To Thomas Jefferson from John Smith of Ohio, 15 March 1804
From John Smith of Ohio
Thursday Morn— [15 Mch. 1804]
Sir
I have this morning met with Major Cutler, from the vicinity of Marietti, who says, Mr Whipple never was known to be intoxicated as he could learn, on his voyge from Ohio (via the West Indies) to Philadelphia, or at any time when employed. On his arrival at Port, he will some times take a little frolic but not to the neglect of business—He says Mr Whipple, has given perfect satisfaction to his employers at Marietti (though he made but one voyge) that he now conducts with propriety—Permit me to remark, that Major Cutler is a Federalist—but I believe him to be a man of good Charecter as I have served with him for some years in the Legislature of Ohio—I managed my enquiry with caution—
I pray you to accept the assurance of the high Consideration & respect with which I have the honour to be Sir your very Humble Servt.
John Smith
RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR); partially dated; at foot of text: “The President of the U States”; endorsed by TJ as received 16 Mch. 1804 with notation “Whipple sober.” Recorded in SJL as received 15 Mch.
Ephraim cutler was a prominent Federalist from Washington County, Ohio. He had recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to visit his father, Representative Manasseh Cutler of Massachusetts (Andrew R. L. Cayton, The Frontier Republic: Ideology and Politics in the Ohio Country, 1780-1825 [Kent, Ohio, 1986], 77, 139, 141; William P. Cutler and Julia P. Cutler, Life, Journals, and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, LL.D., 2 vols. [Cincinnati, 1888; repr. Athens, Ohio, 1987], 2:169-70).
A naval hero of the American Revolution, Abraham whipple settled in Marietta, Ohio, after the war. In 1801, he commanded the brig St. Clair, a vessel built at Marietta, on its voyage down the Ohio and Mississippi to Havana and thence to Philadelphia (; Alexandria Advertiser, 1 May 1801; Gazette of the United States, 5, 8 Sep. 1801). Whipple may have been under consideration for the recently vacated office of receiver of public monies at Marietta (see Gallatin to TJ at 22 Mch.).