To George Washington from George Lux, 9 January 1788
From George Lux
Chatsworth [Md.] 9 Jany [1788]
Sir
I beg leave to introduce to your Excy Mr OConnor, who is writing an History of America, & means to make some stay with you—Mrs OConnor, a Niece of Sir Charles Hardy, who commanded the British Fleet last War, means to set up an Academy for the instruction of young Ladies in Alexandria, & I must request your Excellency’s patronage & attention—Mr OConnor is warmly recommended to me by my Relations of the Biddle Family in Phila., and as their Friend I beg leave to recommend him to you.1
I hope, e’er twelve months are elapsed, that every American may embrace a Citizen of another State more fervently than ever, as a Brother, that we shall be one People, & all local distinctions be obliterated, and am, with Compts to your Excy & Mrs Washington, in which Mrs Lux joins Yr Hume Servt
Geo. Lux
ALS, DLC:GW. Lux dated his letter “9 Jany 1787.”
George Lux (1753–1797) inherited Chatsworth at the death of his father, William Lux, in 1778. It was an estate of 956 acres in Baltimore Town, which after visiting it in 1777 John Adams described as “elegant” ( 2:556–57; 2:257–58). George Lux was married to Catharine Biddle of Philadelphia. During the Revolution he served as the clerk of Baltimore’s committee of observation and as an officer in its militia.
1. Eliza Harriot O’Connor at this time opened in Alexandria a short-lived academy for young ladies. Her husband, John O’Connor, an Irishman who came to the United States in 1787 and for two years sought subscriptions to his proposed history of America, visited Mount Vernon in February. Despite the efforts of the O’Connors, GW refused to join the governing board of Mrs. O’Connor’s school or to subscribe to Mr. O’Connor’s history, which was never published. For further details of GW’s dealings with the O’Connors, see the editors’ notes in , 5:272–73, 409.