6651[Diary entry: 1 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
Jany. 1st. Neck People clearing a piece of ground which was begun the 23d. of Decr. Doeg Run People working in the Swamp which they began to clear this Fall. Muddy hole People (except two threshing) clearing the Skirt of woods within the fence 4 Men & 2 Women from Doeg Run assisting. Mill People also clearing.
6652[Diary entry: 2 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
2. Surveying some Lines of my Mt. Vernon Tract of Land. The Mount Vernon tract was the original Washington family land on Little Hunting Creek, being part of a grant for 5,000 acres between Little Hunting and Dogue creeks that the proprietors of the Northern Neck had made 1 Mar. 1674 to Col. Nicholas Spencer (d. 1689) of Albany, Westmoreland County, and GW’s great-grandfather, Lt. Col. John...
6653[Diary entry: 2 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
2. Moderate. Wind Southwardly. Thawing a little.
6654[Diary entry: 3 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
3. At Home with Doctr. Rumney. Dr. William Rumney (d. 1783), who was born and trained in England, served as a surgeon with the British army in the French and Indian War and settled in Alexandria in 1763.
6655[Diary entry: 3 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
3. Rain, with the Wind at So. West. Gd. still hard froze, except the Top of it.
6656King’s Petition to the General Court: 4 January 1768 (Adams Papers)
Province of the Massachusetts Bay To His Excellency the Governor The Hon orab le His Majestys Council and the Honle. House of Reprisentitives in General Court Assembled Humbly Shews Richard King of Scarborough in the County of Cumberland in Said Province Gentleman That in the Night of the 19th of March AD 1766. a Number of Persons in Disguise with axes Clubbs &c. Broak the windows of the...
6657[Diary entry: 4 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
4. Rid to Muddy hole, D. Run, & Mill Plantns.
6658[Diary entry: 4 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
4. Foggy & Warm. Mid day clear. Frost still in the Earth. Calm.
6659Causes of the American Discontents before 1768, 5–7 January 1768 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The London Chronicle , January 5–7, 1768. Verner W. Crane has called this essay “perhaps the most famous contribution by Franklin, after the Examination , to the propaganda of the American Revolution.” The colonial reaction to the Townshend Acts, particularly in Massachusetts, was provoking such anger in England that Franklin felt the need to explain the American position. He first...
6660[Diary entry: 5 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
5. Went into the Neck.
6661[Diary entry: 5 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
5. Very thick & Foggy in the Morning. Wind afterwards at No. Et. and Rain all day the Wind shifting southwardly.
6662On Railing and Reviling, 6 January 1768 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser , January 8, 1768; autograph draft in the American Philosophical Society. On January 5, 1768, the Gazetteer published an intemperate attack on the Boston nonimportation resolutions and on the American attitude in general, signed “ Old England .” The next day Franklin dashed off a reply, written on the back of a notice he had just received of a...
6663To Benjamin Franklin from John Winthrop, 6 January 1768 (Franklin Papers)
Printed from extract in Benjamin Franklin, Experiments and Observations on Electricity, Made at Philadelphia in America … (London, 1769), p. 485. I have read in the Philosophical Transactions the account of the effects of lightning on St. Bride’s steeple. ’Tis amazing to me, that after the full demonstration you had given, of the identity of lightning and of electricity, and the power of...
6664[Diary entry: 6 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
6. Rid to Doeg Run and the Mill before Dinner. Mr. B. Fairfax and Mr. Robt. Alexander here.
6665[Diary entry: 6 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
6. Warm, clear, & pleasant, in the Morng. Wind high from No. Wt. & cool afterwards.
6666[Diary entry: 6 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
6. Doeg Run People finishd grubbing the Swamp they were in and proceeded to another adjacent.
6667[Diary entry: 7 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
7. Fox hunting with the above two Gentn. and Captn. Posey. Started but catchd nothing.
6668[Diary entry: 7 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
7. Clear and frosty. Wind brisk from No. W.
6669[Diary entry: 8 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
8. Hunting again in the same Compy. Started a Fox and run him 4 hours. Took the Hounds off at Night.
6670[Diary entry: 8 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
8. Clear, frost, & still.
6671From Benjamin Franklin to William Franklin, 9 January 1768 (Franklin Papers)
Reprinted from William Temple Franklin, ed., Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin, LL.D., F.R.S., &c. (quarto edition, 3 vols., London, 1817–18), II , 151. We have had so many alarms of changes which did not take place, that just when I wrote it was thought the ministry would stand their ground. However immediately after the talk was renewed, and it soon appeared the Sunday...
6672From Benjamin Franklin to Joseph Galloway, 9 January 1768 (Franklin Papers)
Reprinted from William Temple Franklin, ed., Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin, LL.D., F.R.S., &c. (quarto edition, 3 vols., London, 1817–18), II , 152. I wrote to you via Boston and have little to add except to acquaint you that some changes have taken place since my last, which have not the most promising aspect for America, several of the Bedford party being come into...
