51From George Washington to William Pearce, 16 November 1794 (Washington Papers)
By the Post of yesterday I received your letter of the 11th instt, with the Reports of the three preceeding weeks; (except those of the Carpenters). I did not write to you last week, not having heard from you by the two Posts before. I am glad to hear that your Potatoes & Corn are likely to turn out well, & that the Wheat now in the ground looks promising. The last Crop of that article...
52From George Washington to William Pearce, 14 June 1795 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 7th instant, and the weekly reports, were received yesterday. On wednesday night, thursday, & part of friday, we had a great deal of rain in this city, and as it appeared to be general, I hope you partook of it. If the Corn is not destroyed by the insect you complain of, I do not despair (on account of its backwardness) of making a good crop, yet. It is in the months of July...
53From George Washington to William Pearce, 27 October 1793 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 19th came duly to hand. Tomorrow I leave this for Philadelpa or the vicinity of it; where, when you have occasion to write to me, direct your letters. As you seemed to be in doubt whether a proper character could be engaged in the part of the Country you live in, to look after my Negro Carpenters; and (having much work to do in their way, & not being willing to leave matters...
54From George Washington to William Pearce, 3 August 1794 (Washington Papers)
I removed to this place On Wednesday last, in order to avoid the heat of the City of Philadelphia. It is probable I shall remain here until about the middle of September—but letters will come to me as regularly as if I had remained in the City. Your letter of the 27th Ulto, and the reports, I received yesterday as usual; & wish the rains we have been complaining of, may not be much wanted...
55From George Washington to William Pearce, 23 March 1794 (Washington Papers)
The weekly reports, and your letter of the 18th instant, came regularly to hand. The insufferable neglects of my Overseers in not plowing as they ought to have done in the Fall, begins now to be manifest; for I perceive by the account given of the plowing, that I am driven to the alternative of putting my Oats into ground not half plowed, & prepared, & thereby little to expect from it; or, in...
56From George Washington to William Pearce, 1 March 1795 (Washington Papers)
I have to acknowledge the rect of your letter of the 22d ulto, and shall give you my sentiments upon the several matters required. With respect to the fishery, I am of opinion, that, selling them all to one man, is best: and that if Mr Smith will give five shillings pr thousand for herrings, and twelve shillgs a hundred for the shad, and will oblige himself to take all you have to spare, that...
57From George Washington to William Pearce, 28 September 1794 (Washington Papers)
I have received your letter of the 21st instt, and the Reports of the preceeding week. I am glad to find your seeding of Wheat is over, and that it is compleated in such good time. There cannot, in my opinion, be the smallest occasion for opening the new road, which under different circumstances than those which exist at present, was ordered by the Court at my particular request —Nor would it...
58From George Washington to William Pearce, 18 May 1794 (Washington Papers)
I am sorry to find by your letter of the 11th Instt that the Crops & every thing else were suffering from a drought. yet, by the weekly report which accompanied the letter, it appears that rain had fallen the 6th, only five days before, but I suppose this must have been a slight one. It is not only unlucky, but unaccountable, that the Oats should not have been received with the other things....
59From George Washington to William Pearce, 1 June 1794 (Washington Papers)
I am glad to find by your letter of the 27th ulto that you had had some good rains, previous to the date of it. Those rains, with such as have followed since, may give a very different appearance both to your Oats & flax; & may enliven, & push forward the Corn and B. Wheat; but I fear much for any grass that may have been cut, there having been no weather to cure it (in this part of the...
60From George Washington to William Pearce, 6 April 1794 (Washington Papers)
Your letter & Reports of the 1st instant I have received, and am glad to find by the first that you have got your family safe to Mount Vernon; as, unquestionably, it will be a satisfaction to you to have them along with you. Change of Air may, and I hope will, restore your eldest daughter to health again. I had no doubt but that the late capture of our Vessels by the British Cruisers, followed...
