1From George Washington to James Wood, 30 March 1773 (Washington Papers)
I intended to have had a little further conversation with you on the subject of the Florida Lands, but my haste to leave Williamsburg & your Dining out the day I did do so prevented it—I addressd a short Letter to you by way of Memm & left it with Mr Southall—I hope you receivd it, that I may be satisfied you did so, please to advise me as the Govrs Certificates of my Claim was Inclosd...
2From George Washington to Robert Adam, 13 January 1774 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: to Robert Adam, c.13 Jan. 1774. On c.13 Jan. 1774 Adam wrote to GW : “I am favoured with yours.” GW’s missing letter of c.13 Jan. was in answer to a letter from Adam dated 12 January .
3To George Washington from Benedict Calvert, 8 April 1773 (Washington Papers)
I Received the favour of yours of the 3d Instant by Mr Custis which I feel myself highly honoured by, and am truly happy in your Approbation of that young Gentlemans future Union with my Second Daughter. I should be dead to Parental feelings, were I untouched with the polite manner in which you are pleased to compliment Nellys Qualifications; Being her father, it would illy become me to sound...
4From George Washington to Robert Cary & Company, 5 December 1773 (Washington Papers)
In a Letter of the 10th Ulto I inform’d you of a purchase I had in contemplation. I have now made it, & have drawn the following Bills upon you, which please to pay & place to the Acct of Mr Custis, for whose benefit the Lands are bought —viz. To Peyton Randolph John Page & Charles Carter Esqrs. £3679.5 4th Decr 1773. To Edwd Charlton 350 Do Do Do To Benjn Walker Esqr. 100 3 Do Do Ditto...
5From George Washington to John Didsbury, 15 July 1772 (Washington Papers)
Please to send the following Shoes & Boots and apply to Robt Cary Esqr. & Co. for Payment. For Geo: Washington 3 pair of strong but neat Shoes } By the last Meas[ur]e Sent 3 pr of neat & light Do 1 pr of Morrocco Leather Slippers For Mr Custis 2 pair of neat dble Chand Pumps } pr Meas[ur]e now sent 3 pr strong but neat Shoes 4 pr neat & thin Do 2 pr of neat dressd Pumps 1 pr neat red...
6From George Washington to James Mercer, 9 August 1773 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: to James Mercer, 9 Aug. 1773. On 11 Aug. Mercer wrote : “Your favour of the 9th Instant was received late last night.”
7To George Washington from Bryan Fairfax, 15 July 1772 (Washington Papers)
I have received a Letter lately from Mr Smith wherein he makes no mention at all of the Tract of 600 Acres on Goose Creek & chattins Run; so that I may dispose of it [to] you without waiting longer for the Man he had agreed with, which it was kind in You to propose. I wish we could agree about the Land on Pohick or that on the Kittocktan for which I must take a less price still than I have...
8To George Washington from Thomas Newton, Jr., 13 August 1773 (Washington Papers)
I have Just time to inform you I have paid Mr Hill one hundred and ninety five pounds, and one hundred & ten dollars in the whole two hundd & twenty eight pounds. I am sorry that I cou’d get no more but am in hopes the whole sales will be paid at the next meeting. I have not been home since I received yours for examining the seconds but will follow your direction’s and make the most of them...
9From George Washington to John West, Jr., 4 July 1773 (Washington Papers)
The Bond pass’d from Montgomerie and others to Us has been due since the first of last Month, but my not returning till the 8th from New York, & the unhappy Event, which has happend in this Family since, put it out of my head till now—should we not immediately call upon these People for Payment? & what do you think of requiring them to meet us in Alexandria at our coming Court to adjust these...
10From George Washington to William Preston, 28 February 1774 (Washington Papers)
I took the liberty before I left Williamsburg (at least the neighbourhood of it, about the 1st of December last) to address a pretty long Letter to Colo. Andw Lewis respecting my Claims under the Proclamation of 1763 —I also Inclos’d him a Survey made by Captn Crawford upon the Great Kanhawa, at the mouth of Cole River, as a Location for the purchase I had made of Mr Thruston, begging him...
