Gunston Hall Febry. 5th. 1780
Tho' I was so long at your House, I forgot to return you the inclosed Letter & Certificate from Mr. Wharton. I hope & believe that this approaching Spring will produce a Peace; when Colo. Mercer will have it in his Power to act according to his own Inclinations, without Risque or Danger, & in the mean time, I really think it wou'd be imprudent in his friends here to take any Step which might oblige him to quit a Certainty for an uncertainty.
We lost all our Cabbage Seed last Spring by the late frost, & as the same thing happened to all our Neighbours, there is not a Seed to be had in this Part of the Country: if your Friends in Fredericksburg have any to spare, I shall be much obliged to you to procure me a little, & if they have none, I must beg the Favour of you to write by the first post to Majr. Mercer. or some of yr. friends in Wmsburg, to buy two or three ozs. & send to you by the next post, & that you will be so kind to forward it to me by the first safe Hand, & if none offers soon, to send it by the Post, to Mr. Wm. Thompson, or Mr. John Gibson in Colchester, for me.*
The Depositions taken on the last survey between French Mason & Daniel McCarty I am apprehensive have not been recorded, & that the originals are lost, or mislaid, unless you have them (or the Office Copys) among your Papers. Colo. McCarty says he perfectly remembers your shewing them to him in Fredericksburg a few years ago: I beg the Favour of you, my dear Sir, to examine yr. Papers carefully, & if you can find either the original Depositions or authentic Copys of them, to transmit them to me; for if they are lost (as most of the witnesses are now dead) I think my Son in Law, young Danl. McCarty, will lose a valuable part of the Estate he lives on; whereas if these Depositions can be found, I think he has a clear cause; & I judge from the rough & genuine (tho' not legal Copys) in the Hands of Colo. McCarty; the Importance of the Subject I am sure will excuse the Trouble I give you. A List of the Depositions are on the other Side; perhaps there may be some others.
This cold weather has set all the young Folks to providing Bedfellows. I have signed two or three Licences every Day since I have been at Home. I wish I knew where to get a good one myself; for I find cold Sheets extreamly disagreeable. Tell my old Friend, Mr. Dick, that I wou'd recommend to him a little natural & legal Evacuation in preferrence to all the medical ones his Physicians can prescribe. The Family here join in their best wishes to you & your's, with Dr. Sir, Yr. affecte. Kinsman—
Depositions taken on the last survey between Danl. McCarty & French Mason (I think some time between 1760 & 64.) were those of Edwd. Washington, Robt. Boggess, John Connell & James McCarty, & perhaps some others.
*My Daughter Nancy desired me, when I went to the Assembly last Fall, to get her some Cabbage Seed; but I entirely forgot it, 'til she inquired about it, when I came Home.