To George Washington from Joseph Chew, 4 March 1756
From Joseph Chew
New London [Conn.] March 4th 1756
Dear Sir
I find by the Papers that you Arrived in Boston the Fryday after we Parted, and I hope had an agreable journey Considering the Severity of the weather.1 The many agreable objects you there met with I conclude prevented my having a Line from you by the Post, this you can Very Easily Settle by Spending one day at New London when you Return.
I Engaged a Good Boatman to Call on me this day when I Promised to let him ⟨kn⟩ow the time you would be here that you might meet with no disapointment in getting to Long Island as I could not inform him he has promised me not to Engage himself this week in which time hope to hear from you—your Riding mare as had a Pretty Large Swelling under her Belly occasioned I believe by the Buckling of the Girths two Tight and Capt. Stewarts horses leggs have been much Swell’d they are both got Very well, all your other horses are well and hearty.
My Compliments to Capt. Stewart and Capt. Mercer Accept the Same yourself and be assured that I am with the gr⟨e⟩atest Esteem Dr Sir Your most obedt Servt
Jos. Chew
I have this moment a Letter from our Worthy friend B. Robinson he Mrs Robinson the agreable Miss Polly and all his family are Very well.2
J. C.
ALS, DLC:GW.
Joseph Chew (b. 1720), son of Thomas and Martha Taylor Chew of Spotsylvania County in Virginia, immigrated before 1750 to New London where he became a merchant and port surveyor. During the Revolution he chose the loyalist side and moved to Canada. His brother Colby served as a volunteer in Virginia’s unsuccessful Sandy Creek expedition against the Shawnee in 1756, and in 1757–58 he was an ensign in GW’s Virginia Regiment. Another brother, Larkin Chew, joined the 2d Virginia Regiment commanded by Col. William Byrd III in 1758.
1. GW was on his way from New York to Boston to see Gov. William Shirley when he and his companions, George Mercer and Robert Stewart, both captains in the Virginia Regiment, stopped at Joseph Chew’s. GW apparently traveled from New London by water and arrived with his party in Boston on 27 Feb.
2. Beverley Robinson (1722–1792) was the brother of John Robinson, treasurer of the colony of Virginia and speaker of its House of Burgesses. He settled in the city of New York in the 1740s and married the heiress Susannah Philipse of Philipseburg Manor. GW saw a great deal of Robinson, Mrs. Robinson, and her sister Mary Eliza Philipse, called Polly, during his stay in New York before leaving on 20 Feb. for New London.