Enclosure: John Rodgers to James Leander Cathcart and James Hutton, 6 August 1819, enclosure no. 4 in James Leander Cathcart to Thomas Jefferson, 27 August 1821
Enclosure
IV
John Rodgers to James Leander Cathcart and James Hutton
Navy Coms Office 6th Augt 1819—
Gentlemen
The Commissioners of the Navy have received your communication with a summary recapitulation of, & reference to a Journal deliver’d at the office of the honorable the Secretary of the Navy—
The Commissioners of the Navy have derived much valuable information from the perusal of your summary—It is entirely satisfactory to them upon all the points of which it treats—
(Signd) Jno Rodgers, President of the Ny Board
Tr (DLC: TJ Papers, 215:38446); entirely in Cathcart’s hand; subjoined to covering letter and preceding enclosures, with subsequent enclosure conjoined; at foot of text: “James Leander Cathcart & James Hutton} Esqrs.” Tr (DLC: Madison Papers); in an unidentified hand. Tr (MHi: Adams Papers); in an unidentified hand. Tr (MiEM: Charles William Cathcart Papers); in an unidentified hand.
James Hutton (d. 1843), clerk, was a native of Pennsylvania. In 1818 and 1819 he worked with Cathcart as a timber agent for the Navy Department in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Hutton was married to Cathcart’s daughter Eliza Woodside Cathcart from 1821 until her death two years later. In 1822 he was appointed a clerk in the Navy Department and worked in that capacity for about twenty years in Washington, D.C. Hutton owned three slaves in 1830. He died in Washington (Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the Navy of the United States, including Officers of the Marine Corps, for the year 1842 [1842]; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, 26 July 1821, 14 Aug. 1823, 30 Aug. 1843; DNA: RG 29, CS, D.C., Washington, 1830, 1840; Philadelphia North American and Daily Advertiser, 31 Aug. 1843).
The manuscript journal of Cathcart and Hutton described in the preceding enclosure includes an appended recapitulation (DNA: RG 45, Report of Timber Agents Cathcart and Hutton). The secretary of the navy was Smith Thompson.
Index Entries
- Cathcart, James Leander; as timber agent search
- Cathcart, James Leander; letters to, from J. Rodgers search
- Hutton, James (d.1843); as timber agent search
- Hutton, James (d.1843); identified search
- Hutton, James (d.1843); letter to, from J. Rodgers search
- Navy Department, U.S.; and timber agents search
- Rodgers, John; as president of U.S. Board of Navy Commissioners search
- Rodgers, John; letter from, to J. Hutton search
- Rodgers, John; letters from, to J. L. Cathcart search
- Thompson, Smith; as secretary of the navy search