Tobias Lear to Henry Sheaff, 19 December 1792
Tobias Lear to Henry Sheaff
Philadelphia 19th Decr 1792
Sir,
The President of the United States begs that the Germans of this City and State will accept his best thanks, for their polite attention in directing that the German News paper should be sent to him weekly, as a mark of their respect for & attachment to him. The expressions of personal regard with which the resolution of so respectable a body was communicated, merit & receive the President’s grateful acknowledgements.1 I am Sir, with great regard, Your most Obedt Sert
Tobias Lear.
Secretary to the president of the United States
ADfS, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters; LB, DLC:GW.
1. Philadelphia wine merchant Henry Sheaff wrote Lear on 18 Dec. that “The Germans of this City and State Haveing their beloved President at Heart by a General Resolution of their body Requestd Mr Swyler to Furnish the German News Paper: weekly. This must be taken as a token of Regard: altho of no use to the President—I was orderd the Messeng⟨er⟩ to Forward the Same”(DLC:GW). The newspaper was the Philadelphische Correspondenz, published weekly by Melchior Steiner and Heinrich Kammerer. The person requested by Die Deutsche Gesellschaft zu Philadelphia, the German Society, to furnish GW with the newspaper may have been Jacob S. Swyler, a resident of Philadelphia who in 1795 was recommended for election to the Pennsylvania legislature (see Pennsylvania Gazette [Philadelphia], 7 Oct. 1795).