1. Thomas Willing (1731–1821) was born into a mercantile Philadelphia family, studied in England with a brief stint in the Inner Temple, and returned to America to build a multifarious business empire that dealt in servant indentures, among many other commodities. He later imported slaves as part of a longtime partnership with Robert Morris. On his way to amassing one of the largest fortunes in Philadelphia, Willing held numerous local and state offices, was a member of the Continental Congress, and served as president of the Bank of North America, 1781–91, and the Bank of the United States, 1791–1807. Although a Federalist, he worked effectively with Thomas Jefferson’s Treasury secretary Albert Gallatin to negotiate economic difficulties caused by the payment of U.S. government obligations on domestic and foreign debts (Robert E. Wright, “Thomas Willing (1731–1821): Philadelphia Financier and Forgotten Founding Father,” Pennsylvania History 63 [1996]: 525–29, 532–33, 543–47).

2. On 15 Dec. 1806 Jefferson nominated James McGreggor to be consul at St. Thomas, and the Senate confirmed the appointment on 16 Jan. 1807 (Senate Exec. Proceedings description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America (3 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1828). description ends , 2:45, 48).