61From George Washington to William Pearce, 2 November 1794 (Washington Papers)
I have had neither leizure for, nor opportunity of, writing to you since I did it from Carlisle, ’till my return to this place; which happened on Tuesday last. In the meantime I have received your several letters of the 28th of Septr—and 5th 17th and 23d of last month. As the accident I met with in June last, prevented my riding about my farms when I was last at home, I should have been very...
62From George Washington to William Pearce, 16–17 March 1794 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 11th with its enclosures came to hand at the usual time; but not so as that, enquiry co[ul]d be made into the prices of linnen, & you to be informed, by the Post of tomorrow (this day being Sunday)—Go on therefore, until you hear further from me, to get linnen as fast as it can be worked up. The 11½ d. linnen is as good as any for the boys, girls & small people, who do...
63From George Washington to William Pearce, 8 February 1795 (Washington Papers)
Your letter with its enclosures, came to my hands as usual, by the Mail of yesterday. The general accounts, as I mentioned in a late letter, may remain for settlement, until my arrival at Mount Vernon, up to the close of the last year. I do not, among the things sent to Mount Vernon by Mrs Styles (as in the possession of Austin) see any shirts mentioned. Was it an omission, or were there none...
64From George Washington to William Pearce, 25 October 1795 (Washington Papers)
The Post of yesterday, brought me your letter of the 21st instant, and the Reports of the preceeding Week. I am sorry to hear you have been sick, but glad to find you have recovered. That the fly should be much in your Wheat is to be regretted; but proves the necessity of converting it as speedily as possible into flour: or even selling it in grain, if it cannot be ground in time; & a good...
65From George Washington to William Pearce, 24 April 1796 (Washington Papers)
I am sorry to find by your letter of the 17th instant, accompanying the reports of the preceeding week, that the drought continued; and that the prospect for good crops of small grain was so unpromising. I should hope, however, that they cannot be so much injured yet, as not to be recovered by seasonable weather. If the grain stands sufficiently thick on the ground, I shall not regard the...
66From George Washington to William Pearce, 22 May 1796 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 15th instt, enclosing the Reports of the preceeding Week, came duly to hand. I am glad to hear that the weather has been Seasonable of late; but sorry indeed, to find by your letter that the grain & grass has received so little benefit from the rains which have fallen; here, in great abundance. And it is peculiarly unfortunate after giving so high a price for clover Seed,...
67From George Washington to William Pearce, 2 March 1794 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 25th Ulto, & Reports of the preceeding week, came to hand this day. Enclosed, agreeably to the promise contained in my last, I send you the copy of an advertisement which the Printers of Baltimore & George Town have been directed to publish four times; in each of their Gazettes; alternate weeks; that is—to insert it one Week & leave it out the next, until it has been four...
68From George Washington to William Pearce, 14 September 1794 (Washington Papers)
I am well satisfied that the omission of the date of Colo. Lyle’s bond was accident, & not design—& for that reason suggested a mode, by the observance of which, no information that is required will ever be omitted. When is that Gentleman, by promise, to discharge this bond? I think you were quite right in sowing the early (or drilled) wheat at different seasons, with a view to discover the...
69From George Washington to William Pearce, 5 June 1796 (Washington Papers)
Since my last I have received your letters of the 22d & 29th of last Month—The first came to hand on Tuesday, the other on Saturday, as usual. On Wednesday last Congress closed their Session; but there is yet a good deal for me to do, before I can leave the Seat of the Government. My present expectation however is, that I shall be able to do this on tomorrow week: but as this is not certain,...
70From George Washington to William Pearce, 26 January 1794 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 22d and the Reports, came duly to hand by yesterdays Post. You will perceive by my rotation plan (with which you have been furnished —or rather by the notes annexed thereto) that if the fields allotted for Corn at the several farms were deemed inadequate to the consumption of this article, that such parts of the fields as were designed for Buck Wheat, as a Crop, might be...
