To Thomas Jefferson from George Walton, 25 June 1801
From George Walton
Augusta, 25 June, 1801.
Dear Sir,
The object of the present address is to introduce to your notice a stranger, visiting the seat of our Government, and, paying his respects to its chief Magistrate. It is the Reverend J. F. Hull, the established and principal Clergyman of this City. His talents and virtues have acquired and secured the esteem and respect of the Citizens here; as his personal decorum and deportment will, no doubt, do every where.
Your recieving him with your usual condescension and politeness will add to the esteem, for which I have already so many motives; and with which, I am, Dear Sir,
with great respect, Your Obt. Sevt.
Geo Walton
RC (DLC); at head of text: “(Private)”; endorsed by TJ as received 25 Sep. and so recorded in SJL.
A signer of the Declaration of Independence, George Walton (ca. 1749–1804) was a former governor and U.S. senator from Georgia. Since 1790 he served as a judge of the state’s superior court ().
James F. Hull carried two additional letters of introduction. On 29 June, Congressman John Milledge wrote that Hull’s “talents, and correctness of Character” rendered him “amiable” to the citizens of Augusta (RC in DLC). In a letter to TJ dated June 1801, Senator Abraham Baldwin described Hull as a native of Ireland and the son of a Presbyterian clergyman. He came to America to escape “political persecution” and Baldwin deemed him to be “a Gentleman of good education, of good morals and a good Republican” (RC in MHi; at foot of text: “Thomas Jefferson President of the United States”). TJ endorsed both letters and recorded them in SJL at 25 Sep., connecting them with a brace to Walton’s letter, printed above, and indicating that all three were delivered by Hull.