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ALS signed “J. Tyler,” one page both sides, 8 x 10, July 30, 1845. Addressed from Sherwood Forest, a handwritten letter from John Tyler to R. Wallack, in full: “Your letter reached me last night and I seize a moment from my preparations for a departure from home this morning for the Mountains to say, that my steward and afterwards Martin Bernaham constantly paid all servants wages employed by me at the President’s House. That Margaret Nelson was paid regularly by monthly for the whole time she was employed and that her receipts are regularly filed for 18 months or two years prior to the 4th March. I presume that her claim is founded on the fact that I did not turn her out of her room and deny her provisions during any absence from Washington, but for this she should rather be my debtor than I hers. Prior to such absences all the servants were informed that their services were no longer wanting, and her remaining in her room which she has occasioned from the time of Mr. Adams was entirely permissive. She rendered not the slightest service but was an incumbrance. The house upon all such occasions was closed. I leave it to yourself then Sir to say whether her demand is just.” In very good to fine condition, with a toned impression of a portrait to the front side.
Written less than five months after John Tyler left the White House, this letter finds the former president defending himself against a wage claim from Margaret Nelson, a woman he says had been employed in the President's House. According to Tyler's account, Nelson had occupied a room at the President's House "from the time of Mr. Adams," apparently referring to John Quincy Adams, whose presidency ended in 1829. If Tyler's recollection was accurate, Nelson's association with the White House would have extended across the administrations of Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, and Tyler himself.
Tyler insists that his steward and later Martin Bernaham regularly paid the wages of all servants employed by him at the President's House, with Nelson's receipts retained for the final 18 months to two years of his administration. He instead attributes her claim to periods when the presidential household was absent from Washington, during which Nelson was permitted to remain in her room and receive provisions even though, according to Tyler, the servants had been told that their services were no longer required. Dismissing her continued presence as "entirely permissive," Tyler bluntly declares that "she rendered not the slightest service but was an incumbrance," and argues that for the room and provisions "she should rather be my debtor than I hers." He closes by leaving it to his correspondent to decide "whether her demand is just."
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