1From George Washington to Thomas Johnson and Thomas Sim Lee, 18 May 1785 (Washington Papers)
At a meeting of the Subscribers to the Potowmac Navigation held yesterday agreeable to the Acts of Assembly of both States, a President and Directors were chosen, the former I have accepted of, & you two in conjunction with George Gilpin & John Fitzgerald Esqrs. were appointed Directors which I hope will be agreeable to you[.] As the Season begins to advance I have thought necessary that we...
2From George Washington to Richard Sprigg, 18 May 1785 (Washington Papers)
I received the Grass-seeds which you sent me sometime since, & thank you for them. This Letter will be handed to you by Mr Pine, an Artist of acknowledged eminence; who, whilst it is yet possible is endeavouring to secure faithful representations of some of the interesting events of this War—As he proposes to take Annapolis on his way to Philadelphia I pray you to allow me the liberty of...
3From George Washington to Clement Biddle, 16 May 1785 (Washington Papers)
I stand indebted to you for your several favors of the 7th of March, and 12th & 19th of April. Believe me, Sir, the first was not productive of more surprize than real concern. The acct of your failure was as much regretted, as it was unexpected by me; and I feel for the causes of it—and for your present situation. You are sensible that my Commissions have been more troublesome than profitable...
4From George Washington to Francis Hopkinson, 16 May 1785 (Washington Papers)
In for a penny, in for a pound, is an old adage. I am so hackneyed to the touches of the Painters pencil, that I am now altogether at their beck, and sit like patience on a Monument whilst they are delineating the lines of my face. It is a proof among many others, of what habit & custom can effect. At first I was as impatient at the request, and as restive under the operation, as a Colt is of...
5From George Washington to Barbier de La Serre, 12 May 1785 (Washington Papers)
The letter which you did me the honor to write to me the 20th of last month, I found at this place when I returned from Richmond a few days ago; but it had been previously lost in the high way, & came to me open & without a cover: by what means it met with this accident, I am unable to learn—a neighbour of mine picked it up in the condition I have mentioned, & sent it to me. I pray you to be...
6From George Washington to Thomas Marshall, 3 May 1785 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: to Thomas Marshall, 3 May. On 12 May Marshall wrote GW : “Your favor of the 3d Inst. I received by my Son.”
7Resolutions of the Dismal Swamp Company, 2 May 1785 (Washington Papers)
That the money, which can at present be raised, be put into the hands of some proper person, and such person be empowered to engage as many German, or other labourers at Baltimore, or any other part of this continent, as the money will procure. That, if this scheme should prove wholly or in part abortive, the managers hire as many negroes as they may think proper, untill they can import from...
8From George Washington to William Grayson, 25 April 1785 (Washington Papers)
I will not let your favor of the fifteenth, for which I thank you, go unacknowledged, tho’ it is not in my power to give it the consideration I wish, to comply with the request you have made; being upon the eve of a journey to Richmond to a meeting of the Dismal Swamp company, which by my own appointment is to take place on monday next; & into that part of the country I am hurried by an...
9From George Washington to Mathew Carey, 20 April 1785 (Washington Papers)
I have received your letter of the 30th Ulto —If it should ever be in my power to render you any Service, I shall be ready, & happy to do it. With the Gentlemen of my acquaintance in Philadelphia, I persuade myself you stand as well, as my introduction could place you. If there are any here, to whom the mention of your case would be of any avail, I should have pleasure in doing it. I thank you...
10From George Washington to George Clinton, 20 April 1785 (Washington Papers)
I promised you a letter by the last Post, but it was not in my power to fulfill it, business not my own, & with which I really ought not to be troubled, engrosses so large a portion of my time (having no assistance) that that which is essential to me, is entirely neglected. I now send you Hooe & Harrisons second Bill upon Mr Sylvanus Dickenson; altho’ I hope, & expect the first will have been...
