RC and enclosure (DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1801–9, filed under “Kerr”). RC 1 p.; undated; docketed by Jefferson, “to be a Justice for Columbia.” The enclosed 10 Oct. letter from Gabriel Duvall to Kerr (3 pp.) expressed his willingness to write a general recommendation but declined addressing one to Jefferson on the grounds that his acquaintance with the president was too slight. Kerr, who was the brother-in-law of Washington postmaster Thomas Munroe, had been asking JM for an appointment for several months (Worthington C. Ford, ed., “Diary of Mrs. William Thornton, 1800–1863,” Records of the Columbia Historical Society, 10 [1907]: 124; PJM-PS description begins Robert A. Rutland et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Presidential Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1984—). description ends , 1:187 n. 1; PJM-SS description begins Robert J. Brugger et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Secretary of State Series (2 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1986—). description ends , 1:17–18, 69–70, 220).