To Thomas Jefferson from Elisha Jenkins, 4 June 1802
From Elisha Jenkins
Albany 4 June 1802
Sir
At the request of Mr Elkanah Watson of this City, I take the liberty to address you, upon the subject of an application he is about to make to the Government, in favor of Mr Simon Lynch, who he is desirous should be appointed to fill the Consulate of Nantes,—I have no personal knowledge of Mr Lynch but I am persuaded, from a long acquaintance with Mr. Watson, who was at the head of a respectable commercial establishment at Nantes, during the 2 or 3 last years of the American war, that he would recommend no Gentleman, for that station, but one in every respect competent in point of talents, and respectable, for charactar—
With due respect and consideration I am Sir, Your Obedt. Hble Serv.
Elisha Jenkins
RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR); at foot of text: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 10 June and “in favr. Watson who recommends Lynch as Consul at Nantes” and so recorded in SJL.
Elisha Jenkins (ca. 1769–1848) was comptroller of the state of New York, from 1801 to 1806. In 1783–4, his father, Thomas Jenkins, created a proprietary association of merchants and whalers from Nantucket, Providence, and other New England ports to found the community of Hudson, New York. Elisha Jenkins engaged in a variety of business activities, including commerce, finance, shipping, and real estate, initially as a member of his father’s firm in Hudson and later in Albany. He was the secretary of state of New York from 1806 to 1809 and mayor of Albany from 1816 to 1819 (Nantucket Inquirer, 26 May 1848; George Rogers Howell and Jonathan Tenney, Bi-Centennial History of Albany. History of the County of Albany, N.Y., from 1609 to 1886 [New York, 1886], 662; Stephen B. Miller, Historical Sketches of Hudson [Hudson, N.Y., 1862], 6–8; , 15:665–6; 26:96–7, 98n; Hudson Gazette, 15 May 1794, 3 Mch. 1801; Albany Register, 20 Nov. 1797; Hudson Bee, 27 May 1806; Albany Gazette, 25 Sep. 1806).