GEORGE WASHINGTON, CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY THE BANK OF ENGLAND STOCK-THE BANK OF THE UNITED STATES By Eugene E. Prussing Of the Chicago .Bar [SECOND PAPER J HE marriage of Washington Custis, properly, as I am told, authen- and the Widow Custis took ticated. You will, therefore, for the fu- place January 6, r759, at ture please to address all your letters, her residence, the Whi te which relate to the affairs of the Jate House, in New Kent. The Daniel Parke Custis, to me, as by mar- great house with its six riage, I am en titled to a third part of chimney.s, betokening the wealth of its that estate, and am invested likewise with owner, IS no more--the record of the the care of the other two thirds by a de- marriage is lost-and even its exact date cree of our General Court, which I ob- rests on the casual remark of Washington tained in order to strengthen the power said to have been made to Franklin's I before had in consequence of my wife's daughter on its anniversary in 1790, administration. Franklin's birthday. I have many letters of yours in my The honeymoon was spent in visiting possession unanswered; but at present in various great houses in the neighbor- this serves only to advise you of the above hood. Besides a call at Fredericksburg, change, and at the same time to. acquaint where Mother Washington and her you, that I shall continue to make you daughter Betty dwelt, a week was spent the same consignments of tobacco as at Chatham House, on the Rappahan- usual, and will endeavor to increase them nock, the grand house of William Fitz- in proportion as I find myself and the hugh, built after plans of Sir Christopher estate benefited thereby. Wren and named by the owner in honor The scarcity of the last year's crop, of his schoolfellow, William Pitt, Earl of and the consequent high price of tobacco, Chatham. That house still stands, nearly would, in any other case, have induced one hundred and seventy years old, and me to sell the estate's crop in this coun- perhaps the finest piece of colonial archi- try; but, for a present, and I hope small tecture of the Georgian period.-inVirginia. advantage only, I did not care to break Williamsburg, the little capital, where the chain of correspondence, that has so Colonel Washington must attend the long subsisted. House of Burgesses and the affairs con- On the other side is an invoice of some nected with the settlement of his accounts goods, which I beg you to send me by the with the army, was chosen for the winter first ship, bound either to the Potomac residence and until adjournment sent the or Rappahannoc, as I am in immediate young couple to Mount Vernon in June. want of them. Let them be insured, and, The urgent affairs of the great estate of in case of accident, reshipped without de- the late Colonel Custis promptly claimed lay. Direct for me at Mount Vernon, the attention of the young Benedict, and Potomac River, Virginia; the former is we find that at Williamsburg, on May the nanie of my seat, the other of the I, 1759, he is writing to Robert Cary, the river on which it is situated. I am, etc. agent of the estate in London, thus: Go. WASHINGTON. WILLIAMSBURG, I May, 1759. SIR, The tone and habit of command as well The enclosed is the clergyman's certif- as the giving of regular, formal proof and icate of my marriage with Mrs. Martha documents in support of all statements of 549 550 George Washington, Captain of Industry fact and claim of right which pervade this Washington wrote, as he said he would, letter make it a model, and will indicate fully: that the young planter and colonel was in full control of the subject and the situation. MOUNT VERNON, September 20, 1759. And on June 12, 1759, he tells the same' GENTLEM~: This will make the fourth correspondent that he had written him letter I have written you since my mar- on May r , and adds: riage to Mrs . Martha Custis. The first "I shall expect/also . : to receive two served to cover invoices of such goods some account of the sales of the estate's as I wanted and to advise you at the same tobacco sent you, and an account current. time of the change in her affairs; and As the last is necessary for me to compare .how necessary it would be to address, for with my own account in order to satis- the future, all your letters, which relate factory settlement with our General to the estate of the deceased Colonel Cus- Court, I entreat you to be punctual in tis, to me. The last tended only to order sending me one every spring and fall insurance on fifteen hogsheads of tobacco, yearly. I shall keep the estate under the sent by the Fair American. same direction as formerly, neither alter- ing the managers, the kind of tobacco, After remarking upon some difficulties nor the manner of treating it, unless you experienced by the agents in fighting new advise otherwise for our interest. import duties, he continues: "And while I continue to pursue this "I likewise observe the difficulties you method, I hope you will be able to render have met with in settling for the interest such sales as will not only justify the of the bank stock; but I hope that this present consignments to you but encour- is now over, unless any part or the whole age my enlarging them; for I shall be should require transferring (when a divi- candid in telling you, that duty to the sion of the estate is made) and timely charge with which I am entrusted, as notice will be given; but until this hap- well as self-interest, will incline me to pens, it may be received and placed to abide by those who give the greatest the estate's credit in the usual manner. proof of their abilities in selling my own H From this time it will be requisite and the estate's tobacco, and purchasing that you should raise three accounts; goods of which I cannot otherwise judge one for me, another for the estate, and a than by the accounts that will be ren- third for Miss Patty Custis, or if you dered." * think it more eligible (and I believe it The French and Indian War was over will be) make me debtor on my own ac- in Virginia when Washington became count for John Parke Custis, and for Miss successor to his wife as administrator of Martha Parke Custis, as each will have the estate of Daniel Parke Custis and their part of the estate assigned them this guardian of her children, but in the rest fall, and the whole will remain under-my of the world and especially on the high management, whose particular care it seas it still raged vigorously; and so shall be to distinguish always, either by Washington wrote, "I shall find occasion letter or invoice, for whom tobaccos are to write you fully by the fleet" which shipped, and for whose use goods are im- then, as later in 1917 and 1918, was con- ported, in order to prevent any mistakes voyed across to England by men-of-war, arising. .. It must appear very plain \ and he said: "Till then I shall forbear from my former letters, as well as from ~,, to trouble you with particulars." what is here said, how necessary it is to In September r759 the fleet sailed and send regular accounts current, that, by * These cautious admonitions were probably-not neces- comparing them with the books here, sary; at any rate the friendship which ripened out of the satisfactory settlements may from time acquaintance thus begun in 1759 continued for forty years, despite time, the changes of firm, the Revolution, the polit- to time be made to our General Court." ical independence of the United States, and the engrossment of Washington in larger affairs, Robert Cary and Com- _Under date of" 28 May 1762," Wash- pany and Wakelin Welch, their successor, were the firm and faithful friends of Washington and of the United States ington wrote again to Robert Cary and throughout, and enjoyed the confidence and conspicuous Company, and regarding the bank stock consideration of the man who trusted them though he never saw them, or they him except in the fine portrait they sent said: Sharples in 1794 frow: London- to paint for them, ".My letter of the 25th of January will Copy of record in books of the Bank of England relating to stock (£r650) owned by John Custis, bequeathed to Daniel Parke Custis and descended to Martha Custis (later wife of George Washington) and her children. By his marriage, Washington acquired one-third of this stock. inform you how the interest of the hank In the summer of 1917 the writer of stock is to be applied. As that fund was this article was in pursuit of a study of appropriated towards the payment of the business affairs of Washington. It Miss Custis' fortune, I am informed that occurred to him that these references to the stock ought to be transferred to her. shares of stock in a bank could apply , You will please, therefore, to have it done only to the Bank of England, and that if accordingly, and whatever charges may so, here lay the beginnings, perhaps, of a arise, in so doing, place to her account.