George Washington Papers
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To George Washington from William Blount and William Cocke, 13 February 1797

From William Blount and William Cocke

Philadelphia Feb. 13th 1797

Sir,

We recommend Robert Hays of Davidson County for Ma[r]shal Thomas Gray of Jefferson County for Attorny and Morgan Brown of Palmyra for Collector of the Impost in the State of Tennessee.

Mr Hays was an officer in the Revolutionary army, is at present Colonel of a Regiment of Cavalry and a Citizen of great Respectability.1

Mr Gray is a Lawyer of upwards of twenty years standing in No. Carolina and lately become a Citizen of Tennessee2—Mr Brown was a respectable Member of the Legislature of So. Carolina lately removed to Tennessee & resides at Palmyra & is well qualified to discharge the Duties of the office to which he is recommended3 We have the Honor to be very respectfully

Wm Blount
Wm Cocke

LS, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters. This letter is docketed “Feby 19. 1797.” No reply to Blount and Cocke from GW has been found. Four days later, GW nominated Robert Hays as U.S. marshal for the District of Tennessee, Thomas Gray as U.S. attorney in that district, and Morgan Brown as customs collector and inspector of the revenue for the port of Palmyra, Tenn. (see GW to the U.S. Senate, 17 Feb.).

1Born near Salisbury, N.C., Robert Hays (1758–1819) served during the Revolutionary War as an ensign and then as a lieutenant in the 4th North Carolina Regiment (1777–78). He transferred to the 1st North Carolina Regiment in June 1778. Taken prisoner at Charleston, S.C., in May 1780, Hays was exchanged in 1781 and continued his military service until the end of the war. Hays served in the North Carolina House of Commons for Davidson County, which later became part of Tennessee. A justice of the peace and cavalry officer in the Southwest Territory, Hays received a commission (on 13 Jan. 1797) in the Tennessee militia as lieutenant colonel commanding the cavalry of Mero District. A brother-in-law of Andrew Jackson, Hays served as U.S. marshal for Tennessee and later for the District of West Tennessee until his removal from office in 1803 (see Thomas Jefferson to the Senate, 9 Dec. 1803, in Jefferson Papers description begins Julian P. Boyd et al., eds. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. 41 vols. to date. Princeton, N.J., 1950–. description ends , 42:95–97).

2Thomas Gray (1745–1829) had received his license to practice law in Tennessee courts in April 1796. He served as U.S. attorney for the District of Tennessee until 1798. In 1801, he was nominated to the same office for the District of East Tennessee (see Senate Executive Journal description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America: From the commencement of the First, to the termination of the Nineteenth Congress. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C., 1828. description ends , 384).

3Morgan Brown (1758–1840), a native of Anson County, N.C., served during the Revolutionary War as an officer, assistant commissary of purchases of the Southern Army, assistant commissary of issues, and superintendent of transportation. After the war, Brown removed to South Carolina, where he was a planter, member of both houses of the state legislature (House, 1785–88; Senate, 1789–94), vestryman (1785–86), and justice of the peace and county court judge (1785–93). In 1795, Brown moved to Montgomery County, Tenn., where he established the town of Palmyra on the south bank of the Cumberland River. There, he owned a store, where he sold drugs and practiced medicine. He also bought and sold lands and erected an ironworks. Brown served as customs collector at Palmyra from 1797 to 1801. He lived in Kentucky from around 1807 until 1820, but returned to Tennessee and died in Davidson County.

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