71From George Washington to William Pearce, 13 April 1794 (Washington Papers)
By your letter of the 9th instt (which with the weekly reports) have been duly received, I find you wish to open a communication between the lower rooms, in what is called the Servants Hall, and to make a closet therein: against the latter I have no objection at all—nor against the first provided the doing it does not cut away a brace, and thereby weaken the house. If the chimneys project into...
72From George Washington to William Pearce, 11 December 1796 (Washington Papers)
Since my last to you was dispatched, I have received your letters of the 30th of Novr and 4th inst. I am sorry to hear that your Wheat begins to heat. If it does this in a degree to do it much injury, it ought to be disposed of for the best price you can get; but otherwise, as I have waited so long to grind it, & shall have occasion for the Bran, I had rather Manufacture it myself. It is a...
73From George Washington to William Pearce, 11 May 1794 (Washington Papers)
The Weekly reports enclosed in your letter of the 6th instant, have been duly received. By the first Vessel bound to Alexandria from hence, I will send Papers for the two lower Rooms in my house in that place; but if it has been newly plastered, as would appear to be the case (in part at least) by Green’s acct it ought not to be put on until it is thoroughly dry; or the Paper will be lost. The...
74From George Washington to William Pearce, 6 December 1795 (Washington Papers)
I have received your letter of the 29th Ulto with the Weekly reports of the 6th and 28th of November. I wish you to make the most you can of the materials you have within yourself, for hedging; for I do not believe you will get any berries of the white thorn from Newcastle; for the reason given in one of my letters after I arrived at this place, from Mount Vernon last. I hope the Cedar berries...
75From George Washington to William Pearce, 7 February 1796 (Washington Papers)
Your letter, begun on the 31st of last month, and ended the 2d of this, came, with the Reports enclosed, duly to hand yesterday; together with the list of Dower Negros which are taken exactly as I wished. I now wish you would forward to me a list of all the remaining Negros on the Estate; distinguishing French’s from the others; & both made out in the manner of the last—giving the ages &ca....
76From George Washington to Howell Lewis or William Pearce, 6 January 1794 (Washington Papers)
The Reports of the 28th of December have been received, and Mr Butlers acct therewith—As I have no Acct against him, and Mr Whiting only kept memorandums, instead of regular Accounts, he must be paid according to his own statement. for this, and other purposes, I send two bank notes for one hundred dollars each. It is very unlucky that the late spell of freezing weather should be suffered to...
77From George Washington to William Pearce, 7 December 1794 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of 30th Ulto, with the weekly reports, came safely to hand. By mistake, the sum of £300 was omitted in the charges against my bond, to Mr Lund Washington; as you have discovered in the above letter. By my mode of settling the bonded account, he will be £7.10.8 in my debt—and by the mode he proposes, I shall be £51.12.11. in his debt. Which of these is the mode by which a Court of...
78From George Washington to William Pearce, 27 January 1796 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 17th Instt which I expected on Saturday, came to hand by the Post of yesterday. These delays are, I presume, occasioned by the extreme badness of the Roads, wch by all accounts never were worse. I am very sorry for the death of Mr Davenport on many accts; and not the least on acct of his poor family; who must, I am sure, be left in great distress. for this reason I request...
79From George Washington to William Pearce, 23 November 1794 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 16th with the reports—except the Carpenters, which I have been without for several weeks—came to my hands yesterday. As I expected, so it happened, my letters to Colo. Willm Washington of Westmoreland, did not reach him until a few days ago. As you seem to be of the same opinion wch I entertained at first, namely, that from the easy and simple manners of Donaldson, he wd not...
80From George Washington to William Pearce, 5 April 1795 (Washington Papers)
I perceive by your last report—enclosed in your letter of the 29th ulto —that Carter Ben, at River farm, has been laid up many weeks; with a person to attend him, the whole time. What is the nature of his complaint? When these extraordinary cases happen, let the report respecting them, say what the cause is; without which, and at this distance from the scene, it is not easy for me to...
