To George Washington from Clement Biddle, 2 April 1789
From Clement Biddle
[Philadelphia] April 2d 1789
By Capt. Earle of the Sloop Union who is sailed for Alexandria I shipped the Articles noted at foot and directed them to the Care of Messrs Porter & Ingraham, the Captn has the Certificate of their being american Manufactured, there was no Spanish to be had & I sent a Barrel refined at our Sugar Houses which is the nearest of that quality—I could get only sixty three & ½ Bushels of the Buckwheat in time & agreed for the freight at 8d. ⅌ Bushels Pennsa Cury. I had Engaged the 250 Bushels but several days Rain prevented its Coming in but I hope to have it all in time for Capt. Ellwood who is here & Sails next week for Alexandria. The Letter for Thomas Smith Esqr. was sent on immediately by the western Post.
I have spoke for the Hatt of Mr Parish who promises it shall be done—he has the measure.1 I am &c.
Clement Biddle
LB, PHi: Clement Biddle Letter Book, 1789–92.
1. In a letter of March 1789 to Biddle, Tobias Lear informed him that “the General will thank Colonel Biddle to desire a Mr Parish (a Hat⟨ter of⟩ Philadelphia who made a hat for him some years since) to have a cock’d Hat made of ⟨fur⟩; the fur upon the hat to be short—and let it not be made in the extreme of the fashion. It must be ready for the General when he may call for it in passing through Philadelphia” (PHi: Washington-Biddle Correspondence). Isaac Parrish’s shop was on North Second Street. During the presidential years Parrish frequently made hats for GW and his household. The letter, to Thomas Smith, GW’s attorney in Pennsylvania, has not been found although it may have been another copy of GW’s letter to Smith of 26 Dec. 1788 and its enclosure.