Thomas Jefferson Papers
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Thomas Jefferson to John Threlkeld, 8 March 1809

To John Threlkeld

Mar. 8. 09.

Th: Jefferson presents his compliments to mr Threlkeld and takes the liberty of asking a few small1 plants of the English mulberry & peach-Apricot, of which mr Threlkeld thought he could spare some. Th:J. can convey only such & so many as are very portable, & will occupy but little space. he begs leave to present to mr & mrs Threlkeld & family his friendly Adieux, and assurances of his sincere attachment & respect.

RC (Berkeley Cox Jr., Hartford, Conn., 1969); dateline at foot of text; addressed: “Mr Threlkeld.” Not recorded in SJL.

John Threlkeld (ca. 1758–1830) was a lifelong resident of Georgetown and justice of the peace who represented Montgomery County in the Maryland House of Delegates in 1792 and 1793 and served a one-year term as mayor of Georgetown in the latter year. He helped found the Columbian Agricultural Society for the Promotion of Rural and Domestic Economy in 1809 and frequently exchanged cuttings of fruit trees and other plant specimens with TJ during the latter’s presidency (Grace Dunlop Ecker, A Portrait of Old George Town [1933], 85–6; Papenfuse, Maryland Public Officials description begins Edward C. Papenfuse and others, eds., An Historical List of Public Officials of Maryland, 1990– , 1 vol. description ends , 1:229; Betts, Garden Book description begins Edwin M. Betts, ed., Thomas Jefferson’s Garden Book, 1766–1824, 1944 description ends , 344–5, 353; Washington National Intelligencer, 9 Sept. 1830).

1Word interlined.

Index Entries

  • agriculture; Columbian Agricultural Society search
  • agriculture; TJ buys fruit trees search
  • apricots; trees search
  • Columbian Agricultural Society for the Promotion of Rural and Domestic Economy; members of search
  • mulberry; English search
  • Threlkeld, Elizabeth (John Threlkeld’s wife); family of search
  • Threlkeld, John; identified search
  • Threlkeld, John; letters to search
  • trees; apricot search
  • trees; mulberry search
  • trees; peach-apricot search