Thomas Jefferson Papers

To Thomas Jefferson from John Wayles Eppes, 1 January 1800

From John Wayles Eppes

Eppington January. 1. 1800.

Since my note to you from the wharf at the Hundred I have been in daily expectation of having it in my power to make you a sharer in a species of happiness from which my Mary and myself have heretofore been debarred. Fortune has at length crowned our wishes & made us happy in the birth of a daughter—It was born last Evening and tho’ very small has every appearance of good health—Maria has been perfectly well & clear of fever from the commencement—Accept our joint wishes for Your health & happiness—yours sincerely

J: W: Eppes

RC (ViU: Edgehill-Randolph Papers); endorsed by TJ as received 18 Jan. and so recorded in SJL.

My note to you: for the missing letter, see TJ to John Wayles Eppes, 21 Dec. 1799.

The daughter born to John and Mary Eppes died several weeks later. TJ did not record her birth and death dates in his prayer book and her name, if one was given, is not known (Thomas Jefferson’s Prayer Book, ed. John Cook Wyllie [Charlottesville, 1952], plate 9; TJ to Mary Jefferson Eppes, 12 Feb. 1800).

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