From George Washington to James Ross, 12 November 1796
To James Ross
Philadelphia 12th Novr 1796
Dear Sir,
A few months will put a period to my political existence—and a few days afterwards to my residence in this City; which I never expect to see again.1
May I ask the favor of you therefore (if this letter should reach your hands in time, and opportunities should present themselves) to request, and even to press Colonels Shreve & Cannon, and Mr Charles Morgan to settle & pay to you, before your departure for Congress, the balances respectively due from them, to me. Or, if the money cannot be obtained from all, or any of them, that I may at least know what is due to me, and what it is I have to expect from them before I leave this City; after which their communications with me would be circuitous, if not hazardous.2
I have so often made apologies for the trouble I have given you in my Western concerns,3 that I will avoid doing it4 on this occasion, but if the above named Gentlemen would do as they ought, I could do more—and that is—to promise I will give you no further trouble in this business unless occasions should arise which may call for professional aid, and you would receive compensation for the Services rendered me.5 With very great esteem & regard I am—Dear Sir Yr Obedt & Obliged Hble Sert
Go: Washington
ALS, NjP: Armstrong Collection; ADfS (transcript), NPV; LB, DLC:GW.
At this time, James Ross was a U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and a land agent authorized to sell GW’s Pennsylvania lands.
In an undated document in GW’s writing, bearing the heading “Memorandums,” GW described his correspondence with his land and rental agents such as Ross, John Canon, and Charles Morgan. He wrote in part: “A Letter to the Honble Jas Ross dated 13th Sepr 1794. acknowledges the rect of $267 on acct of Colo. Cannons Bond” (see GW to Ross, 13 Sept. 1794). GW further noted: “Colo. John Cannon in a letter written to him the 27th June 1795 is directed to deliver to Mr Ross, the surveys of all my lands, and entreated to make a final settlement of matters with Mr Chas Morgan.
“Mr Chas Morgan in a letter written to him 28th June 1795 Is requested to press Colo. Cannon for this settlement & to tell the Tenants that delivering Wheat at his Mill will not exonerate them from paym⟨t⟩ of their Rents” (CSmH). For GW’s letter to Canon of 27 June 1795, see GW to Morgan, 28 June 1795, and n.2 to that document.
1. GW left Philadelphia for Mount Vernon on 9 March 1797 (see , 6:236, 239).
2. GW’s cash accounts for this date reflect the receipt of $1,000 “of Colo. Israel Shreve by his Son … on account of the Land sold him” (). In 1795, Shreve had purchased Washington’s Bottom tract in Fayette County, Pa., from GW, but had not made prompt and regular payments. By 6 Dec. 1796, Morgan, GW’s rent collector in Pennsylvania, forwarded GW, through Ross, rent payments owed on GW’s western lands. However, those payments were not accompanied with the settlement of accounts that GW had requested from Canon, GW’s rental agent in Pennsylvania until June 1794. The payments instead included cash sent GW “on Acct of” Shreve’s “Notes” for the Washington’s Bottom tract (Morgan to GW, 6 Dec., notes 1 and 2; see also Shreve to GW, 22 June 1785, and the source note to that document, in 3:73–74; GW to Presley Nevill, 16 June 1794; and GW to Morgan, 28 June 1795).
3. See GW to Ross, 16 June 1794 and 29 Aug. 1795.
4. Instead of the three preceding words, the letter-book copy and ADfS read “not repeat them.”
5. GW continued to write Ross about his western lands until June 1799, when he again apologized for troubling him with his “concerns” (GW to Ross, 26 June 1799, in 4:162–63; see also GW to Ross, 2 July 1797, in 1:226–27).