From George Washington to Robert Lewis, 16 March 1794
To Robert Lewis
Philadelphia 16th March 1794.
Dear Sir
You have not informed me yet, in what condition, or under what circumstances you found my lots in the Towns of Winchester and Bath—and my land above the latter: or whether you have visited all, or any of them since I see you last.1
I wish also to be informed how your collection stands, that I may direct the application of the money: and request you will furnish me with a correct list of all my tenants entrusted to you—the amount of their Rents—and arrearages of them, if any, that I may have a more precise knowledge of this business than I am possessed of at present.2
I request you to have copies taken of the enclosed advertisement & set up at a few of the most public places in the part of the Country where you live; among these let Leesburgh & Fauquier Court Ho. be two of them.3
Mr Prescoat (unless he has paid lately, which I believe is not the case) owes for last year, & for a considerable length of Pasturage. Whether he had more than one Mare to the Jack, or not, I am unable to say; I presume he can tell; receive the money, & place it among your other collections—drawing a Commission thereon.4 Your Aunt and the family (who are all well) join me in best wishes, for you & Mrs Lewis, and I am—Dear Sir Your sincere friend and Affectionate Uncle
Go: Washington
ALS (letterpress copy), ViMtvL; LB, DLC:GW.
1. On GW’s two lots in Winchester, Va., the two lots in Bath, Va., (Berkeley Springs, W.Va.), and the lands owned in Berkeley County, Va. (now W.Va.), see the Schedule of Property enclosed in GW’s Last Will and Testament, 9 July 1799, and notes (, 4:512–27). Lewis probably met with his uncle when GW was in residence at Mount Vernon from 14 Sept. until 28 Oct. 1793 (, 239, 241). In his letter to GW of 5 Feb. 1794, Lewis promised to write “more fully & respecting to your business.”
2. For Lewis’s response to GW’s request for information, see his letter to GW of 7 May (ViMtvL).
3. The enclosure advertised the stud services of GW’s horse Traveller and his jacks Knight of Malta and Compound. For a published text of this advertisement, see n.1 of Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., to Angell & Sullivan and Samuel Hanson of 26 February. Lewis lived with his wife, Judith Walker Browne Lewis, at The Exchange, his estate in Fauquier County, Virginia.
4. In his letter to GW of 7 May, Lewis wrote that “Mr Prescoat has not paid me for the season of his Mare to your Jack, nor for the pasturage; but promises it shall be done in a short time.” Mr. Prescoat (Prescott) has not been identified.