81From George Washington to William Pearce, 15 February 1795 (Washington Papers)
Your letter, and the reports of the preceeding Week, came duly to hand. It is my earnest wish to have my land on four mile run resurveyed, and the bounds thereof ascertained, that the pretence of not knowing the lines may—no longer—be an excuse for the tresspasses which are committed thereon, to the great diminution of its value; the wood being the more important, as the land is of a mean...
82From George Washington to William Pearce, 8 March 1795 (Washington Papers)
I am sorry to find by your letter of the 1st of this instt enclosing the weekly reports —that the Wheat on the ground is in so unpromising a way. Another short crop of this article will fall very heavy upon me. How does the Barley look? It was not my intention to use the Rollers until the frosts were over, & the ground was settled. If the absconding of French’s Paul did not proceed from a...
83From George Washington to William Pearce, 19 January 1794 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 14th instt came to my hands to day, when the Post ought to have been in yesterday. Having been very full in my late letters to you, I shall have less to say in this—The condition you describe my stock to be in at Union farm, and at Dogue run, & want of shelter for them at those places, is a fresh instance of the misconduct of Crow & McKoy; and of the neccessity of watching...
84From George Washington to William Pearce, 21 September 1794 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 14th instt and the weekly reports, have been recd. We left our Quarters at German Town yesterday, and are again fixed in this City. Thomas Green’s quitting my business of his own accord—whatever the pretence may be—is in my opinion a lucky circumstance, as my repugnance to turning him away was on account of his helpless family. These you may suffer to remain where they are,...
85From George Washington to William Pearce, 10 August 1794 (Washington Papers)
I have duly received your letter of the 3d, with the reports of the preceeding week. If you think the Oat ground at River farm, will not be too much drawn by a succeeding Crop of Wheat, for Clover; I have no objection to your sowing it with Wheat. but I have serious doubts on this head; and doubts equally serious of another kind, viz.—that on such stiff & baking land as mine is, sowing Clover...
86From George Washington to William Pearce, 4 May 1794 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 29th ulto, and the reports which were enclosed, came duly to hand. I am sorry to find by the first that the Ship Peggy had not then arrived at George Town, from London. I fear the White thorn Plants (5,000 in number) which I have on board, together with Mr Lears fruit Trees, will suffer very much, if they are not entirely destroyed; by the advanced season. Let the ground...
87From George Washington to William Pearce, 21 February 1796 (Washington Papers)
Since my last to you, I have received your letters of the 7th & 14th Instant. I am under no apprehension of flour falling; but keep me advised of the Alexandria price. The fears expressed by the purchasers, of its falling, is calculated to alarm the Sellers. They know full well, it is not likely to happen. The scarcity and demand being so great. As I wish, after this Crop of Wheat is...
88From George Washington to William Pearce, 26 October 1796 (Washington Papers)
Cyrus was obliged to come on to this place, in order to take the horses back, which Mr Frestal & Mr La Fayette rode, which is the cause of his delay. Mrs Washington desires me to inform you that there was some Butter left in the Cellar, and some Beef in a Tub which (after supplying James ) may be applied to any uses you think proper. Let my Study be cleaned out, & the Room afterwards locked...
89From George Washington to William Pearce, 18 December 1793 (Washington Papers)
The paper enclosed with this letter will give you my ideas, generally, of the course of Crops I wish to pursue. I am sensible more might be made from the farms for a year or two—but my object is to recover the fields from the exhausted state into which they have fallen, by oppressive crops, and to restore them (if possible by any means in my power) to health & vigour. But two ways will enable...
90From George Washington to William Pearce, 24 May 1795 (Washington Papers)
I have duly received your letter, and the reports of the 17th instant. The enclosed sketches, will give my ideas so fully, of the Barn, proposed to be built at River farm, as to leave me scarcely any thing to add to it. If 2 Inch (white oak) plank, is thought sufficient for the threshing floor of the Barn, I do not want it to be got any thicker; and if Inch & quarter (Pine) plank, is thick...
