To Thomas Jefferson from Henry Rose, 21 March 1801
From Henry Rose
Fairfax 21st March 1801
Dear Sir
Having understood that Coll: C Simms of Alexandria has sent in his Commission as Collector of the revenue for that Port—I take the liberty of presenting myself to your Excellency as a candidate for that Office.
If I have waved what may be the usage on occasions of this Kind, that of being represnted by some distinguished pesonage, it has arisen from an impression that you were sufficiently acquainted with my charecter, to place the asked confidence, independant of collateral interference—
Should my information have been incorrect or the ground I have taken in introducing myself to your notice be indecorous, I shall rest assured of your indugence and am with every assurance of the highest respect and esteem
Your most obedient and very humble Servant
Henry Rose
RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR); endorsed by TJ as received 24 Mch. and so recorded in SJL; also endorsed by TJ: “to be Collector Alexa.”
Henry Rose (d. 1810), a 1794 graduate in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, practiced his profession in Alexandria. He owned an estate in Fairfax County and valuable lands along the Little River Turnpike Road, as well as shares in the turnpike company. In 1801 he sold land near Alexandria and 1,000 acres in Amherst County. In that year he won election to the Virginia House of Delegates, representing Fairfax County for one term ( 2:87–8; Wyndham B. Blanton, Medicine in Virginia in the Eighteenth Century [Richmond, 1931], 82; Alexandria Times, 8 Apr. 1801; 223, 859).