To Thomas Jefferson from Samuel Richardet, 12 October 1802
From Samuel Richardet
Philadelphia Octr. the 12. 1802
Sir
I take the liberty to address you from having the Honneur of Knowing the President of the U:S: at the time I lived with Theos: Cazenove’s Esqr. as is Steward till I want in business, Mr: Petit succeed me at Mr: Cazenovs
my Wife & Daughters have gone to England, been hout of business; my wiches is to devote my self to the manegement of some Gentelman family if your Excellence or aney of your friends ad such imployment will Exert my self to please I am
Sir Your Very Humble Servant
Samuel Richardet
RC (MHi); at head of text: “Your Excellence”; endorsed by TJ as received 16 Oct. and so recorded in SJL.
Samuel Richardet operated the City Tavern and Merchants’ Coffee House in Philadelphia from 1796 to 1799. The establishment offered overnight accommodations, meals, beverages, and a reading room supplied with current newspapers from the United States and Europe. Merchants and ship captains used the coffee house as an exchange where they could meet and post information. Médéric Louis Elie Moreau de St. Méry dined there with Talleyrand not long after Richardet became the proprietor. In 1807, Richardet made arrangements to run the Indian Queen tavern, also in Philadelphia (Gazette of the United States, 4 Jan. 1797; , 46 [1922], 75; 47 [1923], 176–7; 128 [2004], 169; Kenneth Roberts and Anna M. Roberts, trans. and eds., Moreau de St. Méry’s American Journey, 1793–1798 [Garden City, N.Y., 1947], 214; Vol. 33:360).
STEWARD: Théophile Cazenove lived in Philadelphia from 1790 to 1798. On his arrival in the United States as the business agent of Dutch investors, he carried a letter of introduction to TJ from the Amsterdam banking firm of Van Staphorst & Hubbard (; Vol. 15: 562–3; Vol. 20:331–2).