To Thomas Jefferson from John Christ, 28 June 1801
From John Christ
Reading June 28th. 1801
Honored Sir,
Having applied for the Office of Inspector of the Survey, composed of the Counties of Berks Northumberland & of other Counties in the State of Pennsyla. now held by a Mr. Boyd, and my application, together with the letters of Recomendation of Thomas Mc.Kean, the Governor of this State & of Genl. Peter Muhlenberg in my favour being filed with the Secretary of the Treasury, I take the liberty to refer your Excellency in this way, to my application & to my Recommendations—I am entirely unacquainted & uninformed as to the manner of Applying to the President of the United States, for an Appointment, & must therefore beg to be pardoned, if I have now deviated from the usual mode of applying—I forbear troubling your Excellency any further at present, because I flatter myself, that the Letters of Recommendation & other papers, which may perhaps yet be sent, will Render any thing further unecessary—
I am, Sir, with the greatest Respect—Your very humble Servant
John Christ
RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR, 12:160–1); at foot of text: “Thomas Jefferson Esqr. President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received from John “Chim” on 3 July and “to be Inspector of survey of Berks &c ” and so recorded in SJL with the additional notation “T”; with note by Gallatin on verso: “Joseph Heister & many other respectable republicans in Berks object to his appointment. But it is hoped that the office will be abolished. A.G.”
John Christ, of Reading, Pennsylvania, represented Berks County for several terms in the Pennsylvania Assembly during the 1790s. He also served as sheriff of the county for many years (, 5:158; Journal of the Fifth House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania [Philadelphia, 1795], 4; Journal of the First Session of the Sixth House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania [Philadelphia, 1795, i.e. 1796], 4).
Thomas McKean’s letter of introduction filed with the secretary of the treasury indicated that the governor knew Henry Christ, “a zealous promoter of the American revolution,” better than he knew his son John. McKean recommended John Christ as “a good Whig and a deserving Gentleman.” On 22 June, Berks County Republicans Peter Frailey, Joseph Hiester, and Peter Filbert wrote Gallatin, warning that the appointment of Christ would mortify “the President’s republican friends.” They requested that the Treasury secretary use his influence with the president to prevent the appointment (, 5:158, 224).