11From George Washington to Daniel Jenifer Adams, 12 January 1773 (Washington Papers)
As there appears to be a good deal of Inconsistency between your Letters to me and those to Colo. Carlyle respecting the Sale of the Brig, and as you have changd the Destination of the Vessell contrary to the Original Intention of the Voyage, and contrary to the expectation of the Owner here (to my very great Inconvenience) and as some other reasons might be added, if necessary, still more...
12From George Washington to George William Fairfax, 19 January 1773 (Washington Papers)
If you are done with my Compass & Plotting Instruments, I should be glad to receive them by the bearer, as I measure all my Fields, & am now Inclosing a New one, and do not know where to lay the Rails that are to Fence it, till I find how much of the Field will give me the quantity of Land I want to Inclose. As I wrote to you in haste the morning of the day Lord Sterlg yourself &ca were to...
13To George Washington from Francis Willis, 6 December 1773 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: from Francis Willis, Jr. 6 Dec. 1773. The letter is listed in the Thomas Birch’s Sons catalog no. 663, item 73, 21–23 April, 1891.
14To George Washington from John Baynes, 14 November 1772 (Washington Papers)
The 23d of this Month I must Attend at our Court, therefore it will not be in my power to meet at Fredericksburgh. But whatever is Concluded on by you and the other Gentn that may be there, I will on Acct of the Heirs of James Towers, be agreeable to And what Money may be wanting for there part towards defraying any Expence I will Advance for them, when I see you to know how much it is. I am...
15To George Washington from Gilbert Simpson, 1 October 1773 (Washington Papers)
This is To Let you know That I have paid your money To Capt. Crawford who says it has been alreydey paid and I have Found all my affairs out heare well but very hard seet To Get any Carpenters work don and seems as hard seet To Get wagons To move me out and very dear if I Geet aney and I am affraid I shall not Com down before you seet out for Williamsburg but as our out Goings is Great at...
16Resolutions of the Officers of the Virginia Regiment of 1754, 23 November 1772 (Washington Papers)
We the Subscribers (being the only Commissioned Officers of the first Virginia Regiment who met at this place pursuant to the request of Colo. George Washington) Have taken into Consideration the State of our affairs respecting the Grant of Land under the Honble Govr Dinwiddies Proclamation (of the 19th of Feby 1754) and finding, that of the 200,000 acres there given, and directed by a...
17From George Washington to James Gildart, 12 October 1773 (Washington Papers)
Upon a Review of my Books, there appears to be a Balle due from you, to me, on my own private Acct. of £34.6.9½. Please to examine how this matter stands on your Books, and if found right remit the money to Robt Cary Esqr. & Co. Merchants in London whose discharge will be good against Sir Yr most Hble Servt ALB , DLC:GW . After his marriage in 1759 and until 1766, GW continued the Custis...
18Cash Accounts, March 1772 (Washington Papers)
Cash Mar. 4— To Cards £ 0. 5. 0 6— To Cash recd from Richd Croshe Graves for 2139 lbs. of Porke sold Colo. Ruffin from King Wm Quartr 32. 1. 9 10— To Ditto recd from Do on acct of Porke Sold to Sundries from Mr Custis’s Plantations pr my Credits in his Acct 118. 3.10 To Ditto receivd of Mr James Hill on acct of Rents due Mr Custis 21. 0. 0 25— To Ditto Recd from James Biggs pr Colo....
19From George Washington to Benedict Calvert, 3 April 1773 (Washington Papers)
I am now set down to write to you on a Subject of Importance, & of no small embarrassment to me. My Son in Law & Ward, Mr Custis, has, as I have been informd, paid his Addresses to your Second Daughter, & having made some progress in her Affections required her in Marriage—How far a union of this Sort may be agreeable to you, you best can tell, but I should think myself wanting in Candour was...
