From George Washington to John Stephenson, 28 November 1786
To John Stephenson
Mo[un]t Vernon 28th Novr 1786.
Dr Sir,
This Letter will be handed to you by Mr Lear a young gentleman who lives with me, & who will pass a receipt in discharge of any money you may pay him on my Account. I hope it will be convenient for you to discharge the whole, for it should be remembered that I have lain a long time out of what you are owing me, & that I can no more do without than another. My expenses are high, and my calls great, or I should not have reminded you so often of what I had hoped you would have paid with out any intimation of my wants.1 With best wishes for you & yours, I am &c.
G: Washington
LB, DLC:GW.
1. GW wrote in his diary for 8 May 1786 that he gave Benjamin Wooley “the Statement of my Acct. with Colo. John, and the deceased Hugh Stephenson, which, in behalf of the latter, he promised to pay, and to obtain the other moiety from the first” (, 4:326). GW wrote Thomas Smith on 23 Sept. 1789 that the Stephenson account showed the Stephenson brothers owed him £70.10 in Virginia currency.