To Thomas Jefferson from Christopher Ellery and Nehemiah Knight, 14 December 1803
From Christopher Ellery and Nehemiah Knight
Washington Decr. 14th. 1803—
C. Ellery & N. Knight present their highest respects to the President of the United States—
And beg to be permitted to observe, that having perused a letter of this date from General Stanton to the President, recommending Peleg S. Thompson for the place of surveyor, they find no difficulty in joining in the recommendation; convinced from the circumstance of his having been brought up under the immediate care of General Stanton, that his acquirements and character must be well known to the General, and that the representation made is perfectly just.
Christ. Ellery
N. Knight
RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR); in Ellery’s hand, signed by both; at foot of text: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ “Thompson Peleg S. to be Surveyor N. Orleans” and so recorded in SJL as received 14 Dec., joined by a brace with Joseph Stanton, Jr., and Samuel J. Potter to TJ, 14 Dec.
Nehemiah Knight (1746-1808), a native of Cranston, Rhode Island, who long served as its town clerk, was elected to the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1783 and 1787 and served in Congress as a Republican representative from March 1803 until his death in June 1808 (; Providence Columbian Phenix, 18 June 1808).