The need for sawyer: Hoban's November and December 1792 letters

In late November 1792 James Hoban noticed a slackening of work around him. Living on President’s square nothing that happened around the site of the White House escaped his notice. He designed the building and was in charge of building it. He shared his dismay in a December 1 letter to the commissioners who had assembled for their monthly meeting.

“Our sawyers have dwindled a way from three pare, to two, from two to one pare, and now there is none,” he wrote.

quote from Slave Labor in the Capital, page 99

James Hoban's December 1, 1792, letter to the commissioners is interesting in many respects. It described his work experience in Dublin, alerted the commissioners that he knows many good stone cutters there and encouraged the commissioners to pay their passage to America. He also thoought bricklayers and a pair of sawyers from Ireland would be a good addition to the work force in Washington.

A page of the letter below which describes the lumber needed for the White House is missing. That wish list was problematical because as Hoban explains:

Our sawyers have dwindled a way from three pare, to two, from two to one pare, and now there is none. Mr Sandiford is now sick and his hands all dispersed, he has sent to inform me that he has got no hands, and intends to saw no more; it would be necessary to take some steps to get a Sett of Sawyers to be steady in this business, as the Pitt is in complete order, and Sawyers can work to advantage in all weather-

Hoban also addressed the need for slate and timber. 

Even though hired slaves had been on the scene since the summer of 1792, Hoban doesn't mention them. It is possible that Mr. Sandiford's "hands" were slaves but they were not the slaves hired by the commissioners. It took another two and a half years before Hoban used the slave laborers hired by the commissioners to saw through the winter. Unfortunately, there are no documents in the records describing this development nor why the slave sawyers earned an extra wage of one shilling a day. I try to piece together the story in my book by using payrolls, newspaper ads, and guess work.

Our sawyers have dwindled a way from three pare, to two, from two to one pare, and now there is none. Mr Sandiford is now sick and his hands all dispersed, he has sent to inform me that he has got no hands, and intends to saw no more; it would be necessary to take some steps to get a Sett of Sawyers to be steady in this business, as the Pitt is in complete order, and Sawyers can work to advantage in all weather- (Commrs letters received)