To George Washington from Jacob Hollingsworth, 1 August 1793
From Jacob Hollingsworth
Elkton [Md.] 1 August 1793
Sir
Agreable to your Request I applied to Mr Briscoe the Maried Gentleman who I mentioned to you when here, he says its not Convianiant to His famaly to Undertake your Business,1 since that a young Man of the Name of Sappington a Native of this County who was Boarn about fifteen Mills from this of a Sivle Reagular famaly, said Sappington has a Recomendation from two very Reputable Gentleman of Hartford County who I Conseve May be Confided in, and I Know the mode of Conduct on Persusia Island has been in the grai⟨s⟩ing, Darey & Farming Line, for further advice I would wish you to apply to Colo. Saml Hughs near Haverde Grass the Propreator of the Island, Mr Sappngton will wait on you about the 12 of this month.2
if I Can be of Eany further youse to you Shall be very Happy to Sarve you. your Obt Sevt
Jacob Hollingsworth
ALS, DLC:GW. The address on the cover is accompanied by Hollingsworth’s handwritten notations of “Elkton July 31” and “Free.”
1. For Hollingsworth’s earlier recommendation of Briscoe as a candidate for the vacant manager position at Mount Vernon, see GW to William Tilghman, 21 July 1793, and notes 10–11. GW evidently saw Hollingsworth while passing through Maryland in late June or early July during his travels to and from Philadelphia for a visit to Mount Vernon (, 189–90).
2. Spesutie Island is located near the head of Chesapeake Bay. This island is a part of Harford County, Md., and is located a few miles south of Havre de Grace. According to the 1790 federal census, only one adult male by the name of Sappington lived in Harford County. This was Richard Sappington, and his household consisted of 3 white females, 1 white male under 16, and 1 slave. Perhaps he is the young man who was a native of Cecil County, in which Elkton was located and where three other families by the name of Sappington lived in 1790 (Heads of Families [Maryland], 40, 43–44, 78).
During the Revolutionary War Samuel Hughes (born c.1741) owned and supervised ironworks at the Antietam furnace in the newly established Washington County, Maryland. After the war, he moved his residence to Mount Pleasant in Harford County and continued in the iron-smelting and cannon-casting business at Cecil Furnace and other forges in nearby Cecil County. He served several terms in the Maryland legislature between 1776 and 1790. GW’s letter to Samuel Hughes of 15 Aug. asking about Sappington has not been found. Unfortunately for Sappington, Hughes recommended against hiring him (Hughes to GW, 19 Aug. 1793).