1From Thomas Jefferson to Charles Clay, 11 January 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of Dec. 19. has been duly recieved, and I thank you for your friendly attention to the offer of lands adjoining me for sale. it is true that I have always wished to purchase a part of what was Murray’s tract which would straiten the lines of the Poplar Forest. but I really am not able to make a purchase. I had hoped to keep the expences of my office within the limits of it’s salary, so...
2Thomas Jefferson to Charles Clay, 15 December 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
This will be handed you by my son in law, mr Randolph with the integrity & honor of whose character you are already acquainted. an urgent occasion to raise a considerable sum of money in the course of a year, and a part of it (2000.D.) within the month of January, has induced me to propose to him the curtailing the outskirts of my Poplar Forest lands, as the most probable means of effecting...
3Thomas Jefferson to Charles Clay, 16 August 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you for the contents of your basket and was just about writing to you when your boy came. I find I shall not have strength enough to ride as far as your house: but I should be very glad if you could meet me at the Double branches in the road, the day after tomorrow (Sunday) and that you may not have to wait, I will be sure to be there before 11. aclock. I have had some measures made...
4Thomas Jefferson to Charles Clay, 23 August 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
While here, & much confined to the house by my rheumatism, I have amused myself with calculating the hour lines of a horisontal dial for the latitude of this place which I find to be 37°–22′–26″. the calculations are for every 5. minutes of time, and are always exact to within less than half a second of a degree. as I do not know that any body here has taken this trouble before, I have...
5Thomas Jefferson to Charles Clay, 10 May 1812 [document added in digital edition] (Jefferson Papers)
The bearer comes to beg some Asparagus, and if you have no better project for the day, to come and partake of it, weather permitting. I salute you with friendship & respect. RC ( Heritage Auctions , auction 6054, New York City, 8 Apr. 2011, lot 34160); dateline at foot of text; addressed: “M r Clay”; endorsed by Clay. Not recorded in SJL . This document, located after the pertinent...
6Thomas Jefferson to Charles Clay, 14 December 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
I go certainly tomorrow, wind & weather permitting, and both have abated considerably. I promised you some sprout Kale seed, which I now send. I do not remember to have seen Salsafia in your garden, & yet it is one of the best roots for the Winter. some call it the oyster plant because fried in batter it can scarcely be distinguished from a fried oyster. I send you some seed. it is to be sowed...
7Thomas Jefferson to Charles Clay, 1 May 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I think that on my recommending Tacitus to master Cyrus , you said you did not possess him, and perhaps that you had never seen him. on my return home I wrote to Philadelphia for a copy, which I now send for master Cyrus’s acceptance & perusal. the solidity of his matter, his brevity, & his fondness for point & antithesis make him difficult. I would advise the use of a translation, that to be...
8Thomas Jefferson to Charles Clay, 6 May 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Our spinning machine is in operation, and a piece of cloth is begun with the flying shuttle, neither goes on perfectly as yet, from the want of a little more practice; but they will give Mrs. Clay an idea of what would be their proper operation, if she can do me the favor to come and take a plantation dinner with me tomorrow. You will come of course, according to promise. Friendly salutations...
9Thomas Jefferson to Charles Clay, 28 December 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Learning that mr Forber , one of those who have erected carding machines for us, was in the neighborhood, I asked the favor of him to call on me. he did so yesterday and agrees to go up to you in the 1 st or 2 d week of January. he tells me his price for a wool-carding machine is 500.D. & a Cotton carder 600.D. these prices being higher than I had supposed, and perhaps than I suggested to you,...
10Thomas Jefferson to Charles Clay, 8 January 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
I informed you on the 28 th Ult. by letter that I had according to your request engaged mr Forber to wait on you with a view to the erection of a carding machine for you. he proposes to set out the day after tomorrow, and will present himself to you with this letter. the success of the machine he has erected near me, persuades me he is fully competent to fulfill your wishes. Accept the...