town, to be inserted in their papers for six weeks. I am Sir, very respectfully, Your most obedient Servant LB , DLC:GW . The enclosure has not been found. The Georgetown newspaper to which...
69To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 23 March 1791 (Washington Papers)
I had the honor last evening to receive your commands, through Major Jackson, to deliver the letter for Colo. Clandenen to General St Clair, unless Genl Knox thought Genl Sevier a more direct conveyance or knew of a better, and in obedience thereto I made the inquiry of Genl Knox, who thought Genl St Clair would be most likely to give the letter a direct & speedy conveyance; I therefore...
70To George Washington from Tobias Lear, 24 March 1791 (Washington Papers)
The enclosed letters have been this moment brought to me by the Post Master, who informs thus they have just arrived at the Office in the Western Mail. As they may contain important intelligence I delay not a moment to forward them. Mrs Washington and the family are well. Nothing particular has transpired since your departure. I have the honor to be, with the highest respect & most sincere...