20To George Washington from Robert Adam, 13 January 1774 (Washington Papers)
I am favoured with yours, as Also for Mr Young which I have delivered him; he seems Satissfyed with your proposal and senceable that he will save more than he Could in Such a place as Bladensburgh from the Wages he had there, And now waits upon you himself —I have Dropt two lines to the Doctr desereing to let me know if there was any particular reason for his leaveing his Employ when I receive...
21To George Washington from Gilbert Simpson, 11 April 1773 (Washington Papers)
I Send you a Fwe Lines to Let you know that with Great diffeculty I Got safe to your Land which I beleive there is no better in this part of the world but whether it has been wet and Cold that I Sufferd in my Jurney and about teen days after I Got out by Lying in an old Leekkey Smooke Cabbin or whether the water and Climent is dissagreble to me or not I Cannot Teel but never have been to say...
22From George Washington to George Wythe, 17 January 1774 (Washington Papers)
I find my trouble is not like to be at an end with Mr Black; Mrs Black (by his procurement I think I could almost venture to say) has refused to execute the Deeds you drew from them to me; and which is still more extraordinary, he himself has denied possession of the Mills (as Mr Hill informs me) & the other premises generally, as you may see by his letter to me, forwarded to Mr Hill, ’till I...
23To George Washington from James Mercer, 11 August 1773 (Washington Papers)
Your favour of the 9th Instant was received late last Night, I am concerned you shou’d give yourself the trouble of explaining your motives for applying to me about the Mortgage I gave you—if my answer imputed to you the most distant suspicion of ungenerous Sentiments, believe me my good Sir, my Pen & Heart differed much[.] It is true I put the supposition you mention but I deemed it next to...
24To George Washington from John Carlyle, 20 July 1772 (Washington Papers)
Capt. Brodie woud Inform you the reason I did not Call on You, If he did not I Assure You it was for no Other reason but the great Company I See & heard of at Yr house & I thought myself & my little Companion not In A proper Dress for Straingers You or Yr family I woud have made free with, Therefor hope for Yr Excuse. The Captain Comeing Up this Evening Surprised me & tells me You wanted bills...
25To George Washington from John Armstrong, 17 August 1773 (Washington Papers)
Such is the uncertainty of human affairs, that I have again the unexpected occasion of giving you a letter on Some business, which if it is to be done at all, it seems must be transacted in your Government. Sundry Gentlemen who had formerly held Military Commissions in the Pay of Pennsylvania & Serv’d in conjunction with the Establish’d Troops, have lately fallen upon a method of asking their...
26To George Washington from John Parke Custis, 5 July 1773 (Washington Papers)
Pardon me for having thus impos’d upon your good Nature by not writeing to you sooner, I neither could nor had it in my power to say any thing with certainty concerning my establishment here till now. It gives me Pleasure that I now have it in my Power to inform you how agreably every thing is settled. there has nothing been omitted by my good Friend Doctor Cooper which was necessary to my...
27From George Washington to Henry Riddell, 1 March 1774 (Washington Papers)
On Sunday afternoon, your favour of the 24th Ulto came to my hands—as you profess to know but little of the expence attending the Importation of Palatines, and it being a business I am totally ignorant of myself I am affraid to plunge into it without further consideration & advice; and therefore, must lay aside my Scheme, either altogether or in part for the present; But as I have already...
28To George Washington from William Preston, 7 March 1774 (Washington Papers)
I recd your Letter Inclosing a Warrant for 2000 Acres, & a Certifate of Mr Crawfords for 2050 Acres in the Fork of the great Kanhawa and Cole River, by favour of Mr Young. Be assured Sir that nothing could have given me greater Pleasure than to have complied with your Request had it been in my Power; and the rather as I see nothing in it that is unreasonable or unprecedented. When I was last...
29To George Washington from George William Fairfax, 19 January 1773 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: from George William Fairfax, 19 Jan. 1773. Listed in Thomas Birch’s Sons catalog no. 663, item 61, 21–23 April 1891.
