From George Washington to Enoch Edwards, 1 May 1797
To Enoch Edwards
Mount Vernon 1st May 1797
Sir,
No good opportunity ’till now, afforded by Mr Craik, has offered to return the Pamphlets you were so obliging as to send me by Mr Jefferson.1 I now do it with thanks for the perusal of them. and with compliments to Mrs Edwards2 am Sir Your Obedient Hble Servt
Go: Washington
ALS, owned by Mr. Peter V. Daniel, Sweet Briar, Virginia.
A native of Ireland and Dr. Benjamin Rush’s first pupil, Enoch Edwards (1751–1802) served as a surgeon during the Revolution. Gov. Henry Mifflin in 1791 appointed him to the bench on the Pennsylvania court of common pleas. In preparation for his journey to Britain in 1793, Edwards wrote GW asking for a letter introducing him to Arthur Young.
1. Martha Washington wrote Elizabeth Powel in Philadelphia on this day:“Mr Craiks return to Philadelphia (to accompaney his sister, Mrs [Ann Craik] Harrison to Alexandria) affords me an oppertunity of our offering our respects to you” (NN: U.S. Presidents). George Washington Craik (1774–1808), the son of GW’s close friend Dr. James Craik, served as GW’s secretary the last year of his presidency. For the pamphlets that Sir John Sinclair sent to GW from London by Enoch Edwards, see Sinclair to GW, 19 July 1797. See also Timothy Pickering to GW, 21 Mar. 1797, n.2, quoting Sinclair to GW, 10 Sept. 1796.
2. Frances Gordon Edwards (1761-1851), a daughter of Thomas Gordon of Philadelphia, had married Edwards in 1779.