Excerpt and Notes: Page 109 -110 (What is now Kittery Maine marks the northernmost point of Washington's tour. He stayed in what was called "the Red cottage" built about 1740 and Washington stayed there November 2nd, 1789. Author Philbrick and his wife called the present owner and met with him. It is on Portsmouth Harbor. The owner Jim is related to Tobias Lear and Stephen Decatur a American naval hero during the War of 1812. He opened a chest that belonged to his grandfather that had not been open in 80 years and there found a family and genealogy treasure. It is a ledger kept by Tobias Lear when he served as George Washington's private secretary during his first term as President of the United States.
"The large red-leather book, filled with daily transactions, from the purchase of theater tickets to that leopard-skin saddle pad, provided a remarkably detailed window into Washington's household during his first term as President. Drawing upon this and other Washington-related documents that had come into Lear's possession after the President's death and never before seen the light of day, Decatur compiled Private Affairs of George Washington: From the Records and Accounts of Tobias Lear, Esquire, His Secretary.
Excerpt page 111 (How this became part of Jim's family's possessions.)
By the time the President had died, Lear was married into the family. His first wife died of the Yellow Fever epidemic in 1793, and he first remarried Frances "Fanny" Bassett Washington. After he was widowed again, because she died within the year of TB, he married Frances Dandridge Henley, who was niece of Martha's. Therefore he had married into BOTH George Washington's family and hi wife Martha's.
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