To Thomas Jefferson from William Poole, Cyrus Newlin, and Robert Newlin, 8 October 1804
From William Poole, Cyrus Newlin, and Robert Newlin
B Wine Mills 10 Mo. 8. 1804.
Respected Friend,
James Brobson, a native and respectable citizen of this Town, desirous of obtaining the Office of Collector of the Port of Wilmington, should a removal of the present officer take place—We (at his request) express our opinion, that his mercantile habits—steady attention to business, and reputable connections, would prove a guaranty for his performance of the duties thereof with fidelity.—
With much respect &ce
Wm Poole
Cyrus Newlin
Robert Newlin
RC (DLC); at head of text: “To Thomas Jefferson President of the United States.” Probably enclosed in James Brobson to TJ, 7 Nov.
William Poole (ca. 1764-1829) and Cyrus Newlin (1747-1824) were millers and early members of the Abolition Society of Wilmington, Delaware. Poole’s mill was one of those along Brandywine Creek. Newlin owned a mill in Fishkill, New York, that his son, Robert Newlin (1770-1840), operated (J. M. Runk & Co., Biographical and Genealogical History of the State of Delaware, 2 vols. [Chambersburg, Pa., 1899], 1:434; Anna T. Lincoln, Wilmington, Delaware: Three Centuries under Four Flags 1609-1937 [Rutland, Vt., 1937], 131, 148; Frank Hasbrouck, ed., The History of Dutchess County, New York [Poughkeepsie, 1909], 319-20; Tunis Garrett Bergen, ed., Genealogies of the State of New York: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation, 3 vols. [New York, 1915], 2:749; Wilmington Delaware Register, 30 May 1829).
On earlier calls for the removal of Allen McLane as collector at Wilmington, see Vol. 37:542-4.