91From George Washington to William Pearce, 23 December 1793 (Washington Papers)
The letter which I wrote to you on the 18th and the papers therein enclosed with the Plans of the several farms (which Mr Lewis was directed to leave with you) were designed to give you a general view of the business entrusted to your care. I shall now, as intimated in that letter, give you my sentiments on many other matters of a more particular nature. Among the first things to be done after...
92From George Washington to William Pearce, 29 May 1796 (Washington Papers)
No Mail beyond Baltimore (Southerly) was received at the Post Office in this City yesterday; consequently, I got no letter from you; what may have been the cause I know not, unless the considerable falls of rain which happened here during last week, may have rendered the waters between Alexandria and Baltimore (if they extended so far) impassible. You have never mentioned in any of your late...
93From George Washington to William Pearce, 4 December 1796 (Washington Papers)
Getting no letter from you by the Post of yesterday—nor receiving any account from home, leads me to conclude that something more than common has happened, as your last letter is dated the 17th of November. Hearing nothing of the state, in which my business is, for so long a time, especially too as the weather, for the Season, has been severe —I have but little to found my letter upon at this...
94From George Washington to William Pearce, 25 January 1795 (Washington Papers)
Since my last of this day week, I have received your letters of the 11th & 18th instt, with the weekly reports—and an acct of sundry payments and the rects therefor. The latter (that is the vouchers) I did not wish to have had sent—it would have been time enough to exhibit these when I come home, and settled the accts regularly. All I wanted for the present, or rather for the past year—was a...
95From George Washington to William Pearce, 3 April 1796 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 27th Ulto, with a Post[s]cript of the 29th, came duly to hand yesterday. As I have expectation that by the time this letter will have reached you, a Vessel from Liverpool called the Commerce will have arrived at George Town with eight bushels of the field Pea; as much of the Chiccory as will sow four Acres of land; and eight bushels of the Winter Vetch—for, and on my...
96From George Washington to William Pearce, 29 November 1795 (Washington Papers)
The Post of yesterday brought me your letter of the 26th instt, and the weekly reports of the 14th & 21st preceeding. I am sorry to find by them that you have had much sickness among the Negros; and that the prospect of a good crop of corn as well as a tolerable one of Wheat, is diminishing. As the latter of these is got out, and the horses more at liberty, I hope every diligence will be used...
97From George Washington to William Pearce, 20 March 1796 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 13th instt and the reports of the preceeding week came duly to hand yesterday—and will, I presume, do so regularly through the course of the Spring & Summer. I am sensible that by dividing my farms into small tenements I add very much to the consumption of my Timber, (and perhaps of the fuel) until hedges sufficient against every thing but Hogs could be raised (which of...
98From George Washington to William Pearce, 29 March 1795 (Washington Papers)
I have received your letter of the 22d instt with its enclosures. Had Mr Pierce Bailey accepted the terms on which I offered him my land on difficult run, without proposing an abatement of interest, after I had declared I never would lower them, the bargain would have been concluded on my part. As he did not, but is still attempting to make other terms, I shall suspend saying any thing further...
99From George Washington to William Pearce, 28 December 1794 (Washington Papers)
I have duly received your letter of the 21st instt with its enclosures. Your idea of fencing the ground at the mansion house for Corn, accords exactly with mine (as far as I understand it) except in joining the fence which comes from the first (outer gate) in the hollow to the corner of the clover lot, north of the road, by the deep washed gully. My idea was, to continue that fence on, (making...
100From George Washington to William Pearce, 30 March 1794 (Washington Papers)
The Reports, and your letter of the 25th instt have been duly recd. If you are satisfied from repeated trials, that the pieces of the treading floor at Dogue run Farm, are well placed at an inch and half a part, it would be well to lay them all at that distance, that you may derive as much benefit as you can from it in the present Crop, and that it may be ready against the next year. The Oats...