To James Madison from Edmund Custis, 1 November 1804 (Abstract)
§ From Edmund Custis
1 November 1804, Baltimore. “On hearing of the death of Mr. Triest, late Collector of the port of N: Orleans,1 am Induced to Solicit that appointment I shall therefore be extreamly Oblig’d by your friendly Interest on the Occasion & be assured Sir, the appointment will never be disgraced through my Conduct, & shd. I be fortunate in my application, Will produce the Most unquestionable Credentials. I flatter myself you may recollect me, having formerly had the Hono⟨r⟩ of a Seat, Several years in the Legislature of Virginia, as also the Convention of which you were a Member,2 I have been a resident of Baltimore abt. Seven Years & have been unfortunate.”
RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1801–9, filed under “Curtis” [sic]). 1 p.; damaged at margin. Beginning parentheses used by Custis without ending parentheses have been omitted.
1. For the death of Hore Browse Trist, see William Herries to JM, 27 Sept. 1804, and n. 3.
2. Custis was a delegate from Accomack County to the Virginia General Assembly in the October 1787–January 1788, June 1788, October–December 1788, and October–December 1789 sessions; he also served with JM in the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788 (Leonard, General Assembly of Virginia, 164, 168, 172, 175; The Virginia Convention, 2–27 June 1788, , 11:72–76).