To Alexander Hamilton from Tobias Lear, 13 October 1792
From Tobias Lear
United States 13 Octo. 1792
By the President’s command T. Lear has the honor to inform the Secretary of the Treasury that the President has appointed William Lewis to be keeper of the Light-house on Cape Henry,1 with a salary of four hundred Dollars per annum. The president does not conceive that the circumstance of mr Cormicks2 being employed to oversee the building of the Lighthouse, tho’ in his favor, as sufficiently strong to recommend him as the most proper person to be Keeper of it.
Tobias Lear. S. P. U.S.
T. Lear has mentioned to the president the Auditor’s3 wish to go to Virginia, & he has no objection to his going.
LC, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.
1. See H to George Washington, September 22, 1792; Washington to H, October 1, 1792.
Lewis had been surveyor of the port and inspector of the revenue for the port of Fredericksburg, Virginia.
2. Lemuel Cornick’s contract with Thomas Newton, Jr., which had been made at H’s request, is dated August 22, 1791 (copy, RG 26, Lighthouse Letters Received, “Segregated” Lighthouse Records, National Archives).
3. Richard Harrison.