Description:

Philip Schuyler
Albany, NY, September 26, 1783
Philip Schuyler ALS on Wadsworth & Carter, among the Foremost Merchants and Financiers of the Revolution
ALS

An autograph letter signed by General Philip Schuyler concerning the business of his son-in-law and business partner. 2pp of a bifolium, measuring 7.25" x 12.75", Albany, dated September 26, 1783. Signed "Ph: Schuyler" and addressed to Mr. [Peter] Colt of Hartford, Connecticut. Schuyler details his appreciation for the hospitality of Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth and his business in France with his son-in-law, John Barker Church, alias "John Carter". With flattened mail folds. Loss and small tears from the wax seal have been professionally repaired with little effect to the text. Light staining and foxing throughout. The letter has been tipped into a slightly larger sheet. Boldly signed by Schuyler.

In full:

"Sir, I take the liberty to inclose you a letter for my son, which I beg you to deliver. If he is impressed with those sentiments of esteem and regard which pervade me and my family for the goodness and evinced affection of Col. Wadsworth his amicable consorts and family, his conduct will be correspondent. If otherwise he will render me the most miserable of parents. I propose in a few weeks to direct his return and if my health will permit I propose to go in person not merely to conduct him home but personally to assure that good family how sensibly their attention has affected me. I have charged my son to convey the sentiments of this family to that. Be you also so good as to assure them that I have not words to convey the esteem and gratitude I feel, and the extent of my wishes for their happiness. The minister of France at Philadelphia has informed me that he has accounts, that the ship which carried Col. Wadsworth & Mr. Carter was met at about three hundred leagues from the continent.

[postscript] Wadsworth in a letter of the 20th July advised me that he had directed you to pay me the balance of a bill which he sold for me amounting to £323.14 Connecticut currency. I should be glad to receive it when I come or send for my son."

Philip Schuyler's son-in-law, John Barker Church, alias "John Carter," had formed a partnership with Jeremiah Wadsworth, the former commissary general, in 1780, and the pair amassed a fortune from army contracts. Wadsworth and Carter had supplied the American army when Robert Morris could no longer keep up the payments with the former contractors.
Peter Colt was also a business associate of Wadsworth; He not only sold goods to Wadsworth, the contractor for supplying the French troops in America, but served as Wadsworth's representative and traveled with the French army to handle the distribution of goods. By an arrêt of March 1783, the French government imposed a one-year moratorium on the payment of these bills. Church, along with Angelica and his children, and Wadsworth sailed to France on July 27, 1783, to seek payment of these obligations.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 7.25" x 12.75"
  • Medium: ALS

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