To Thomas Jefferson from William Stark, 19 December 1803
From William Stark
Youngstown Decr. 19th 1803
Venerable Sir,
To you I tender my service in any office, which you may think proper, to confer on me in Louisiana or New Orleans. & would prefer the Military or Judiciary as I think I have some tast for Tactics & tolerable Knowledg of Law, having had a regular education in that profession.
I am 28 years of age have received the honors of Dartmouth University, & am now practising law at Youngstown County of Trumbull State of Ohio.
I am with due respect Your devoted servant
William Stark
RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR); at foot of text: “His Excellency Thomas Jefferson President U.S.A.”; endorsed by TJ as received 29 Dec. and so recorded in SJL, connected by a brace with entries for letters received the same day from Stephen Perkins of 14 Dec. and William Hardy of 26 Dec. with notation “emploimt. Louisiana”; also endorsed by TJ: “Military or Judiciary. Louisiana.”
A native of New Hampshire, William Stark (1775-1808) was a 1799 graduate of Dartmouth College and a nephew of General John Stark. He later emigrated to Canada (George T. Chapman, Sketches of the Alumni of Dartmouth College [Cambridge, Mass., 1867], 99).