1. Thomas Barclay (1728–1793), a Philadelphia merchant, had been elected by Congress United States consul in France, 5 Oct. 1781; on 2 Jan. 1783 he was named consul general. He had business interests at Lorient, but JA first encountered him in Amsterdam, and before long Barclay rented a large house in semirural Auteuil on the outskirts of Paris. Here JA was to be his guest during a period of illness in the fall of 1783, and afterward JA rented the house for the use of himself and family. In 1782 Barclay was given a commission to settle the accounts of all American ministers and agents in Europe; from 1785 he served as United States agent in protracted and futile negotiations with Morocco. See JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford and others, eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, Washington, 1904–1937; 34 vols. description ends , 21:1036; 23:730; 24:3; Barclay’s letters in PCC, Nos. 91, 118; JA-Barclay correspondence in Adams Papers; Jefferson, Papers, ed. Boyd description begins The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd and others, Princeton, 1950– . description ends , vols. 7–12, passim; VMHB description begins Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. description ends , 8:19, 21 (July 1900); scattered references in PMHB description begins Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. description ends , Diary entries of 14 Sept., 7 Oct. 1783, 17 Aug. 1784, below.