Barber, Nathaniel, Jr. (1728-1787) to Henry Knox
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.01379 Author/Creator: Barber, Nathaniel, Jr. (1728-1787) Place Written: Boston, Massachusetts Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 1 April 1782 Pagination: 4 p. : docket ; 23 x 19.2 cm. Order a Copy
Writes to Knox to ask for help in settling his pay with the state assembly of Massachusetts. Relates that the assembly has recently settled with Ezekiel Cheever, a Deputy Commissary General of Military Stores, and is willing to settle with him, except they will only agree to pay him 40 dollars per month for the amount of time he worked as a Commissary, beginning in February 1777. According to documents he has from Knox, who appointed him, he is owed 50 dollars per month (paid in specie) for the first year as Commissary and then 60 dollars per month thereafter. The assembly argues that Knox had no authority to fix his pay, and that he must not earn more than Mr. [Richard] Frothingham or Mr. [Samuel] Hodgdon, who began at the same time as he. He counters that he began ahead of Frothingham, but the assembly will not listen to him. He must bring a resolve from Congress that permits him to receive his rightful pay in specie, and asks Knox to use his influence to obtain one. Adds that not only is he receiving less pay than he is owed, but he is receiving it in notes, which he "cannot sell without 50 or 60 [percent] loss."
Ezekiel Cheever also has a son by the same name (1741-1826). According to the U.S. Military's Ordnance Corps website, the elder Cheever (1720-1793) was the Ordnance officer. www.goordnance.apg.army.mil/
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