From George Washington to William Pearce, 11 December 1796
To William Pearce
Philadelphia 11th Decr 1796
Mr Pearce,
Since my last to you was dispatched, I have received your letters of the 30th of Novr and 4th inst.1
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 matter of astonishment to me, that the lower floor at the Barn at Dogue Run has given way so soon. How it was laid at first, being from home, I know not; but if it had been executed according to my directions, & the end of the sleepers, by the tenons had rested on a Wall, it could not have given way until the sleepers themselves had failed. As the case is, I must endeavour, after I come home, to make the floor without the circle, of some well tempered earth, or composition, to guard against the exposure of such frequent decays. In the meantime, the best shift that can, must be made.2
I must remind you of having the Pork killed & salted before you go away; and above all things attend to the Ice house, as it is of serious importance on account of fresh meat next summer, that it should be filled.3
Not perceiving by the weekly Repts that any of the Trees at the Mansion house have been taken up, or trimmed, and as little, if any thing, can be done at it now, give Mr Anderson all the information you can relative to this business; and turn the string of Memorandums (which I sent to you sometime ago) over to him.4
Relying on Mr Smiths making you the first payment (on the 24th instt) according to promise, I request again, that no demand against me may be left unpaid;5 among these pay Gray the Weaver;6 and let all that is owing to me, be reduced to promissary notes.
I hope all the Shelters for the Cattle are up, that they may be secure from Snows, Rain and cold weather; for it is always observable, that if they suffer in the early part of Winter, they rarely get perfectly recovered of it.
Mr Craik informs me that Clark (I think his name is) whom you recommended to him, has been very sick, but, notwithstanding, has given evident demonstrations of his fitness as an overlooker. I wish you would make it a point to see Clark, & fix him to me, as agreed, for the next year;7 otherwise I may have more difficulty in doing it, than at the present time; from causes which you will be at no loss to conjecture. It was extremely unlucky, after waiting so long to get an answer from the Eastern shore, that I had not waited a few days longer—until Clark arrived. Pray did you see the person on the Eastern shore, when last there, from whom you had been expecting to hear? and what excuse did he make for not fulfilling his promise of writing to you?8
In my next letter, I will send you a certificate of my satisfaction in your services as a Manager.9 I would have done it now, but am hurried, and it will be in time then. I am Yr friend and well wisher
Go: Washington
ALS, ViMtvL.
1. Pearce’s letters to GW of 30 Nov. and 4 Dec. have not been found. GW’s most recent letter to Pearce was dated 4 December.
2. In fall 1792, GW had proposed construction of a new sixteen-sided threshing barn, with a treading floor, at Dogue Run farm. Construction was underway in 1793, and the barn was completed in 1794. In his plans for the barn, GW had issued the following directive: “Sleepers for the whole of the lower floors To rest on 9 Inchs brick Wall” (Washington’s Plan for a Barn, 28 Oct. 1792, printed as an enclosure to GW to Anthony Whitting, same date; see also GW to Pearce, 30 March and 13 April 1794).
Sleepers that had rotted due to dampness appear to have been one of the causes for the failure of the barn floor. In a letter to farm manager James Anderson, written from Mount Vernon on 1 Nov. 1798, GW wrote in part: “At some convenient time (but before the wet weather sets in) the Barn at Dogue Run should have the Earth raised around the low, and hollow parts of it; in order that all water that descends from the Roof, & higher grounds, may run freely off; otherwise the moisture will penetrate through the Wall & fill the Cellar with water or damps, which will rot the Sleepers & floor, as it did before” ( 3:164–68).
3. For GW’s earlier directives on these matters, see his Memorandum for James Anderson and Pearce, dated 5 November.
4. GW may be referring to his long memorandum to Pearce and Anderson of 5 November. Martha Washington had also sent memorandums for Pearce earlier in the year (see GW to Pearce, 8 May and 5 June).
5. For Alexander Smith’s debt to GW, see Smith to GW, 9 Nov., and GW to Smith, 14 Nov.; see also Pearce to GW, 17 November. For the discount of Smith’s negotiable note, see Tobias Lear to GW, 17 Jan. 1797, and n.8 to that document.
6. In an undated account entry, Pearce recorded a cash payment of £2.10.0 to weaver William Gray for “an old account of fifty Shill[i]ngs” and for “a ballance of his acct for the year 1796” (, p. 113).
7. A Mr. Clark, who had “engaged with Mr Craik” as an overseer, was considered for a similar post at Mount Vernon, but he died by mid-July 1797 (GW to Pearce, 17 July 1797, and Pearce to GW, 24 July 1797, in 1:260–61, 270–72). “Mr Craik” may refer to William Craik, who owned over 200 acres of land in Charles County, Md., and who recently had taken his seat in Congress on 5 Dec. (see , 1:242).
8. At GW’s request, Pearce had sought out prospective overseers on the Eastern Shore of Maryland (see GW to Pearce, 19 Aug. and 11 Sept. 1796). The person on the Eastern Shore in contact with Pearce may have been a Mr. Scoon of Maryland, whom Pearce engaged in 1796 to serve as an overseer (see Anderson to GW, 12 Oct., and n.1 to that document).
9. For GW’s statement testifying to Pearce’s character and skills as a farm manager, see his next letter to Pearce, dated 18 Dec., source note.