11From George Washington to Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, 12 April 1785 (Washington Papers)
The Post preceeding the last, brought me your favor of the 31st Ulto—The next day I waited upon Colo. Hooe with your order, but he was confined to his bed & unable to do business. Two days after he sent me a Bill on New York for 2500 Dollars, payable at fifteen days sight; & gave me assurances that he wd pay the Balle shortly. In consequence, you have my receipt for £1069.1.7 specie at the...
12From George Washington to Lafayette, 12 April 1785 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 15th of Septr last year, introductory of Mr Duchi, I had the honor to receive a few days since. However great that Gentleman’s merits are, and however much I might be inclined to serve him, candor required me to tell him, as I now do you, that there is no opening (within my view) by which he could enter, & succeed in the line of his profession, in this Country. Besides being...
13From George Washington to Robert Lewis & Sons, 12 April 1785 (Washington Papers)
I have received two letters from you—one of the 8th of March—the other the 5th instt—& thank you for both. I acquiesce readily to the conditional terms you have made on my behalf with Joseph Davenport. His demand of Wages are as high as the best Mills in this Country afford; & the priviledges for wch he stipulates, shall be granted him with this addition, that his fire wood shall be Carted to...
14From George Washington to Charles Washington, 12 April 1785 (Washington Papers)
The enclosed is the last letter I have had from your Son George—why it is so, I cannot r⟨eadil⟩y Acct, except ⟨for⟩ the irregularity of the Post Office ⟨which⟩ seems to be under very bad management. Another letter of his, of the ⟨mutilated⟩ to a young Lady of this family ⟨mutilated⟩ reason to look for him here the latter ⟨end⟩ of this, or beginning of next Month. I lend our Nephew Geo: Steptoe...
15From George Washington to Thomas Freeman, 11 April 1785 (Washington Papers)
Not having heard a tittle from you since I left Mr Simpsons in Septr last, I wish for the detail of your proceedings in my business since that period, particularly with respect to applications, if any, for my Lands in your neighbourhood or elsewhere, & what has been done with the mill. I have obtained, some time since, a Patent for the round bottom above Captenon, which may be rented upon the...
16From George Washington to James Duane, 10 April 1785 (Washington Papers)
Enclosed you have my answer to the Acts of your Corporation, which I pray you to present. I thank you for the Arguments & judgment of the Mayor’s Court of the City of New York in the Cause betwn Elizabeth Rutgars & Joshua Waddington —I have read them with all the attention I could give the subject, and though I pretend not to be a competent judge of the Law of Nations, or the principle &...
17From George Washington to Thomas Walker, 10 April 1785 (Washington Papers)
At the request of the Gentlemen who met in Richmond the day you parted with us, I have requested a meeting of the Proprietors of the Dismal Swamp in Richmond on Monday the 2d day of May next—at which time & place I should be glad to see you as it is indispensably necessary to put the affairs of the Company under some better management—I hope every member will bring with him such papers as he...
18From George Washington to Christopher Richmond, 6 April 1785 (Washington Papers)
By the last Post Majr Jenifer transmitted me an Acct of my Continental Certificates as they had been Audited in your Office; by which there is a difference of £64.14.7⅛ short of my estimation of their value. This (for I did not go into the examination of figures) appears to have originated from the times of calculating the depreciation. I have always understood that depreciation was the same...
19From George Washington to George Clinton, 5 April 1785 (Washington Papers)
A few days ago I had the pleasure to receive your favor of the 5th Ulto—Your other letter of the 26th of December came duely to hand, and should not have remained so long unacknowledged had I not been in daily expectation of accompanying my answer with a remittance. Disappointment followed disappointment, but my expectation being kept up, I delayed writing from one Post day to another until...
20From George Washington to Charles Thomson, 5 April 1785 (Washington Papers)
In the latter part of last Spring, the Commissioners appointed to attend the embarkations at New York, previous to the evacuation of the city, made a report of their proceedings to me, accompanied by a voluminous list of the Slaves which had left that place. Soon after having the pleasure of Mr Reeds company here, he informed me in conversation, that the list I had received was a duplicate of...
