To George Washington from David Finney, 4 April 1780
From David Finney
Newcastle County [Del.] April 4th 1780.
David Finney, (One of the Justices of the Delaware State,) presents his most respectful Compliments, to his Excellency General Washington. and hath taken the freedom to transmit to his Excellency (by Lieutenant McKennan,)1 a few Yards of Dimity, manufactured in his Family. as a small token of his grateful esteem. and flatters himself, that his Excellency, will so far honor him, as to accept it.2
AL, DLC:GW.
David Finney (1725–1806) came from a prominent family in New Castle County, Del. (see , 92–97). He practiced law as a career, which led to his appointment as an associate justice on the Delaware Supreme Court in January 1778. Suffering financial losses during the Revolutionary War, Finney unsuccessfully wrote GW on 25 March 1789 seeking a government appointment (see 1:444–46). The important political and legal figure Thomas McKean was Finney’s cousin (see , 10–13, 425–26).
1. William McKennan (c.1756–1810) served with the Delaware Battalion of the Flying Camp in July 1776 and then became a lieutenant in the Delaware Regiment that November. Wounded at the Battle of Germantown on 4 Oct. 1777, he later received promotion to captain and remained in the army until the end of the war. Subsequently active with veterans and in Delaware politics, McKennan eventually moved to Washington County, Pa., where he held a local office (see McKennan to GW, 29 May 1789, in 2:409–11; see also 52:71–76, and , 368). McKennan’s wife was McKean’s niece, forming a relationship through marriage to Finney.
2. GW replied to Finney from Morristown on 5 May: “Your obliging favor of the 4th Ulto accompanying a few yards of exceeding fine & well wrought Dimety, came safe to hand.
“As it is offered—you are pleased to tell me—in testimony of the esteem you entertain for me, I accept it; and shall wear it as a memento of the perfection to which manufactures of this kind are brought, and of the little occasion there is of depending upon any other Country for such convenient & handsome cloth—the manufacturing of which, in the instance before us, exhibits at one view an interesting proof of your industry & art.
“My acknowledgements and thanks for the benefit I derive from both, & your politeness, are gratefully offered” (ADfS, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW).