From Thomas Jefferson to James Oldham, 2 January 1802
To James Oldham
Washington Jan. 2. 1802.
Sir
Your’s of the 26th came to hand two days ago. I immediately engaged mr Barnes to remit ten dollars for you to mr Trump.
I shall be glad to hear from you from time to time, informing me of your progress, what work you have prepared, what you have put up and what you are engaged in at the time, as it is interesting to me to know how we advance. accept my best wishes.
Th: Jefferson
RC (PWacD: Feinstone Collection, on deposit PPAmP); addressed: “Mr. James Oldham Monticello near Milton”; franked and postmarked.
James Oldham (d. 1843), a Philadelphia-trained artisan, began his employment as a house joiner at Monticello in April 1801. In 1804, he moved to Richmond, where he continued to receive orders from TJ for doors and sashes. In 1819, TJ encouraged Oldham to work on the construction of the University of Virginia. Oldham later opened a public house in Albemarle County (Richard Charles Cote, “The Architectural Workmen of Thomas Jefferson in Virginia” [Ph.D. diss., Boston University, 1986], 101–5; Vol. 33:265, 377, 603;
, 3:520n; TJ to Oldham, 1 Jan. 1819).Your’s of the 26th: Oldham’s letter to TJ, recorded in SJL as received 29 Dec. from Monticello, has not been found.
At an entry dated 31 Dec. 1801 in his financial memoranda, TJ recorded that Oldham owed $40 in total for payments by John Barnes on TJ’s account to Daniel Trump in Philadelphia, including the remittance of $10 mentioned by TJ in the letter above ( , 2:1061).