Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 6.djvu/23

 COL. TOBIAS LEAR.

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��tense desire to overhaul, arrange, and separate, papers of real, from those of little or no value, so that all his mat- ters should be in a situation to give the least trouble to those who might have the management of his papers after his decease.

I am informed that Washington's papers were admirably arranged and classified by himself and Col. Lear, and were found by Jared Sparks, in ex- cellent condition to be used in his '•'Writings of Washington."

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In a letter of Sept. 9, 1798, ad- dressed to Timothy Pickering, Secre- tary of State, in relation to the appointment with which the partiality of his country had honored him, Wash- ington writes, " no member of the military family is yet engaged, except my old secretary, Tobias Lear, in the same capacity."

In 1 798, Washington was appointed to the command of the Provincial army, and as commander-in chief, was allowed a military secretary, with the rank of colonel. He selected Col. Lear, who accepted the position and thus acquired the title by which he was afterward known.

October 21, 1798, Washington, in a letter to James McHenry, Secretary of War, informs him that his secretary, Mr. Lear, was very sick with a severe fever, and was at that time very low. The illness of his secretary, and other causes, would prevent him from going to Trenton, or Philadelphia, at the time allotted to the major-generals.

Col. Lear was associated with Wash- ington fourteen years, first as private secretary and tutor of his adopted children, then military secretary, and afterward aided in superintending his private affairs ; a member of the household, gathering at the same table, accompanying him in his jour- neyings and daily walks, his chosen and constant attendant during his last illness, and communicating to Congress, through President John Adams, the information of Washington's death, which occurred Dec. 14, 1799. Mar-

��tha Washington died May 22, 1802, aged seventy.

Col. Lear won the personal regard and social friendship not only of Wash- ington, but also of Mrs. Washington, who was somewhat reserved in forming personal attachments ; but the marriage of Col. Lear to two of her nieces evinced her individual esteem for him.

In Laura C. Holloway's " Ladies of the White House," we learn from the " Recollections " of a daughter of Mrs. Binney, who resided opposite the President's house, that it was General Washington's custom, when the weather was suitable, to exercise by walking, usually attended by his two secretaries, Col. Lear and Major Jackson. Wash- ington was " always dressed in black, and all three wore cocked hats."

" It was Mrs. Washington's custom to return visits on the third day, and in calling on her mother, she would send a footman over, who would knock loudly and announce Mrs. Washing- ton, who would then come over with Mr. Lear."

Jefferson, in 1S02, appointed Col. Lear consul-general to St. Domingo, and in 1804 consul-general to Algiers, which office he held about eight years, during the last few months of which his son Lincoln was with him. In 1805 he was a commissioner to nego- tiate peace with Tripoli. In i8i2,the Barbary Powers having declared war against the United States, Col. Lear returned home and was appointed by President Madison accountant to the war department, which office he re- tained until Oct. 11, 1816, when he died, suddenly, at his home in the "Wirt Mansion," No. 1732, G. street, between 17th and 1 Sth streets. N. W., aged fifty-four years. He lived greatly respected and died lamented. " His private life was exemplary, and he filled various public stations under successive administrations with de- served reputation."

We can not find that any biography of Col. Lear has been issued from the press. The unpublished papers of such a man are of great historic inter-

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