30To George Washington from Peter Hog, 11 December 1773 (Washington Papers)
About 8 Days agoe I got to this Town on my return from the great Kanhawa after a Division of our large Survey made with more Equality & Satisfaction to the several patentees than could have been reasonably expected in such a large & consequently unequal Tract as to Quality Situation &c., tho. Collo. Stephens & myself have gott little better than 8,000 Acres in full of our Claim of 9,000. Time...
31Memorandum, 20 November 1772 (Washington Papers)
Colo. Lewis is desired to seel the two Bills of £250 & £150 each for what they will fetch —receive £32.10.0 of Colo. John Banister —& all the Money which Hill can collect. out of which To pay my part of Norfleets demand—Mr Hodges claim against Mr Robt Adam—£20 to John Washington (being money receivd for him of Mr Ross) and one hundd and odd pound to the Treasury on acct of Mr William Ramsay;...
32From George Washington to Robert Cary & Company, 6 October 1773 (Washington Papers)
I am almost ashamed to trouble you in the same year with such frequent orders for Goods; but as I am under a necessity of making some Repairs to, and alteration in my House, and did not get an Acct before, from the Undertaker of all the materials wanting, it must plead my excuse for requesting you to send me the under mentioned Articles—as also for the following Books for the use of Mr Custis,...
33To George Washington from Bryan Fairfax, 2 December 1772 (Washington Papers)
When I parted with You on Pohic You did not seem inclinable to take my Land there, and I have therefore been bargaining with Mr Henderson about it as I owe a debt to the Store in Alexandria: But as I did not know but what You might come to some Terms with Mr Mercer and in that case choose to purchase mine, I chose to wait till your return before I shewed the Land to Mr Henderson, that if you...
34From George Washington to George William Fairfax, 15 October 1773 (Washington Papers)
The Inclos’d is a copy of my last Letter sent by a ship from Patuxent (name I know not, Mr Calvert having undertaken to forward it) at the time of writing that Letter, it did not occur to me, to ask, if there were not Ball[ance]s upon your Books, and Bonded Debts to Collect; & if so, whether you would not choose to have them call’d in. Any directions on this head shall be executed to the best...
35To George Washington from William Crawford, 15 March 1772 (Washington Papers)
I Received yours of the 6th of Decmr I Should have had your Land Run out at the Great medows but Mr McClain is not com up from his fathers as yeat but is to be up in a few days and I will have it don and Send you a Draft of the hole by the first oppertunity I would have had it done as soon as I cam up but he co[u]ld not do it before he went to Philedephia As to Craughans Claim of the Land near...
36To George Washington from Bryan Fairfax, 14 April 1772 (Washington Papers)
Doctor Savage tells me that it would be very convenient to him, if you cou’d pay the £150, which you have kindly offered to advance for me, and for which I return You Many Thanks, to him or to Mr Montgomerie at the Genl Court, when the Merchants meet, and has desired me to write to you for that Purose if it should be convenient. I did myself the pleasure to write to you a few days agoe: so...
37From George Washington to James Davidson, 10 July 1773 (Washington Papers)
Please to send me two Seins of Eighty fathom long each, agreeable to the directions you receivd last year, but with this difference. Let them be Ten feet wide at the ends or Wings (instead of Seven as the last ware) and be something narrower Meshd, especially on the Wings, as the Herrings (for which kind of Fishery they are intended) get fastend in them, and give us some plague in disengaging...
38From George Washington to William Black, 17 January 1774 (Washington Papers)
I was not a little surprized when informed by your own letter, as well as from Mr Hills, of Mrs Black’s having refused to acknowledge her right of Dower in the Lands I bought of you. Did you not repeatedly assure me, that she was ready at all times, to relinquish her right? And did she not signify as much to me herself, as I brought her from Williamsburg to Colo. Bassett’s? From whence then...
39From George Washington to Burwell Bassett, 20 April 1773 (Washington Papers)
The interruption of the Post for several Weeks, prevented our receiving the melancholy account of your loss till within these few days. That we sympathize in the misfortune, and lament the decree which has deprivd you of so dutiful a Child, & the World of so promising a young Lady, stands in no need, I hope, of argument to proove; but the ways of Providence being inscrutable, and the justice...