6673[Diary entry: 9 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
9. At Home with Mr. B. Fairfax.
6674[Diary entry: 9 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
9. Cloudy, with Misty forenoon & constt. Rain afterwards. Wind Southwardly.
6675[Diary entry: 10 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
10. At Home alone.
6676[Diary entry: 10 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
10. Weather clear. Wind Southwardly, yet raw and Cold. Hard frost.
6677[Diary entry: 11 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
11. Running some Lines between me and Mr. Willm. Triplet. Triplett’s land bordered on part of GW’s Dogue Run farm (see main entry for 17 Mar. 1770 ).
6678[Diary entry: 11 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
11. Clear with the Wind at West. Evening very cold & Wind Northwardly. Severe Frost. River froze across.
6679[Diary entry: 12 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
12. Attempted to go into the Neck on the Ice but it wd. not bear. In the Evening Mr. Chs. Dick Mr. Muse & my Brother Charles came here. Charles Dick (b. 1715), of Caroline and Spotsylvania counties, supplied GW’s troops in 1754–55 as a Virginia commissary for the British forces. By 1768 Dick’s mercantile business was centered in Fredericksburg. George Muse of Caroline County, married Elizabeth...
6680[Diary entry: 12 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
12. Wind at No. West and exceeding cold and frosty.
6681[Diary entry: 12 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
12. Threshing Wheat at all Plantations Ground being too hard froze to Grub to any advantage.
6682On the New Office of Secretary of State for the Colonies, 13 January 1768 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser , January 21, 1768. On January 12, 1768, the Gazetteer published an attack on the newly created Secretaryship of State for the American Colonies signed by “ Old England ,” the correspondent whom Franklin had recently rebuked for his intemperateness. The rebuke had had no effect: the effusion was as strongly worded as the previous one, and more...
6683[Diary entry: 13 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
13. At Home with them—Col. Fairfax, Lady, &[ca.]
6684[Diary entry: 13 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
13. More moderate, and yet very cold, with a little Snow in the Morng. and Eveng. clear.
6685[Diary entry: 14 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
14. Ditto—Do. Colo. Fx. & famy. went home in the Evening.
6686[Diary entry: 14 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
14. Clear and pleast. Wind at South River still froze.
6687[Diary entry: 15 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
15. At Home with the above Gentlemen and Shooting together.
6688[Diary entry: 15 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
15. Clear and pleasant. Wind Southwardly. Thawd a good deal.
6689[Diary entry: 16 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
16. At home all day at Cards—it snowing. GW lost 3s. 6d. in playing cards with his friends ( General Ledger A General Ledger A, 1750–1772. Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, Series 5, Financial Papers. , folio 269).
6690[Diary entry: 16 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
16. Constant Snow the whole day from the Northward.
6691[Diary entry: 16 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
16. Finishd my Smiths Shop—that is the Carpenters work of it.
6692[Diary entry: 17 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
17. At Home with Mr. Dick &ca.
6693[Diary entry: 17 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
17. Clear and pleasant. Wind So. West and West. Hard frost.
6694To Benjamin Franklin from Eleanor Morris, 18 January 1768 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I make bold hoping you will Excuse me my Cousins joyning me once more to Congratulate you on that Happy Day which we kept very joyfully for we had a Plumpuding for Dinner and the Children and we Drank your Health in tea in the Afternoon which Happy Day I may never live to see again but hope God will be Pleased to Continue Health and Happiness to your Self...
6695[Diary entry: 18 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
18. Went to Court & sold Colo. Colvils Ld. Returnd again at Night. As an executor for Thomas Colvill’s estate, GW signed an advertisement in Rind’s Virginia Gazette (24 Dec. 1767) announcing that “upwards of six hundred acres of valuable land . . . will be sold to the highest bidder, at the court-house of Fairfax county, on the 3d Monday in next month (being court day).” The high bidder was...
6696[Diary entry: 18 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
18. Still & cloudy. Very like to Snow but broke away abt. Sun Set. Cold.
6697[Diary entry: 18 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
18. Carpenters went to Saw Plank at Doeg Run for finishing the Barn there. Will put new girders into my Mill where they had Sunk.
6698Pennsylvania Assembly Committee of Correspondence to Richard Jackson and Benjamin Franklin, 19 January 1768 (Franklin Papers)
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives of the Province of Pennsylvania, Met at Philadelphia, on the 14th of October, A.D. 1767, and Continued by Adjournments (Philadelphia, 1768), pp. 31–2. By Order of the House we inclose you Copies of a Letter from his Excellency General Gage, a Message from the Governor to the Assembly, and their Answer, and the Examination of...
6699[Diary entry: 19 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
19. Went to Belvoir with Mr. Dick, my Bror. &ca.
6700[Diary entry: 19 January 1768] (Washington Papers)
19. Clear and pleast. Morning. Afternoon Raw & cold.