To Benjamin Franklin from James Parker, 16 December 1769: résumé
From James Parker
ALS: American Philosophical Society
[New York, December 16, 1769. Crept back from Woodbridge two days ago, in order to send by packet anything of interest. Mr. Colden has applied for a bill for £200, which was promised him today; but he was disappointed because Mr. Watts, who signs the bills together with Mr. McEvers, was out of town.3 Will send the bill by Captain Davis, eight or ten days hence; will also send a new power of attorney, witnessed by Davis,4 so that Franklin can get Parker’s wages and reimburse himself for whatever he has paid or may pay on the other’s account. Weather is bad. Continues to creep about but thinks he grows stronger. Has received nothing of consequence on the Post Office accounts since he last wrote.]
3. Colden wrote Parker a note of explanation, dated Thursday (i.e., Dec. 14) and saying that he expected the bill the next day. Franklin Papers, APS. Mr. Watts was unquestionably John Watts (1715–89), one of the wealthiest landed proprietors of the province, for many years a representative of New York City in the Assembly, and subsequently a member of the Provincial Council; he had in the past had numerous business dealings with Parker. James G. Wilson and John Fiske, eds., Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography … (rev. ed., 7 vols., New York, 1899–1900), VI, 395; Letter Book of John Watts, Merchant and Councillor of New York, January 1, 1762–December 22, 1765, N.-Y. Hist. Soc. Collections, LXI (New York, 1928), 256–7, 269, 272. Mr. McEvers was in all probability Charles McEvers (1739?–1808), who succeeded to his brother’s importing business on the latter’s death in 1768. See John A. Stevens, ed., Colonial Records of the New York Chamber of Commerce, 1768–1784 (New York, 1867), pt. 2, p. 149.
4. Benjamin Davies, the master of the Hope, for whom see Parker to BF above, July 22. Davies sailed for London on Dec. 24: Gaine’s N.-Y. Gaz., Dec. 25, 1769.