Aaron BURR (1756-1836); Horatio Gates SPAFFORD, Sr. (1778-1832) American author, publisher, inventor, attorney and entrepreneur who authored and painstakingly compiled the first comprehensive atlas of New York state, A Gazetteer of the State of New-York; Carefully Written from Original and Authentic Materials, Arranged on a New Plan . . . With an Accurate Map of the State (H.C. Southwick: Albany, N.Y., 1813); The American Magazine, A Monthly Miscellany, Devoted to Literature, Science, History, Biography, and the Arts; Including also State Papers and Public Documents, with Intelligence, Domestic, Foreign, and Literary, Public News, and Passing Events; Being an Attempt to form a Useful Repository for every Description of American Readers (E. & E. Hosford: Albany, 1815), and the text book General Geography, and Rudiments of Useful Knowledge (Hudson, N.Y., 1809). He acquired a patent for fireplace improvements in 1805, and is largely credited as the inventor of the Bessemer process for steelmaking. He corresponded frequently with Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and John Adams, championing the establishment of education in the arts and sciences as a means for national advancement. During the American Revolution, his father, Captain John Spafford, commanded a company of Green Mountain Boys under Ethan Allen, participating in the Battles of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and served under General Horatio Gates at Bennington. His son, Horatio Gates Spafford, Jr. (1828-1888) was a prominent Chicago attorney best known for penning the Christian hymn “It is Well With My Soul” following the tragic deaths by shipwreck of his wife and four children.
Autograph Letter Signed “Horatio Gates Stafford“, 1 page, 248 x 205 mm. (9 3/4 x 8 in.), Albany [New York], 17 March 1813, to Aaron Burr, and docketed by Burr on the address panel, “Horatio Gates Stafford 17th March -13″.
Seaford writes in full (with original spellings retained throughout): “Does my Hon[orable] d[ear]. Friend Col. Burr, know that I am still waiting for his description of New York, with its fortifications, &c.? Or has he forgotten it, in a press of other, & more important business? Such is the present progress of my work, that I shall very much need that within 1 or 2 weeks at most. Should it not, therefore, be in thy power to send it me, please advise me immediately, & very much oblige. But, should thy want of time prevent, some friend, as thou suggested when I last saw thee, would probably do it at they request. And if attendance with any expense to thyself, that amount I was to cheerfully & gladly refund. I will not assent to conceal that I am very solicitous for thy aid in it, & the discriminating exercise of they judgement. That aid to be acknowledged to the public, or not, at they option. And how is thy health, & prosperity; for I hope to be gratified in them.”
Usual folds, soiling, light creasing, overall very good to fine condition.
(EXA 6057) $600
