Manuscript document, one page, 8 x 9, March 21, 1797. A receipt issued by the Potomac Company to Nicholas Magruder for items he issued to the company on February 22, 1797 (Washington’s birthday), paid unto Magruder in both Maryland and Virginia currency.
Signed on the front and back by several luminaries associated with the company, including: Thomas Kennedy (1776-1832), a Maryland legislator whose ‘Jew Bill’ allowed Jewish citizens the right to hold political office in Maryland; Tobias Lear (1762-1816), who was George Washington’s personal secretary and a diplomat who negotiated the peace treaty ending the Barbary War; Phillip R. Fendall I (1734-1805), a co-founder of the Potomac Co., and uncle of Robert E. Lee, who built the Fendall-Lee House, which was Lee’s boyhood home; James Keith (1734-1824) an Indian captive during Pontiac’s War, who also served as mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, and as director and president of the Potomac Co.; and John Templeman, a merchant who supervised the construction of bridges over the Potomac River (e.g., Georgetown Bridge and Chain Bridge). In very good to fine condition, with some small stains, and chipping to the edges. The Potomac Company was one of George Washington’s favorite projects, which he formed in 1785 and became its first president.
