Daniel Davis to Thomas Jefferson, 8 August 1809

From Daniel Davis

Augt 8. 1809.

Dear Sir,

If you have any Lackir Varnish. will you be so good as to lend or give me a few Drops, I am at a great loss to know how to Stain Gun Barrels. and I wish to make some experiment with this Kind of Varnish, Mr Wm Stewart who formerly lived with you informed me that this was used in the Compound of Staining, please excuse this liberty,

& accept my Sencire respects

Daniel Davis

RC (MHi); dateline adjacent to signature; addressed: “Thos Jefferson Esquire Monticello”; endorsed by TJ as received 9 Aug. 1809.

Daniel Davis was a resident of Albemarle County (Bond between Tarleton Goolsby and Davis, 19 Jan. 1804, ViHi: Barbour Family Papers). William stewart worked as a blacksmith at Monticello from 1801 to 1807, when he was dismissed for drunkenness (MB description begins James A. Bear Jr. and Lucia C. Stanton, eds., Jefferson’s Memorandum Books: Accounts, with Legal Records and Miscellany, 1767–1826, 1997, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series description ends , 2:1052n; Pierson, Jefferson at Monticello description begins Hamilton W. Pierson, Jefferson at Monticello: The Private Life of Thomas Jefferson, From Entirely New Materials, 1862 description ends , 69).

Index Entries

blacksmiths; at Monticello search
Davis, Daniel; asks for varnish search
Davis, Daniel; identified search
Davis, Daniel; letters from search
drunkenness; of TJ’s blacksmith search
gun barrels search
Monticello (TJ’s estate); blacksmiths at search
Stewart, William; blacksmith at Monticello search
varnish search

You Are Looking At

Source Project: Jefferson Papers
Title: Daniel Davis to Thomas Jefferson, 8 August 1809
Author: Davis, Daniel
Recipient: Jefferson, Thomas
Date: 8 August 1809

Reference

Cite as: “Daniel Davis to Thomas Jefferson, 8 August 1809,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-01-02-0334. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 1, 4 March 1809 to 15 November 1809, ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004, p. 419.]