Thomas Jefferson Papers

Thomas Jefferson to Lucy Marks, 16 March 1817

To Lucy Marks

Monticello Mar. 16. 17.

Dear Madam

In a letter which came to me by mail yesterday and to which the writer had forgotten to subscribe his name, I received those I now send you, the one sealed, the other open as it now is. observing the name of General Clarke on one of them1 and my letter being dated at Louisville induces me to suppose it is from him. I tender you the assurance of my great esteem and respect.

Th: Jefferson

PoC (MHi); on verso of a reused address cover from Samuel L. Mitchill to TJ, with unrelated address cover to Mitchill on recto; at foot of text: “Mrs Marks”; endorsed by TJ as a letter to “Marks mrs. of Ivy cr.” Enclosures: enclosures to William Clark to TJ, 1 Feb. 1817.

Lucy Meriwether Lewis Marks (1752–1837), a native of Albemarle County, married first William Lewis, of Locust Hill. Their son Meriwether Lewis was joint leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. After the death of her first husband, she married John Marks. Among her neighbors Marks was known for her aptitude with herbal medicines. At her death she owned at least forty-eight slaves (Louisa H. A. Minor, The Meriwethers and Their Connections [1892], 23, 61–2, 163; National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Patriot Index [2003], 2:1646; Mary Rawlings, The Albemarle of Other Days [1925], 58–65; Sarah Travers Lewis Anderson, Lewises, Meriwethers and their Kin [1938], 180–2; Albemarle Co. Will Book, 13:36–8, 341–2). A likeness of Marks is reproduced elsewhere in this volume.

1Preceding four words interlined.

Index Entries

  • Clark (Clarke), William; and letter for L. Marks search
  • Marks, Lucy Meriwether Lewis (Meriwether Lewis’s mother); identified search
  • Marks, Lucy Meriwether Lewis (Meriwether Lewis’s mother); letter to search
  • Marks, Lucy Meriwether Lewis (Meriwether Lewis’s mother); TJ forwards letter to search
  • women; letters to; L. M. L. Marks search