From George Washington to William Peacey, 16 November 1786
To William Peacey
Mount Vernon Novr 16th 1786
Sir,
Enclosed, I give you the trouble of receiving the Copy of a letter I had the honor of writing to you in behalf of Mr James Bloxham. Since the date of it he has agreed to remain another year with me, and has written (as he informs me) in decided terms for his Wife & family to come to him, & bring with them the seeds & Implements which are enumerated in the enclosed Letters.1
As Vessels from Bristol (though the nearest shipping port to her) do not often come to this River, or to any convenient place of debarkation, it would be better I conceive for her, to resolve on a Passage from London alone—And if you, Sir, in her behalf, would open a Corrispondence with either Messrs Forrest & Stoddard, or with Wakelin Welch Esqr. of that City (to the last of whom I have written on the subject)2 I am persuaded a passage could be obtained, & the time fixed for her to be there. Mr Bloxham places so much confidence in your friendship for him, & patronage of his family, that I have no scruple in suggesting these ideas to you, though it is a liberty I should not have taken under any other Circumstances.
If his wife brings seeds it cannot be too strongly impressed upon her, to keep them out of the Ship’s hold, for they will certainly heat & spoil if put there. Mr Bloxham informs me that there is a young man of the name of Caleb Hall who is desirous of coming to this Country—I have mentioned to the old man the terms on which I would employ this Hall; I have no doubt of his finding the Country answerable to his expectations, and his coming might be very satisfactory and serviceable to Mrs Bloxham and her children on the passage, & previous to their embarkation.3 I have the honor to be Sir yr most obedt & Hble Servt
Go: Washington
LS, in Tobias Lear’s hand, PHi: Washington Manuscripts; LB, DLC:GW.
1. See GW to Peacey, 5 Aug., and the enclosed letter from Bloxham to Peacey, 23 July 1786. For an account of Bloxham’s career at Mount Vernon, see the note in Articles of Agreement with James Bloxham, 31 May 1786.
3. In his diary entry for 13 Nov., GW wrote: “Told James Bloxham, my Farmer, who was about to write to England for his Wife & family, and who proposed the measure that he might write to one Caleb Hall a Neighbour of his in Gloucestershire (who had expressed a desire to come to this Country, and who he said was a compleat Wheel Wright, Waggon builder, and Plow & Hurdle maker) that I wd. give him 25 Guineas a year for his Services . . .” (, 5:66). Peacey wrote GW on 2 Feb. 1787 that “Caleb Hall have not made up his Mind to Leve this Kingdom.” GW replied on 7 Jan. 1788 that he was “not sorry that Caleb Hall did not come out,” for he had “proposed his coming more to please Bloxham . . . than from a want of his services myself.”