40From George Washington to Angus McDonald, 28 January 1774 (Washington Papers)
Inclosed you have a Certificate of your having served as an Officer in the Virginia Regiment; as to your Services in the Militia, I have nothing at all to do with them, & am pretty sure they will not be allowed. at least this is my private opinion. the Governor however is, unless he chooses to advise with the Council, the sole judge of these matters, & from him only, can you be satisfied in...
41From George Washington to Samuel Washington, 28 July 1772 (Washington Papers)
I should be much obliged to you for your care of those matters committed to Mr Johnston, respecting my Tenants; that is, that you would be kind enough to see that they go properly on; as I find Mr Johnston had other Suits against Kennedy besides my Distress ⟨wch⟩ may possibly be the cause of the Sheriffs delay in Serving it. You disappointed us greatly in not seeing you down according to...
42To George Washington from Thomas Glascock, 22 August 1773 (Washington Papers)
I have seen your Advertizement in the Gazate for the disposal of your lands on the Banks of the Ohio and the Kanhawa’s. You have not been so particular as to mention that the Leases are to be for Years or lives, but I am willing to suppose they are intended for Life or Lives, and therefore (as I am now in the Gout, And consequently cannot be at the meeting of the Ohio Company, where I might...
43From George Washington to James Hill, 3 August 1772 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: to James Hill, 3 Aug. 1772. On 30 Aug. Hill wrote to GW : “I recd your Letter from the Post office dated August 3d.”
44From George Washington to Gilbert Simpson, 8 July 1773 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: to Gilbert Simpson, 8 July 1773. Simpson wrote GW in July : “I Receved your Letter of the 8 of Junly.”
45From George Washington to Henry Riddell, 5 March 1774 (Washington Papers)
The Reasons which you Assign for not undertaking positively to furnish me with the number & kind of Palatines mentioned in my last Letter, I must confess are cogent; at the sametime it obliges me, under that uncertainty, to lay aside the Scheme till I can be advise’d from Phila. (to which place I had written for Information previous to your first conversation with Mr Young) of the expence &...
46To George Washington from Joseph Chew, 10 March 1774 (Washington Papers)
though it is a long time since I have had the pleasure of writing to you, it is not so, with Respect of my inquires of your health and Happiness and the accounts my Lord Sterling gave me last summer were very agreable his Lordship informed me he spent Some time with you in Virginia Very Happily. I am informed my Lord Dunmore is now Granting lands to the Officers who served in the Virga...
47From George Washington to Thomas Newton, Jr., 27 January 1773 (Washington Papers)
Inclos’d you have a Copy of my last. By the bearer Captn Silby Harney in the Willing Maid, I send you 200 Barrls of Superfine Flour, and 50 Barrl of Midlings (all the Vessell would carry) pr Invoices Inclos’d, which please to dispose of for the best prices you can get, immediately, unless by keeping it a while, there is an apparent prospect of selling it higher—You may allow Credit till April,...
48From George Washington to Myles Cooper, 15 December 1773 (Washington Papers)
The favourable account you was pleas’d to transmit me of Mr Custis’s conduct at College, gave me very great satisfaction; & I hoped to have felt an increase of it by his continuance at that place under a Gentleman so capable of instructing him in every branch of useful knowledge, as you are: but these hopes are at an end; & at length, I have yielded, contrary to my judgment, & much against my...
49To George Washington from Burwell Bassett, 5 February 1773 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: from Burwell Bassett, 5 Feb. 1773. GW wrote Bassett on 15 Feb. : “Your favour of the 5th came to my hands. . . last Thursday.”
50To George Washington from George Mason, 21 December 1773 (Washington Papers)
The embarrass’d Situation of my Friend Mr Jas Mercer’s Affairs gives Me much more Concern than Surprize. I always feared that his Aversion to selling the Lands & Slaves, in Expectation of paying the Debts with the Crops & Profits of the Estate, whilst a heavy Interest was still accumulating, wou’d be attended with bad Consequences, independant of his Brother’s Difficultys in England; having...