Thomas Jefferson Papers

From Thomas Jefferson to John Gassaway, 12 March 1805

To John Gassaway

Washington Mar. 12. 05.

Sir

I have recieved a letter, which I presume I may consider as coming from yourself, proposing that your son, of 4. years old only may recieve the appointment of a Midshipman. after acknoleging my sense of the kind disposition manifested in the name given him, it is my duty to observe that the earliest period at which midshipmen are recieved is about 10. years of age, when they have learned to read, write, and the first rudiments of arithmetic. until that period therefore nothing of this kind can be done. Accept my salutations and respects.

Th: Jefferson

PoC (DLC); at foot of text: “Colo. Gassaway”; endorsed by TJ.

recieved a letter: Thomas Jefferson Gassaway to TJ, 4 Mch.

John Gassaway (1754-1820) of Annapolis served as a lieutenant and captain in Maryland regiments during the American Revolution. After the war he was appointed as the register of wills for Anne Arundel County. Though he entertained hopes of taking a position in the Provisional Army of 1798 and was noted by Alexander Hamilton for his “uprightness & attachment to Government,” by 1801 he was recommended to TJ as “unchangeably attach’d to Republican principles” (DNA: RG 15; Washington, Papers, Pres. Ser. description begins W. W. Abbot, Dorothy Twohig, Philander D. Chase, Theodore J. Crackel, Edward C. Lengel, and others, eds., The Papers of George Washington, Charlottesville, 1983- , 68 vols.; Pres. Ser., 1987- , 20 vols.; Ret. Ser., 1998-99, 4 vols.; Rev. War Ser., 1985- , 28 vols. description ends , 16:99-100; “Gassaway Bible Records,” Genealogy: A Weekly Journal of American Ancestry, 6 [New York, 1916], 101-2; Washington, Papers, Ret. Ser. description begins W. W. Abbot, Dorothy Twohig, Philander D. Chase, Theodore J. Crackel, Edward C. Lengel, and others, eds., The Papers of George Washington, Charlottesville, 1983- , 68 vols.; Pres. Ser., 1987- , 20 vols.; Ret. Ser., 1998-99, 4 vols.; Rev. War Ser., 1985- , 28 vols. description ends , 2:566; Syrett, Hamilton description begins Harold C. Syrett and others, eds., The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, New York, 1961-87, 27 vols. description ends , 22:291; Baltimore Patriot & Mercantile Advertiser, 28 June 1820; Vol. 33:217-19).

Index Entries

    You Are Looking At

    Source Project
    Jefferson Papers
    Title
    From Thomas Jefferson to John Gassaway, 12 March 1805
    Author
    Jefferson, Thomas
    Recipient
    Gassaway, John
    Date
    12 March 1805

    Reference

    Cite as
    “From Thomas Jefferson to John Gassaway, 12 March 1805,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-46-02-0040. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 46, 9 March to 5 July 1805, ed. James P. McClure et al. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2022, p. 36.]

    More between these correspondents