To Thomas Jefferson from Benjamin Harwood, 28 September 1804
From Benjamin Harwood
Annapolis September 28h: 1804.
Sir
I have the honor to inform you, that I have received an Appointment from the Executive of this State, which precludes me from holding an Office under the Government of the United States. You will therefore be pleased to consider this communication as my resignation of the Office as Commissioner of Loans for the United States in the State of Maryland from and after the 30th. instant. Permit me Sir to mention Mr. Henry Hall Harwood as a person well qualified to conduct and execute the duties of that Office, He is a Gentleman conversant in that business having acted in my Office for a number of Years, and who I can, with confidence recommend as a Man of probity and attention to business.
I have the honor to be With perfect respect Sir, Your Obt Servant
B. Harwood
RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR); at foot of text: “The President of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 1 Oct. and “resigns as Commr. loans Maryld.—Harwood Henry H. to be appd” and so recorded in SJL.
Annapolis merchant Benjamin Harwood (1751-1826) became Maryland’s receiver of Continental taxes in 1780 and in 1792 received the appointment of commissioner of loans following the resignation of older brother Thomas Harwood. In 1804 he succeeded his brother again, this time as treasurer of the western shore of Maryland, a position he held until his death. Harwood was for many years a treasurer of St. John’s College (Eugenia Calvert Holland and Louisa Macgill Gary, “Miniatures in the Collection of the Maryland Historical Society,” Maryland Historical Magazine, 51 [1956], 348; , Pres. Ser., 4:455-6; , 1:126; Annapolis Maryland Gazette, 27 Sep., 4 Oct., 2 Feb. 1826; St. John’s College, Register of the Graduates and Alumni of St. John’s College at Annapolis, Maryland [Baltimore, 1908], 22).