Adams Papers

From Elizabeth Mayhew Wainwright to John Adams, [ca. 14 May 1793]

From Elizabeth Mayhew Wainwright

[ca. 14 May 1793]1

Give me leave sir to bring myself to your rememberance by soliciting your notice of the reverend Mr Toulmin the Son of a respectable dissenting minister of that name who is in persuit of such information—respecting America as may make him useful to a number of persons who wish to find an assylum in that country.2 His character is such as may make him a valuable acquisition Yours such as induces me to take this liberty and is the ground of my hope that this gentleman may be aided in his laudable design.

Be so good as to present my respectful & affectionate regards to Mrs Adams & Mrs. Smith who with yourself and sons I hope enjoy good health and every other blessing.

I am Sir with much respect and as / an American your highly obliged

Elizabeth Wainwright

RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Elizabeth Wainright.” Filmed at [Jan. 1790].

1The dating of this letter is based on a similar recommendation for Harry Toulmin sent to James Madison, as well as the date that he departed England (Madison, Papers, Congressional Series description begins The Papers of James Madison: Congressional Series, ed. William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, and Robert Allen Rutland, Chicago, 1962–1991; 17 vols. description ends , 15:5–6).

2Elizabeth Mayhew Wainwright (1759–1829), of Boston, and her husband, Peter, a merchant, moved to Liverpool, England, after their marriage on 5 June 1790. Harry Toulmin (1766–1823), a Baptist minister then living in Lancashire, England, was the son of Joshua and Jane Smith Toulmin, of Taunton, Mass. The clergyman immigrated to Norfolk, Va., in 1793 (vol. 12:90; AFC description begins Adams Family Correspondence, ed. L. H. Butterfield, Marc Friedlaender, Richard Alan Ryerson, Margaret A. Hogan, Sara Martin, Hobson Woodward, and others, Cambridge, 1963– . description ends , 9:61; Sibley’s Harvard Graduates description begins John Langdon Sibley, Clifford K. Shipton, Conrad Edick Wright, Edward W. Hanson, and others, Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Boston, 1873– . description ends , 15:117–118; ANB description begins John A. Garraty, Mark C. Carnes, and Paul Betz, eds., American National Biography, New York, 1999–2002; 24 vols. plus supplement; rev. edn., www.anb.org. description ends ).

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