MS (DNA: RG 59, LAR, 4:0549); undated; entirely in TJ’s hand, written on a scrap of paper, probably at several sittings as indicated by interlineations and horizontal rules.

On 9 July TJ appointed David Gelston to replace Joshua Sands as collector of New York. John Smith and Senator John Armstrong were in Washington serving as members of the Sixth Congress from New York and thus were available to offer their opinions on Gelston’s candidacy immediately following TJ’s election in the House. Noting that he did not know TJ personally, Gelston, on 13 Mch., requested that Madison intervene with the president in his favor. Madison forwarded Gelston’s letter to TJ; the president endorsed it and kept it with his papers on appointments (RC in DNA: RG 59, LAR; Biog. Dir. Cong.; JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States… to the Termination of the Nineteenth Congress, Washington, D.C., 1828, 3 vols. description ends , 1:403; Madison, Papers, Sec. of State Ser., 1:16–17; Appendix I, List 3).

Liv’d. in ad—y: lived in adultery. In 1799 Marinus Willett divorced Susannah Vardle, whom he had married in 1793 immediately after the death of his first wife. Shortly after the divorce he married Margaret Bancker, a much younger woman than he. Willett also had an illegitimate son who was born in 1783 while he was married to his first wife (ANB description begins John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, New York and Oxford, 1999, 24 vols. description ends ; Kline, Burr description begins Mary-Jo Kline, ed., Political Correspondence and Public Papers of Aaron Burr, Princeton, 1983, 2 vols. description ends , l:524n). See also Willett to TJ, 24 Feb. 1801.

Although a Federalist with a Loyalist background, Richard Rogers retained his lucrative position as naval officer at the customs office until 1803 because the Republicans could not agree upon an acceptable replacement for him (Kline, Burr description begins Mary-Jo Kline, ed., Political Correspondence and Public Papers of Aaron Burr, Princeton, 1983, 2 vols. description ends , 1:537–8; JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States… to the Termination of the Nineteenth Congress, Washington, D.C., 1828, 3 vols. description ends , 1:453).

In late March, TJ removed Richard Harison, the U.S. district attorney for New York nominated by Washington in 1789, and Aquila Giles, the U.S. marshal in New York since 1792. In one of his lists, TJ noted that Giles was “delinquent in money largely.” TJ appointed Edward Livingston and John Swartwout to serve, respectively, in those positions (JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States… to the Termination of the Nineteenth Congress, Washington, D.C., 1828, 3 vols. description ends , 1:32–3, 121–2, 217, 362–3; Appendix I, Lists 3 and 4). That TJ does not list the candidates for these offices indicates that he wrote this note early in his consideration of New York appointments.