George Washington Papers

[Diary entry: 18 February 1774]

18. At home all day alone Writing. In the Aftn. Mr. Jas. Lawson came.

This is probably James Lawson of Glasgow, who had come to Virginia to settle the accounts of the financially troubled Occoquan ironworks, which his brother-in-law John Semple had taken over from John Ballendine in the early 1760s (SKAGGS description begins David C. Skaggs and Richard K. MacMaster, eds. “Post-Revolutionary Letters of Alexander Hamilton, Piscataway Merchant.” Maryland Historical Magazine 63 (1968): 22–54; 65 (1970): 18–35. description ends , 63:28, n. 15; Va. Gaz., P&D, 13 June 1771). Lawson was now planning to sail for Scotland “to settle all his Business in Glasgow, and return here with his Wife and family to spend the rest of his Life” (Alexander Hamilton to James Brown & Co., 27 June 1774; MACMASTER description begins Richard K. MacMaster and David C. Skaggs, eds. “The Letterbooks of Alexander Hamilton, Piscataway Factor.” Maryland Historical Magazine 61 (1966): 146–66, 305–28; 62 (1967): 135–69. description ends , 61:166).

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