EN1019
Facsimile
Transcription
4
held a political place, when
President Cleveland was living
he offered me St Domingo Councilship. [Consulship]
I did not care to go out
of the Country. I thought I was
qualified is fill the position of
Recorder of Deeds at Washington
but he promised it to Hon James C.
Matthews, on Congratulating President
Wilson on his Election I knew
there were some Colored Men
who had their places picked
who were not Competent, And in
some Cases undesirable. I so stated
to him. I must say that their
Are men in the Custom house
And U. S. Public stores, who
were at the late Election holding
position As Officers in the Republican
Clubs. I refer to My Candidacy
the Hon J. Morgan OBrien, Hon Judge
J. H. Hendricks, Hon John G. Sax
J. J. O.Donohue Jr And others. I told
the Bishop when he asked me what
I position I would like to have - I told
[Library of Congress page-number stamp (seen to left of last line of handwritten text):] 83693
Notes and Questions
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I believe that the "St Domingo Councilship" which the author of the letter one of whose pages is seen here says he was offered by one of the Democratic Administrations of President Grover Cleveland (1885-1889 or 1893-1897) would probably have been a position as United States Consul within the Dominican Republic (possibly in its capital city of Santo Domingo).
The current English-language Wikipedia article on African American lawyer (and (Democratic) municipal judge in Albany, New York in the 1890s) James Campbell Matthews (1844-1930) states that Matthews *was* (in fact) nominated by President Grover Cleveland to be Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia (succeeding the more-famous Frederick Douglass in this position) in 1885 -- but was kept from retaining the position by US Senate rejection of his nomination.
I believe that the character reference whose name seems to me to *probably* have been written in the text of "Page" 1019 as "J. Morgan OBrien" (I am not certain that there is no apostrophe, but I doubt that there was one written; I'm also somewhat-unsure whether the final vowel might have been written as an "a" rather than as an "e") was a (Catholic; his father was an Irish immigrant) prominent lawyer, (New York State) judge (retired from being a judge in 1906) , corporate trustee, and New York City planning official named Morgan Joseph O'Brien (1852-1937). (I have taken information for this note from his obituary article in The New York Times -- and from an online article on his life and career from the Historical Society of the New York Courts.)