Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 24 February 1818
From Peter S. Du Ponceau
Philada 24th Feb. 1818
Dear Sir
I have received the Letter you have done me the honor to write to me on the 19th inst, including1 the parts of the History of the line, which were deficient in our MS. I regret that I innocently put you to the trouble of having 16 pages Copied more than was necessary. For the passage which You could not find, & for which you looked according to my letter to the date of the 9th of March is in fact under that of the 3d—The Cause of this mistake is that in our MS. the dates in the margin are omitted until the 10th of March, tho’ from that day they are regularly marked. I therefore considered all that preceded the 10th as belonging to the 9th, for there was nothing to direct me otherwise.
Permit me to anticipate the grateful thanks of the Committee for this valuable addition to your many favors.
Peter S, Du Ponceau
RC (DLC); at head of text: “Thomas Jefferson, Esqr”; endorsed by TJ as received 1 Mar. 1818 and so recorded in SJL. FC (PPAmP: Historical and Literary Committee Letterbook).
The passage from William Byrd’s “History of the Dividing Line” that TJ could not find actually appears under 1 Mar. 1728, not the 3d of March (, 172).
1. FC: “inclosing.”
Index Entries
- American Philosophical Society, Historical and Literary Committee; and W. Byrd manuscripts search
- American Philosophical Society, Historical and Literary Committee; TJ sends works to search
- Byrd, William (1674–1744); The History of the Dividing Line search
- Du Ponceau, Peter Stephen; and Historical and Literary Committee of the American Philosophical Society search
- Du Ponceau, Peter Stephen; letters from search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Books & Library; sends manuscripts search
- North Carolina; boundary with Va. search
- The History of the Dividing Line (W. Byrd [1674–1744]); manuscript of search
- Virginia; boundary of with N.C. search