21From George Washington to Robert Townsend Hooe, 3 April 1785 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: to Robert Townsend Hooe, 3 April 1785. On the same day Hooe wrote to GW : “Your favor of this Date I have just rec’d.”
22From George Washington to Bushrod Washington, 3 April 1785 (Washington Papers)
Your letter of the 20th Ulto did not come to my hands until the 31st —Whenever you have occasion to write to me from the line of the Post, always put your letter into the Mail. all other conveyances are uncertain; at best, irregular. Not expecting you were going to Richmond, I did, previously to the receipt of your letter, write to the Attorney General (to whose care my letter to you had been...
23From George Washington to Lucretia Wilhelmina van Winter, 30 March 1785 (Washington Papers)
The honor which your Pen has done me, so far exceeds my merits, that I am at a loss for words to express my sense of the compliment it conveys. The Poem, in celebration of my exertions to establish the rights of my Country, was forwarded to me from Philadelphia by Mr Vogels, to whom I should have been happy to have offered civilities, but he did not give me the pleasure of seeing him. At best,...
24From George Washington to John Craig, 29 March 1785 (Washington Papers)
If I could give you any useful information on the subject of your letter to me, I would do it with pleasure; but, altho’ I have a good general knowledge of the Western Country, I am very little acquainted with local situations—& less with those on the Susquehanna than any other. Monongahela, of which Cheat river is a branch, is gentle in its current—easy of navigation—& besides, is supposed,...
25From George Washington to Robert Townsend Hooe, 29 March 1785 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: to Robert Townsend Hooe, 29 Mar. 1785. On the same day Hooe wrote to GW : “I had the honor of receiving Your Excellency’s favor of this date.”
26From George Washington to John Francis Mercer, 27 March 1785 (Washington Papers)
Mr Stone gave me your favor of the 20th. When I had the pleasure of seeing you at this place, I informed you fully, & truly, of my want of money—I am at this moment paying 7 prC. interest for a pretty considerable Sum which I borrowed in the State of New York (through the means of the Governor) —& not being able to obtain a surety of holding it for more than one year from the establishment of...
27From George Washington to William Hunter, 24 March 1785 (Washington Papers)
G. Washingtons Compliments to Mr Hunter—would thank him for forwarding the enclosed letter by a good oppertunity when any such offers. He would thank Mr Hunter for the Currt Cash prices of good Plank in Alexandria—Inch—Inch & Quarter—and Inch and half. this by the bearer. If there is any Vessel in the harbor with these, & do not meet a ready Sale, he would take some, if good, of each, if the...
28From George Washington to Patrick Henry, 20 March 1785 (Washington Papers)
Your favor of the 12th together with the letters and parcels from Sir Edward Newenham, came safe to hand. For the trouble you have had with the latter I offer you my thanks, at the sametime I beg your excuse for adding to it by causing the letter herewith enclosed to be forwarded to Captn Boyle of the ship Jane & Diana when a safe conveyance offers. I hope this letter will find your family in...
29From George Washington to Edward Newenham, 20 March 1785 (Washington Papers)
I regret very much that your letters of the 2d & 13th of October should have been detained from me until this time. The last Post only, from Richmond, brought them to me. If you should have fulfilled your intention of embarking at the early period proposed in the first of the above letters—and I hope no untoward accident will have happened to prevent it—this answer will come too late, and my...
30From George Washington to John Harvie, 19 March 1785 (Washington Papers)
If I recollect right, I mentioned when I had the pleasure of seeing you at Mr Jones’s the first of last October, that I was reduced to the necessity of bringing ejectments against sundry persons who had taken possession of a tract of Land which I hold, not far from Fort Pitt in the State of Pennsylvania, by Patent under this Governmt for 2813 acres. I have lately received a letter from my...