To Thomas Jefferson from Richard Richardson, 24 August 1804
From Richard Richardson
New york august 24th 1804
Dr sir
I Receved yours of August the 15 which gave Me some Information Respecting new orleans for which I am grately oblige to you for and More so for your good opinion Respecting It I Shall leave this for philadelphia on the 27th of the prasant Instant with Colonal Tharp who Is from Jamaica a neighbour of Mine In that Contrey this gentalman Shiped twentey five hundred hogsheads of Shugar this year he percessing the same oppinion as Myself Respecting Jamaica wishes to purchase near new orleans 25 thousand acers of good Shugar lands our Rout will Be from philadelphia to fort pit By land and their to goe Down the River the Information we have acquired Is from a Book wrote By volaney his Travils published In philadelphia By Mr, Dobson the Information Respecting your house and Its progress are highly pleasing to Me I wish you had Some of the Mehogganey that lays waisting with us for the Inside of your house I am Extreamly Sorry to hear of the death of Mistress Epps which I were not Informed of when I wrote I hope Mr and Mistress Randal and their familey are all well you will Be good Enough To Mention Me to them likewise Mr. Dinsmore
And Remaining with Everey Sentiments of a Steem Your Most obedint Servent
Richard Richardson
Post, please let Me hear from you when at new orleans
RC (MHi); at foot of text: “Th Jefferson Esqr”; endorsed by TJ as received 1 Sep. and so recorded in SJL.
Colonal Tharp: William Blake Tharp, a son of the prominent Jamaican planter John Tharp, was the lieutenant colonel of the St. James’s regiment of militia (The Scots Magazine, and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany: Being a General Repository of Literature, History, and Politics, for 1809 [Edinburgh, 1809], 639; Sarah M. S. Pearsall, “ ‘The Late Flagrant Instance of Depravity in My Family’: The Story of an Anglo-Jamaican Cuckold,” , 3d ser., 60 [2003], 556).
wrote By volaney: two editions of Volney’s book about the United States were sold in the summer of 1804. The London edition was sold by Philadelphia bookseller Thomas Dobson, while the American edition was published by John Conrad. Volney included detailed information on how to navigate the various “western waters” in the interior of North America (Relfs Philadelphia Gazette, 31 Aug.; Constantin François Chasseboeuf Volney, A View of the Soil and Climate of the United States of America [Philadelphia, 1804], 14-18; Vol. 40:353n).