To James Madison from George W. Spotswood, 17 February 1823
From George W. Spotswood
17th. Feby. 1823
Dear Sir,
The Legislature of Va. having appropriated a sum of money to be applied to the finishing of the University, I presume that Institution will be in operation the next year. I will take the liberty, of again, soliciting your Friendly influence in my behalf, in obtaining a Stewartship, and if the request should not be considered unreasonable, I beg your goodness, in naming the subject to Mr. Jefferson. I have been induced to make this early application, as I have reason to believe, there are others, who have in contemplation becoming candidates for a like situation in the College, and hope, Sir, you will pardon me for being thus troublesome, and will only plead as an appology, the anxiety of a parent, whose slender fortune, will not enable him to give, Six Sons (in his present situation) such an Education as he could wish; should there be an appointment of a head Stewart, I should wish to be considered a Candidate for the Office, & should spare no exertions to give general satisfaction, should I succeed in obtaing the situation. I am Sir, very Respectfully, yr. Obd. Servt.
Geo. W. Spottswood1
RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.
1. George Washington Spotswood (d. 1844) of Orange County, Virginia, was commissioned a midshipman in the U.S. Navy in 1799 and dismissed in 1803. He served as a lieutenant in the Virginia militia during the War of 1812. His request for a position at the University of Virginia was eventually answered and he spent the years 1825 to 1829 as a hotel-keeper there. He left Charlottesville and settled first in Charleston, then Kanawha County, Virginia (now West Virginia). About 1836 Spotswood moved to Springfield, Illinois, where he owned various businesses, including a hotel and a tavern. He was appointed postmaster of Springfield in 1841 (Nathaniel B. Curran, “General Isaac B. Curran: Gregarious Jeweler,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 71 [1978], 273–74; , 515; Scott, History of Orange County, 244; Bruce, History of the University of Virginia, 2:222–24; Spotswood to JM, 4 July 1829, ViU: Madison Papers, Special Collections; JM to Spotswood, 21 June 1831, and Spotswood to JM, 11 Nov. 1833, DLC).