Thomas Jefferson Papers
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To Thomas Jefferson from Horatio Gates, 7 December 1801

From Horatio Gates

New York 7th. Decemr. 1801:—

Dear Sir

To relieve your1 mind from the Fatigue of National Affairs, which must necessarily oppress it; I send you the inclosed from the pen of my ingenious friend, & relation, John Garnet; I take this Liberty, knowing how much you wish to be early acquainted with all Discoveries tending to Enlighten Mankind.—perhaps it may be the means of bringing two Men of Science to an intimate acquaintance;—Mr: Garnet has a Farm, about a Mile West of Brunswick, in Jersey; where he is indulging his passion for Agriculture, and his rage for Science; His means are happily more than adequate to all his pursuits; so if you should hereafter add one to your Scientific acquaintance, you will not increase your Number of Official Expectants—Go on as you have begun, and United America will bless the hour when they placed Power in your Hands—Mrs: Gates presents you her Compliments. I trust you will always believe me your Sincere Friend,

and Obedient Servant,

Horatio Gates.

RC (DLC); at foot of text: “His Excellency Thomas Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ. Recorded in SJL as received 10 Dec. Enclosure: probably John Garnett, A Plain and Concise Projection for Clearing the Lunar Distances from the Effects of Parallax and Refraction (New Brunswick, N.J., 1801; see Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends No. 3778).

Friend, & Relation: Gates in 1798 had introduced John Garnett as his cousin (Vol. 30:110–11). His rage for science: on 1 May 1801, the American Philosophical Society acknowledged receiving a paper from Garnett, with the same title as the enclosure listed above. It became part of a longer work, which was also published in New Brunswick in 1801, entitled Clarke’s Seaman’s Desiderata: or, Concise, Practical Rules for Computing the Apparent Time at Sea, the Latitude from Double Solar Altitudes, and the Longitude from the Lunar Observations … With Additions and Corrections by J.G. (Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends No. 3807). Garnett was elected a member of APS description begins American Philosophical Society description ends on 16 July 1802. For many years, he edited the annual Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris and presented papers to the APS description begins American Philosophical Society description ends (APS description begins American Philosophical Society description ends , Proceedings, 22, pt. 3 [1884], 311, 326, 376, 378, 400, 402, 412–13; Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952–59, 5 vols. description ends No. 3810).

1MS: “you.”

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