John Canon to George Washington, 23 November 1794
From John Canon
Canonsburgh [Pa.] November th. 23—1794
Dear sir
I expect By this Time you have Received the balance of My Bond.1 and had it not been for the Present Troubles Which For Various Raisons such as mistake Bad Council and dread of my own safety both in person and Property I Have been led fare Astray To my grate mortifycation, I should have sent you a Considerable sum more, but your buisness so fare as it has been in my Hands shall be fairly Conducted, and the balances out standing deliverd into Mr Morgans Hands as soon as the[y] Can be Aranged which would been before now only for the raisons mentioned,2 I am happy you have got so good a Man to Attend to it who has more Time and Leasure to do the buisness then my self, I shall give him evry Assistance in My power, your Rents Would Not been so long in my Hands only for sending Flour to Orliens About Two years Agoe. About one Half of which Come out of your rents by which I lost About Two Hundred pounds. I Thought it hard to sell my property to make it up Nwithstanding I Knew I was bound, and not Expecting you needed the mony this I Explaned to Mr Leer when I gave the Bond I am grate sir yours
John Canon
ALS, DLC:GW. The cover indicates that this letter was carried by “Craig Ritchie Esqr.”
1. Canon’s bond engaged him to pay the balance of the money he had collected for rentals of GW’s Pennsylvania lands (see Tobias Lear to GW, 3 April 1793, and notes 3 and 4. GW’s ledgers record the receipt of the outstanding balance of £103.11.8 Virginia currency from Canon on 24 Oct. 1794 (, 11); this was likely the date of Canon’s payment to GW’s agent James Ross. GW’s cash memorandum book records at 27 Dec. 1794 the receipt of £129.9.6 Pennsylvania currency, “Cash recd from the Hon. Jas Ross Bal[anc]e in full Jno. Cannon’s Bond” (Cash Memoranda, 29 Sept. 1794–17 Aug. 1797, RPJCB).
2. Charles Morgan was replacing Canon as GW’s rent collector (see GW to Presley Nevill, 16 June, and notes 2 and 3).