genl. o’donald: probably John O’Donnell (died c.1805), eldest son of John O’Donnell (1715–1780) of County Clare in Ireland. O’Donnell ran away from home as a young man and became bookkeeper to the captain of an East Indiaman. He later amassed a fortune while in the employment of the East India Company but was robbed of most of it on his way back to Europe. O’Donnell became master and owner of a merchant ship trading between Bombay and Baltimore and brought the first direct importation of goods from Canton to Baltimore in 1785. He settled in Baltimore probably about 1780 and became colonel of the 27th Regiment of militia and a member of the Maryland legislature. His estate, Canton, was near Baltimore (BURKE [1] description begins L. G. Pine, ed. Burke’s Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Ireland. 4th ed. London, 1958. description ends , 533; Otho Holland Williams Papers description begins Maryland Historical Records Survey Project. Calendar of the General Otho Holland Williams Papers in the Maryland Historical Society. Baltimore, 1940. description ends , 135n; GW to O’Donnell, 4 Sept. 1797, NN: Washington Papers).

Mr. Oliver is probably either John Oliver or Robert Oliver (c.1757–1834), both of whom were merchants in Baltimore.