For John. Gone, but Never Forgotten

Oh, hi anon. @yr-obedt-cicero already replied with two links which you should take a look at (the point about how much correspondence is missing being crucial), but beyond that...

I don't agree with the premise of this question, myself.

Putting aside the question of how we measure degrees of affection, there's also the matter of how it's shown.

Hamilton's 'cold in my professions' letter is all over the place, blustery and long-winded, and I think his rambling, as well as his closing of that letter (where he is being more open and self-aware) is a greater testament of his affection than the almost-offended 'how dare you steal into my affections' at the start.

Nnnno.

That's it, roll credits.

No, I'm joking. But I don't believe Laurens would have held any federal position if for some reason he lived past the war (which I don't think is possible because yk. John reasons).

Laurens most likely would have finished his education in law, went on to be a lawyer, and stayed in local politics. He didn't have the diplomatic skills to rise that high, especially not for an office like Secretary of State, which requires diplomacy.

Jefferson was very suited to the job. He was well-known, well-liked, and his diplomatic career was far more successful than Laurens'. This is easy to compare because they both held diplomatic positions in the French court. Laurens' mission was just barely completed, and had many mistakes and missteps because he didn't really want nor like the job, he just wanted to get it over with as fast as possible. And I'm sure we all know how much Jefferson liked France.

Doing some research with Ancestry and specially Newspapers.com by Ancestry, I have found one portrait of John Laurens which I haven't seen before, so I'm bringing it to your eyes. The quality isn't excellent, but for what I can see, this portrait could be easily my favorite.

This was published by The Columbia Record on December 14, 1920.

The title of the article is "PORTRAIT OF COL. JOHN LAURENS, HERO OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, UNVEILED IN COLUMBIA JANUARY 13". According to the new, it would had been placed in the State House.

In my opinion, it looks like a pretty portrait, at least nicer than Peale's one, who knows, maybe I'll try to search what happened with this one and if it is still there.

Extract from an article in the Barbados Mercury, and Bridge-Town Gazette, 22 November 1808

The article, a reprint of a piece published in a US paper, is calling on citizens to vote for South Carolina Federalist candidate Charles Cotesworth Pinckney in the upcoming presidential election, over incumbent Thomas Jefferson.

John lived in London for two stretches of time - after first arriving in England in 1771-2, and then when he returned from Geneva in 1774.

During the first period, he lived with Henry in Chelsea and then Fludyer Street in Westminster - a street that ran parallel to Downing Street and led directly onto St James's Park. It doesn't exist anymore.

When John returned to start his studies at Middle Temple, he moved in with Charles Bicknell and his family in Chancery Lane. Historically, it was rare to give more than just the family and street names when directing post, but I wanted to see if I could track down the exact location of Bicknell's house - and I think I've come pretty close!

After a considerable amount of digging, I found an insurance record for Charles Bicknell, giving his address as "opposite the Rolls Tavern" on Chancery Lane. The 'Rolls Tavern' is actually the Crown and Rolls Tavern, a popular meeting place for lawyers and debating societies in the late 18th century.

But of course, that address is also hard to come by. Here we have two clues.

The first is that further digging into insurance records seems to indicate that the tavern was at number 9 Chancery Lane - though that's not incredibly helpful, because there are several number 9s on the street.

The second is that taverns and public houses were often named after significant nearby landmarks - and indeed, the area towards the southern end of Chancery Lane, where it meets Fleet Street, is part of the Liberty of the Rolls district, which included the Chapel of the Rolls, and the Rolls Court and Gardens (all named after the fact that the court rolls, or legal records, were kept in storage there).

If we put this together, we do in fact find a number 9 backing on the Rolls Court, which might well have been the location of the Crown and Rolls Tavern. As for what would count as "opposite", that narrows it down to a few homes on Horwood's Plan of London:

None of the original buildings from the time period survive, but...

A copy of Charles Fraser’s portrait of John Laurens, which hangs in the Middle Temple in London (source 1; source 2)