Heath, Jas. E., Auditor public accounts

[Circular letter:] Sir, I beg leave to request your particular attention to the act which passed on the 17th February, 1823, entitled, "an act to amend an act to reduce into one, the several acts for enforcing the payment of fines into the public treasury."

[Richmond]: Auditor's Office, March 22, 1823. Folio bifolium (approx. 14" x 8¼"), address panel on verso of integral leaf to William Sterrett, Esq., Mason County; pp. [2-3] containing two proforma tables for listing fines and penalties; previous folds, very good. The new act herein announced "is intended to enforce a stricter accountability in those charged with the collection of fines ... I request, for the sake of uniformity, you will use the form hereto annexed [as printed on p. 2]. Also "annexed is the form of a list of "taxes on licenses to ordinaries and houses of private entertainment ... and the tax on licensers to hawkers and pedlars [as printed on p. 3]. At the bottom of the printed letter on p. [1] Heath pens another letter to "Dear Sir" [i.e. William Sterrett, Esq.]. "I do not know that I distinctly understand your enquiry by Mr. Henderson. The difficulty which you appear to suggest, does not exactly strike my mind ... This change in the law would not have been effectual as to past cases - but for another provision, and that is, that in your next list you shall embrace all executions issued since the 1st January 1820, and not returned as well as those which shall be returned prior to the 31st August next ... I shall be glad if your return could be made separately." The Winterthur Library website notes that "Nothing is known about William Sterrett (or Sterritt) of Point Pleasant, Mason County, Virginia (now West Virginia)." In fact, William (1776-1850) was a lawyer, a real estate agent, property manager, and the county Clerk of Mason County. He did a lot of work with the extended Geroge Washington family as well as many other notables. One of his major clients was Thomas Peter, whose father had married into the Martha Custis Washington part of the family. George Washington was among other things a land speculator. He had extensive land holdings, and these lands passed to his heirs and the heirs engaged William to manage and sell these lands. The Earl Gregg Swem Library at William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia contains an extensive collection of papers and documents relating to him. Not in American Imprints; AAS and Virginia in OCLC. Item #57552

Price: $250.00