Enclosure: David Ross to William Claiborne, 6 December 1796
Enclosure
David Ross to William Claiborne
Richmond 6th December 1796
Sir
Since my return from the Tenassee State I have been continually in motion and very little at this place—this & this only has prevented me from calling upon you—not as a mere matter of compliment, but to communicate to you the most gratefull information which a Father can receive—to hear that his children are rising to respect & fortune—this happiness you enjoy in both your sons in the western Country Nathl & William but ’tis the latter with whom I am best acquainted—indeed I may say pretty well acquainted with his progress in life from his first going into that Country till this time1—but when I was last in that Country I was particularly gratiffied—I found Your son greatly improved by his own good sense and application, I believe he’s as free from vice as any man of his age—he is intirely free from the two prevailing & ruinous vices drinking & gaming—he has the best practice of any man at the Bar and he’s as much respected as any practioner in that Country, ’tis manifest that no man possesses the confidence of the people of all ranks in that Country more than your son, he might with great ease been elected a member of Congress, but his friends advised him ’twould be injurious to his practice2—Whilst I was upon Holston3 your son communicated to me that a Fedral Judge would soon be appointed for that State, and that he had an inclination to fill that office although not so lucrative as his practice it would be less fatiguing & afford more time for study—I am sure there is no man who can be appointed in that Country who would be more agreable to the people at large, and I am very sure he would discharge his duty with integrity & ability—I promised to mention the matter to you and I have to request that you may apply to such of your friends as can serve him without loss of time—If you think I can be usefull to him I give you liberty to refer any gentleman to me who may want information concerning him—The greatest proportion of my Landed property is in that State, and I have a common interest with the rest of the society that those important Offices should be filld with men of honesty, firmness & talents. I am Sir Your hume Servant
David Ross
P.S. I had almost forgot to inform you that since I left the Tenassee which was the first of last September there happened a vacancy of a Judge for the Superior Courts in the State, to which Office your son is appointed—but I know tis his wish to obtain the Office of Fedral Judge.4
D.R.
ALS, DLC:GW. Ross addressed the letter to Claiborne at Manchester, Virginia. For other recommendations for William Charles Cole Claiborne, see William Fleming to GW, 10 December.
David Ross (c.1737–1817) was a merchant, significant landowner and investor, and proprietor of several ironworks. He represented Fluvanna County in the Virginia legislature in 1782 and 1783, and after the Revolutionary War, he operated the Oxford Iron Works on the James River. By the early 1790s, he had established an ironworks on the north fork of the Holston River, in what is now Hawkins County, Tennessee. Products from that establishment were shipped as far as New Orleans.
William Claiborne (1748–1809), the father of William Charles Cole Claiborne, was born in King William County, Va., and later resided in Richmond and then Manchester, Virginia.
1. Ross refers to William’s sons, William Charles Cole and Nathaniel Herbert Claiborne. William Charles Cole had been working in the Tennessee territory since 1794, and was currently a judge in that state (see Joseph Anderson to GW, 2 Nov.; see also William Fleming to GW, 10 Dec.).
Nathaniel Herbert Claiborne (1777–1859) received his education at the Richmond Academy and later moved to Franklin County, which he represented in the Virginia House of Delegates (1810–12) and in the state Senate (1821–25). Claiborne served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1825 to 1837.
2. William Charles Cole (C. C.) Claiborne took his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in November 1797.
3. Holston, Tenn., named for explorer Stephen Holston, is located in Sullivan County, about one mile from the south fork of the Holston River (see Larry L. Miller, Tennessee Place Names [Bloomington and Indianapolis, Ind., 2001], 102).
4. William C. C. Claiborne recently had replaced Willie Blount, the half brother of former Southwest Territory governor William Blount, as one of the justices of the Tennessee superior court. Willie had been appointed to that post in April 1796 but resigned the following fall. The North-Carolina Journal (Halifax) for 28 Nov. 1796 reported the Tennessee legislature’s appointment of Claiborne to the “superior court of law and equity” (see also 12–13). Claiborne did not receive the appointment as federal district judge; GW instead nominated John McNairy to the post (see Fleming to GW, 10 Dec.; see also GW to the U.S. Senate, 17 Feb. 1797).