To James Madison from John Martin Baker, 17 July 1805 (Abstract)
From John Martin Baker, 17 July 1805 (Abstract)
§ From John Martin Baker.1 17 July 1805, Palma. “I have the honor to refer you, and to confirm my last respects under date the Sixteenth of January last,2 covering my Consular demi-annual report, closing on the thirty-first day of December 1804.
“Herewith have the honor to transmit You inclosed my Consular half yearly last report [not found], closing on the thirtieth day of June Ultimo.
“I have the satisfaction sir, to communicate for your information, that agreeable to every account received up to this day from the Continent of Spain, health continues to be enjoyed at the places, so much afflicted the last Year, with the contageous fever. On these Island⟨s⟩; thank Providence good health ⟨is⟩; enjoyed.”
RC, two copies (DNA: RG 59, CD, Port Mahon, vol. 1). First RC 2 pp.; marked “duplicate.” Second RC marked “triplicate.”
1. John Martin Baker (d. 1841) was named consul for the Balearic Islands in 1803 and in 1807 became consul for Tarragona, Spain. During 1808 and 1809 he served briefly as dispatch courier to France and also spent several months as a State Department clerk, after which he returned to Minorca. In 1813 he left Port Mahon with his family and spent the next few years in France, returning to Port Mahon in 1815 after peace was achieved between the United States and Great Britain. He returned to the United States again in 1817. In 1822 he received a clerkship in the State Department, where he remained until 1831 when he was named consul at Rio de Janeiro. In July 1840 he was named consul at Nuevitas, Cuba (Daily National Intelligencer, 21 July 1841; 3:502 n. 2; John Martin Baker to Richard Rush, 18 Aug. 1817, DLC: Jefferson Papers; Baltimore Patriot & Mercantile Advertiser, 31 Oct. 1822; Elmer Plischke, U.S. Department of State: A Reference History [Westport, Conn., 1999], 121; 4:178, 193, 5:298, 301).