James Madison Papers
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From James Madison to James Madison, Sr., 5 June 1784

To James Madison, Sr.

Richmond June 5th. 1784.

Hond Sir

I have disposed of the tobacco entrusted to me for 40/. per Ct. but receive in hand no more than will be delivered by Mr. Craig. The residue will be paid before I leave this place. I inclose a draught on S. J. from Col: Harvey, for £200 for Which I have credited Mr. Anderson on his bond. Mr. Anderson could not pay the balance now, but expects to do it shortly. The draught & the remittance will I hope with such addition as you will be able to make, redeem your bond out of the hands of Mr. Jones. I have applied to Genl. Wood for Majr. Hite’s warrant. He promises to get it if possible, before Mr. Craig sets out. If he does it will be forwarded. I have laid Majr. Lee’s case before the House and it has been referred to the Committee of propositions. The mass of business before this Committee & my avocations from it to other Committees have delayed it hitherto. Having but a moment to write this I must refer to Mr. Craig for the news of the Session.1 The House of Delegates have agreed to postpone the June tax till Jany. It is not improbable that the Senate may require 1/2 to be collected at an earlier period.2 Mr. Winslow3 will probably be glad to be apprized of these circumstances. Remember me affecty. to the family & accept of the dutiful respects of your Son

J. Madison Jr.

RC (DLC). Addressed to Colonel Madison at Orange. Docketed many years later by JM.

1“Mr. Craig” was probably the Reverend Elijah Craig (Papers of Madison description begins William T. Hutchinson et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (8 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). description ends , I, 183 n. 7). “S. J.” was Captain Samuel Jones. Colonel John Harvie (ibid., I, 188–89, nn. 1, 2) was at this time register of the Virginia land office. “Mr. Anderson” was in all likelihood William Anderson, of Hanover County (ibid., I, 317 n. 13). James Wood represented Frederick County in the House of Delegates. “Majr.” Isaac Hite was JM’s brother-in-law. Maj. John Lee (1743–1802) was the brother of Mary Willis Lee, who about 1780 had married JM’s brother Ambrose (J[unie] Estelle Stewart King, comp., Abstract of Early Kentucky Wills and Inventories [Baltimore, 1961], p. 249). Lee’s petition for a 1,000-acre veteran’s warrant was presented to the House of Delegates on 26 May, found “reasonable,” and in time the warrant was issued (JHDV description begins Journal of the House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia; Begun and Held at the Capitol, in the City of Williamsburg. Beginning in 1780, the portion after the semicolon reads, Begun and Held in the Town of Richmond. In the County of Henrico. The journal for each session has its own title page and is individually paginated. The edition used is the one in which the journals for 1777–1786 are brought together in two volumes, with each journal published in Richmond in either 1827 or 1828 and often called the “Thomas W. White reprint.” description ends , May 1784, pp. 40, 46). By 1790, Lee had moved to Woodford County, Kentucky (Heinemann and Brumbaugh, First Census of Kentucky, 1790, p. 57).

2The postponement of taxes was a familiar legislative device in the General Assembly. A bill to suspend a 1782 tax measure was introduced in the House of Delegates on 24 May and was approved by the Senate on 8 June. It changed from 1 June 1784 to 31 Jan. 1785 the date when sheriffs and tax collectors could impose penalties on delinquent taxpayers (Hening, Statutes description begins William Waller Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619 (13 vols.; Richmond and Philadelphia, 1819–23). description ends , XI, 368–69).

3Benjamin Winslow, Orange County tax collector.

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