Attractively penned free-franked envelope, 5 x 3.5, accomplished entirely in Washington's own hand, "Mr. George R. Minot, in Boston," with upper portion marked "Free" and dated "Alx'a 5 March," and Washington adding his signature to the lower left, "G:o Washington." Impressively cloth-matted and framed with a portrait (bearing a facsimile signature) and plaque to an overall size of 28.5 x 26. In fine condition, with a central vertical fold.
In 1872, four years after graduating Harvard as valedictorian, George Richards Minot nailed a sign to an elm tree on Court Street in Boston’s financial district and created the first private trustee office in the United States. Shortly thereafter he was elected clerk to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, serving in said post dutifully for 10 years alongside several future American presidents. In 1800, he was selected by the citizens of Boston to deliver the public eulogy on the death of George Washington, and two years later, was himself eulogized by John Quincy Adams.
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