From George Washington to Tobias Lear, 14 December 1796
To Tobias Lear
Philadelphia 14 Dec. 1796
dear Sir,
Immediately upon the receipt of your letter of the 2d instant, I sent a transcript of so much of it as related to Maria, and the daughter of Colo. Ball, to Mr Van Vleck; with a request that he would answer the queries which were propounded therein, under a cover to me.1 Enclosed is his answer, and of course you will inform Colo. Ball thereof.2
As I know that many unsuccessful applications had been made for admission into the young Ladies School at Bethlehem about the time I wrote to Mr Van Vleck, the reception of Maria & her Cousin must be considered as a particular favour, and Colo. Ball should make a point of it to be exact in complying with the requisitions that are enumerated in the Directors Letter.
A treatise, on the improvement of Canal Navigation, came to my hands by Doctr Edwards as a present from the Author, a few days ago. As I shall have no time to look into it while I remain in this City, I make a deposit of it with you, until I return to Mount Vernon. According to Doctr Edwards account, Fultons system is putting Lock navigation out of vogue.3 I have not read a page in the Book—but if the Potomack company can extract any thing useful from it I shall feel happy in having sent it to you. We are all well, except having bad colds,4 and joi⟨n⟩ in best wishes for yourself & family. I am Your Affectionate
Go: Washington
P.S. Pray procure me 200 weight of good butter against our arrival at Mount Vernon which in all likelihood will be by the middle of March.5
ALS (letterpress copy), DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW.
1. In a letter dated 7 Dec. from Philadelphia, GW wrote Jacob Van Vleck: “The letter you were pleased to favour me with, relative to my (grand) Niece Maria Washington, was (a copy of it) sent to Mr Lear, who married her mother; and is her guardian, with a request that he would ascertain the precise time for her entering the School for young Ladies, under your auspices, at Bethlehem.
“Enclosed you have his answer, & you have to decide whether the first of April, or an earlier day will suit your purposes best, to receive the child. She is fatherless & motherless; to have with her therefore the daughter of Colo. Ball, who is the daughter of her father’s Sister also, would be very pleasing to the two girls, if it could be made convenient to the School.
“Your answer to these requests, if put under cover to me, shall be immediately forward to Mr Lear, for his government. Before I conclude, I pray you to accept my thanks for your ready consent to admit the child, in whose behalf I first applied; & for the favourable Sentiments you have been pleased to express” (ALS [letterpress copy], DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW). A copy of Van Vleck’s letter to GW, dated 15 Nov., was enclosed in GW’s letter to Lear of 25 Nov. (see GW to Lear, that date, n.1).
2. Van Vleck’s reply to GW’s 7 Dec. letter has not been found, but it concerned the admission of Mildred Thornton Ball and Anna Maria Washington into his school in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Anna Maria later was authorized to begin her schooling there in May 1797 (see GW to Lear, 13 Jan. 1797, and Lear to GW, 17 Jan. 1797; see also GW to Lear, 16 Nov.).
Lear wrote Burgess Ball, Mildred Thornton Ball’s father, but that letter has not been found (see Lear to GW, 17 Jan. 1797, and n.3 to that document).
3. Dr. Enoch Edwards had delivered Robert Fulton’s Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation (see James Madison to GW, 1 Dec., and n.1 to that document; see also Timothy Pickering to GW, 20 Oct., and n.1 to that document). GW acknowledged receipt of the book in his letter to Fulton of this date, which was forwarded by Rufus King (see Fulton to GW, 12 Sept., and notes 1 and 2 to that document; see also Fulton to GW, 5 Feb. 1797, and King to GW, 6 Feb. 1797).
4. GW and Martha Washington also had been ill earlier in the fall (see GW to Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., 14 Oct., and n.4).
5. GW arrived at Mount Vernon on 15 March (see , 6:236, 239).