Skip to main content

Tobias Lear (1762–1816)

Role

In 1803 Tobias Lear wrote Bushrod Washington regarding "services rendered" for the estate of George Washington.

Description

Tobias Lear was born on 19 September 1762 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Following graduation from Harvard, he worked as a tutor to Martha Washington’s grandchildren and private secretary to George Washington. Lear thus became an intimate of the Washington family: he was with Washington at the time of his death, recorded his last words ("Tis well"), and planned the funeral.

Citations

P. Bradley Nutting, " 'Tobias Lear, S.P.U.S.': First Secretary to the President," Presidential Studies Quarterly, Volume 24, Number 4 (Fall 1994), 71324.

Tobias Lear Papers, Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Meredith Eliassen, "Tobias Lear," Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington (George Washington’s Mount Vernon).

"Lear, Tobias (17621816)," in Holly C. Shuman, ed., The Dolley Madison Digital Edition.

Tobias Lear at Find a Grave.

Tobias Lear V at FamilySearch.