From George Washington to George William Fairfax, 15 October 1773
To George William Fairfax
Mount Vernon 15th Octr 1773
Dear Sir,
The Inclos’d is a copy of my last Letter sent by a ship from Patuxent (name I know not, Mr Calvert having undertaken to forward it) at the time of writing that Letter, it did not occur to me, to ask, if there were not Ball[ance]s upon your Books, and Bonded Debts to Collect; & if so, whether you would not choose to have them call’d in. Any directions on this head shall be executed to the best of my Judgment & I should be very glad if you would freely require, & plainly direct any services in my power to render you.1
Having occasion to send Lund Washington into Loudoun, I directed him to call upon Mr Peyton for what money he had of yours; he accordingly did so, and hath brought £52 which he says is all as Mr Peyton (told him) he had, or could get; this Sum I shall remit you from Wmsburg for wch place I expect to set of the 20th.2
I shall cause the dryed Peaches & homony which Danl Stone was directed to prepare to be put on board of Captn Boucher addressed to the care of Mr Athaws.3 with this Letter Mrs Washington joins me in best for Mrs Fairfax & yourself & I am Dr Sir Yr Most Obedt Hble Servt
Go: Washington
ADfS, PWacD: Sol Feinstone Collection, on deposit PPAmP.
1. GW’s letter of 25 Sept. has not been found. For Fairfax’s description of the bonded debts due him in Virginia, see his letter to GW of 10 Jan. 1774 in which he refers to GW’s missing letter of 25 Sept. 1773. The Patuxent River rises in central Maryland and flows about a hundred miles south and southest to Chesapeake Bay. There is a wide estuary and deep-water anchorage at the mouth of the river.
2. In his account, 16 Sept. 1773–26 April 1774 (ViMtvL), George William Fairfax’s land agent, Craven Peyton, notes paying to Lund Washington £52 intended for Fairfax. On 30 Dec. 177[3] GW wrote Osgood Hanbury & Co. from Mount Vernon to pay Fairfax the £52 (£39.5 sterling): “Gentn Of this date I have drawn upon you in favour of the Honble George William Fairfax Esqr. for thirty Nine pounds five Shillings Sterlg which please to pay and place it to the acct of Mr Jno. Parke Custis. I am Gentn Yr Most Hble Servt Go: Washington” (ALB, DLC:GW). See also Cash Accounts and , October 1773, as well as GW to Fairfax, 30 June 1786, in which GW reviews his business dealings with Fairfax since the time that Fairfax left Virginia in 1773.
3. Daniel Stone was the caretaker at Belvoir. See Francis Willis, Jr., to GW, 15 May 1774, and Fairfax to GW, 2 Mar. 1775. John Thomas Boucher was master of the ship Sim, owned by Christopher Court & Co. of London. It cleared the South Potomac on 19 Nov. for London, carrying 65 hogsheads of tobacco and 100 barrels of flour (P.R.O., C.O. 5/1352, f. 133).