From George Washington to Alexander Spotswood, 1 February 1797
To Alexander Spotswood
Philadelphia 1st Feb. 1797.
Dear Sir,
Your letter of the 24th Ulto was received by yesterday’s Post, and for the information it contains I pray you to accept my thanks; As I do also for the kind offer you have made me of enquiring into the quality & value of the land I hold on rough creek in the State of Kentucky which I readily accept.
I have heard through other channels, that the above mentioned Land is possessed of valuable properties; and I authorised Major George Lewis to buy the small tract adjoining, belonging to Mr Wodrow, on my account, but it is not within my recollection, at this moment, what the final result has been.1 Let me ask you, therefore, to converse with him on this subject, & to pursue such measures respecting it, in my behalf, as you two shall conclude will be beneficial for me. I will follow your advice, and not dispose of the land until I receive your report respecting it, if that shall happen in any reasonable time.2
Upon examination, I find I have not General Lee’s Conveyances of the Land to me, at this place, of course I cannot possess you of them: nor do I believe it is necessary, as Colo. Thomas Marshall, of Kentucky, has, on my behalf, paid the taxes of those lands from the first assessment of them (as I have accounts to shew) to a certain period: and was requested do it regularly onwards, which I am persuaded he has done or is ready to do. I will request the favor of you, however, while you are in that country, to enquire into the matter, & see that I have justice done me; as their has been no remissness on my part, or intention to with hold the Tax, from the State.3
I sincerely wish you a pleasan⟨t⟩ Journey to Kentucky, & a safe return;4 and with the best regards of Mrs Washington united to my own, for Mrs Spotswood & the family, I am—Dr Sir Your Affecte
G. Washington
ALS, State Library, Victoria, Australia; ALS (letterpress copy), DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW.
1. In July 1795, GW authorized his nephew George Lewis to purchase the 300-acre tract that adjoined his Rough Creek lands in Kentucky. The tract formerly belonged to Andrew Wodrow, who had since sold it to the Hite family. GW never acquired the tract (see GW to George Lewis, 27 July 1795).
2. Spotswood sent GW reports of his Kentucky lands in the summer of 1797 (see Spotswood to GW, 23 June and 22 July 1797, in 1:202–4, 264–66).
3. By early 1797, Thomas Marshall had paid the taxes on GW’s Kentucky lands for the years 1792 through 1795. By August 1798, Marshall made the tax payments on the Rough Creek tracts for the years 1796 through 1797, and sent GW the account pertaining to those payments. According to Kentucky law, failure to register landholdings with tax commissioners resulted in the forfeiture of all title or claims to lands owned by non-residents (see GW to Marshall, 25 March 1795; see also Marshall to GW, 12 Aug. 1795; and Thomas Marshall, Jr., to GW, 4 Aug. 1798, in 2:487–88).
4. Spotswood planned to set out for Kentucky in April 1797. He returned to his plantation, New Post, in Spotsylvania County, Va., on 19 July 1797 (see Spotswood to GW, 22 July 1797, in 1:264–66).