George Washington Papers
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To George Washington from Frederick Jay, 10 May 1789

From Frederick Jay

New York 10th May 1789

Sir

Several of my Friends have advised me to become a Candidate for the Office of Collector for this Port—I am persuaded that your Excellency is not unacquainted with the Part wch I took and the losses Sustained by me and the whole Family during the late War, which in Some measure (I do presume) recommends them to a Share of their Country’s favours—Should Your Exclcy think proper to Name me to this Office, it will be conferring upon me Such Obligations as will ever be Acknowledged with gratitude. I am with great respect Your Excellency’s Most Obt Humbe servant

Fredr.Jay

ALS, DLC:GW.

Frederick Jay (1747–1799), the younger brother of John Jay, served a mercantile apprenticeship to his cousin James Abraham De Peyster, a New York city merchant, including a stint as De Peyster’s agent in the Dutch East Indies. After further experience in trade in Curaçao, he opened a mercantile firm in New York in 1773. Jay supported the Revolution, serving on both the committee of sixty in 1774 and the committee of one hundred in 1775 and in the New York legislature from 1777 to 1783. At this time he was a merchant and auctioneer in New York City.

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