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Account with John Barker Church, [15 June 1797]

Account with John Barker Church1

[New York, June 15, 1797]

Dr.	John B Church Esquire in Account with Alexander Hamilton							Cr
1796					1796
June	6	To Cash paid expences of my Clerk to Philadelphia to attend to execution of your Mortgage by Robert Morris2		10. 16—	April	8	By Ballance of Account rendered this day	£570. 2. 8
	20	To paid J Laurance your proportion of expence of surveys3		113. 8—	Aug	22	By this sum received of A Woodruff14 on account of Carney’s debt15	420——
July	7	To your half the purchase money of Eight lots in the City of N York bought of			October	11	By this sum received on account of Kinlocks Bond16	340. 4. 6
		I. Riley	Dolls. 1000		Nov.	26	By this sum received of Doctor Romayne17	354. 8. 10
		half expence of searching records for mortgages and Judgments	8. 12—		Decr.	13	By this sum received of R Morris	400——
			1008. 12 =	403. 5—4	1797		By this sum received of Wm Cooper18 in two payments on account of Holkers Debt19	600——
August	8	To paid City tax on your lot broad Way		4. 16. 85
1797		To paid for cleaning whitewashing & painting your house		34. 5. 66
March	7.	To paid Robinson Carpenter for fencing your lot		11. 11—7

May	17	To Cash paid yourself		200——8
	29	To ditto paid price of Negro Woman		90——9
June	5	To paid for coal per Order		120——10
	7	To Cash paid yourself		200——11
		Ballance due J: B Church		1496.13.10
				£2684.16—				£2684.16—
		From the above Ballance deductions are to be made on two Accounts
		House Rent paid more than received about	30012
		Interest creditted from the supposition of a ballance which did not exist owing to a double credit of a sum received from Wadsworth,13 whole sum creditted £329.9.04—excess about	300
			600—

E. E. New York June 15. 1797

A Hamilton

ALS, Lloyd W. Smith Collection, Morristown National Historical Park, Morristown, New Jersey.

1. H prepared this account to give to Church on his arrival in the United States on May 20. See Robert Morris to H, May 23, 1797, note 4.

2. See the introductory note to Morris to H, June 7, 1795; Morris to H, May 31, 1796. An entry in H’s Cash Book, 1795–1804, under the date of June 2, 1796, reads: “Account of Expences Dr. to Cash John B. Church for expence of Clk sent to Philadelphia for Mortgage R. Morris.… [$] 27” (AD, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress).

3. See Jacob Mark and Company to Church, H, and John Laurance, May 30, 1797; Laurance to H, June 3, 1797.

4. See “Conveyance from Isaac and Hannah Riley,” July 7, 1796.

5. See “Receipt from Morgan Lewis,” March 18, 1796, note 2.

6. Church’s house was at 52 Broadway, probably on one of the lots near Marketfield Street which H secured for him in 1796 (David Longworth, Longworth’s Almanack, New-York Register, and City Directory, for the Twenty-second Year of American Independence … [New York: Printed for the Editor, by T. & J. Swords, No. 99 Pearl-street, 1797]; “Receipt from Morgan Lewis,” March 18, 1796, note 2). An entry in H’s Cash Book, 1795–1804, for February 1, 1797, breaks down the cost as follows: “John B. Church Dr. to Cash paid by Mrs. Hamilton for Washing cleaning & white washing house hired for him

paid Sherrard painter his account ⅌ Rect

	20.18
	13. 7. 6.
	34. 5. 6	86.94”

(AD, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress).

7. See “Bill from James Robinson,” March 7, 1797.

8. On May 22, 1797, H recorded in his Cash Book, 1795–1804: “John B. Church Dr. to Cash paid him this day 500” (AD, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress).

9. An entry in H’s Cash Book, 1795–1804, for May 29, 1797, reads: “John B. Church Dr. to Cash paid for negro woman & child 225” (AD, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress).

10. On June 5, 1797, the following entry appears in H’s Cash Book, 1795–1804: “John B. Church Dr. to cash for this sum pd. Wm. Dodge for Coal 300” (AD, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress).

11. In his Cash Book, 1795–1804, H recorded the payment of five hundred dollars to Church on June 7, 1797 (AD, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress).

12. An entry in H’s Cash Book, 1795–1804, for March 14, 1797, reads: “John B. Church Dr. to Cash for this sum paid a quarters Rent of his house 312.50” (AD, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress).

13. During the American Revolution, Jeremiah Wadsworth and Church had been partners in a firm supplying the French forces in America. They continued their business partnership until July, 1785.

14. Aaron D. Woodruff was a Trenton, New Jersey, lawyer.

15. See Woodruff to H, January 13, 1790, in which the name appears correctly as Kearney. An entry in H’s Cash Book, 1795–1804, for August 22, 1796, reads: “Cash Dr. to John B. Church Esqr. for this sum received of A. D. Woodruff on account of money recovered by him from Carney [$]1050” (AD, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress). The Kearneys were a large and prosperous clan. It cannot be stated definitely, but it seems likely that the individual in question was Stephen Kearney, a wine merchant from Newark who subsequently moved to New York. During the American Revolution his estates were confiscated because of his Loyalist activities.

16. Francis Kinloch was a South Carolina planter. For Church’s transactions with Kinloch, see Cleland Kinloch to H, September 20, 1785; Charles Cotesworth Pinckney to H, June 5, 1796; H to Pinckney, September 12, 1796.

17. Dr. Nicholas Romayne. See Romayne to H, April 13, 1797. An entry in H’s Cash Book, 1795–1804, for November 29, 1796, reads: “Cash Dr. to John B. Church Cost & Fees … for this sum received of Doctor Romayne [$]886.10” (AD, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.

18. William Cooper, the founder of Cooperstown, was one of the largest landholders in New York State. H served as his attorney in many of Cooper’s land transactions (see Goebel, Law Practice description begins Julius Goebel, Jr., ed., The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton: Documents and Commentary (New York and London, 1964– ). description ends , forthcoming volumes). In 1791 Cooper became a judge of Otsego County. From 1795 to 1797 and from 1799 to 1801 he was a Federalist member of the House of Representatives.

19. From 1778 to 1780 John Holker had been French consul in Philadelphia and agent for supplying the French navy. After the war he was a leading Philadelphia merchant and speculator. For Holker’s debt to Church and for Holker’s connection with Cooper, see H to John Chaloner, June 11, 1793, note 1. See also Thomas FitzSimons to H, March 21, July 14, December 17, 1795; H to William Cooper, December 16, 1796. In H’s Cash Book, 1795–1804, an entry for March 10, 1797, reads: “Cash Dr. to John B. Church for this sum received of Wm Cooper acct. Holker 500” (AD, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.

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You Are Looking At

Source Project: Hamilton Papers
Title: Account with John Barker Church, [15 June 1797]
Authors: Hamilton, Alexander
Church, John Barker
Date: 15 June 1797

Reference

Cite as: “Account with John Barker Church, [15 June 1797],” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-21-02-0067. [Original source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 21, April 1797 – July 1798, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1974, pp. 109–112.]