To George Washington from Nathaniel Keais, 1 January 1790
From Nathaniel Keais
Washington No. Carolina Jany 1st 1790
Sir
the Subject of this Letter is to Inform your Excellency that I now hold the Office of Collector of the Impost for the Port of Bath—by an Appointment from this State.
(Should there be no Weighty Reasons Offered to you Against it) I shall Esteem it as a Perticular Favour to be Reinstated in that Office under Congress. I am with the Greatest Respect Your Excellencys Obt Servant
Nathn. Keais
ALS, DLC:GW.
Nathaniel Keais (1740–1795) served as a captain in the 2d North Carolina Regiment from 1775 to 1778, as a member of the North Carolina general assembly in 1777, and as a justice for Beaufort County from 1784 to 1786. From 1784 to 1790 he was state collector of customs at Bath. As a member of the North Carolina Ratifying Convention, Keais voted for ratification of the Constitution. When GW made his appointments for port officers for North Carolina on 9 Feb. 1790, Keais was named collector for Washington (his letter to GW of 5 Feb. 1790.
, 2:58). Keais was recommended by Hugh Williamson in