Thomas Jefferson Papers
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Memorandum to Jeremiah A. Goodman, 8 September 1813

Memorandum to Jeremiah A. Goodman

Mr Goodman’s crop for the next year 1814. will be as follows.

  Corn in McDaniel’s field; but as this turns out to be but 50. acres, we must add other grounds to it; and there are none but what belong to some other field, except those over the S. Tomahawk,1 & above the lower corn field. we must of necessity then give the tobacco ground, & the stubble ground there to corn, and put the upper corn grounds into oats to help out. some of the strongest spots in the Fork field may be in corn.
Peas in the Fork field.
wheat in the Tomahawk Cornfield and in the Ridge field.
tobacco, in such meadow grounds on S. Tomahawk as can be cleaned up, and in a new clearing to be made on the S. side of the S. Tomahawk. I should be glad to have 80. thousand tobo hills tended. the clearing to extend ¼ mile from the branch2
sow from half an acre to an acre in hemp.
sow timothy in the meadow ground ready for it, this month.
in all your fields of corn or small grain, reserve the galled & poor spots and put peas into them.
let the ox-cart be employed in winter in carting out any manure you may have, and straw. generally speaking this ought to be put on the galled & poor places of the field turned out to rest for 2. years, because that would give time for the straw to rot. but as that would be, for the present year, the Belted field which needs it least, I would give it to the galled & poor spots of the Ridge field, which needs it most, and I would leave them without putting any thing into them.
take for your own use one eighth of the peach or apple brandy which will be made, & put the rest into the cellar of the house.
let the people have hereafter a fixed allowance of salt; to wit, give to their bread maker a pint a month for each grown negro to put into their bread; and give besides to each grown negro a pint a month for their snaps, cymlins & other uses. this will be a quart a month for every grown negro.
the people have asked for a little flour for their labors in harvest. give half a peck to each grown person.
I accept mr Mitchell’s terms for grinding my flour this year. let all the wheat be delivered to him in the course of this & the next month, and sent down in all October & November to Richmond.3

MS (NN: George Arents Tobacco Collection); written entirely in TJ’s hand on one side of a single sheet. Not recorded in SJL.

galled: “eroded” (OED description begins James A. H. Murray, J. A. Simpson, E. S. C. Weiner, and others, eds., The Oxford English Dictionary, 2d ed., 1989, 20 vols. description ends ).

TJ evidently prepared this memorandum to guide Goodman in his management of the Tomahawk Plantation at Poplar Forest. A missing letter from Goodman to TJ of 9 Sept. 1813 is recorded in SJL as received 14 Oct. 1813 from Poplar Forest.

1Manuscript: “Tomohawk.”

2Preceding nine words added in a different ink.

3Paragraph apparently added at a different sitting.

Index Entries

  • agriculture; manure as fertilizer search
  • alcohol; brandy search
  • beans; snap search
  • brandy; production of in Va. search
  • corn; at Poplar Forest search
  • crops; hemp search
  • flour; from Poplar Forest search
  • flour; given to slaves search
  • flour; transported to Richmond search
  • food; peas search
  • food; salt search
  • food; snap beans search
  • food; squash search
  • Goodman, Jeremiah Augustus; letters from accounted for search
  • Goodman, Jeremiah Augustus; memorandum to search
  • Goodman, Jeremiah Augustus; Poplar Forest overseer search
  • grass; timothy search
  • hemp; grown at Poplar Forest search
  • Mitchell, Mr.; and TJ’s wheat search
  • peas; grown at Poplar Forest search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); corn grown at search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); flour from search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); hemp grown at search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); Overseers at; TJ’s instructions to search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); peas grown at search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); timothy grown at search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); tobacco grown at search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); wheat grown at search
  • Richmond, Va.; flour shipped to search
  • salt; given to slaves search
  • slaves; flour for search
  • slaves; salt for search
  • snap beans search
  • squash (vegetable) search
  • straw search
  • tobacco; grown at Poplar Forest search
  • Tomahawk plantation (part of TJ’s Poplar Forest estate); instructions for management of search
  • Virginia; brandy production in search
  • wheat; at Poplar Forest search