To John Jay from Peter Augustus Jay, 19 February 1819
From Peter Augustus Jay
New York 19 Feb. 1819
My dear Father
I left our Friends well at Rye & came to town on Wednesday. Little Mary has entirely recovered, & all our Family are well. William his sitting for his Picture & expects to return in a few days.1 In the mean time he has sent back the waggon to Rye. Anna is better & Augusta very well. Mr. Munros Children have all recovered from the Scarlet Fever.
A Dinner or Ball is to be given here to Genl. Jackson2 & Mr Kings son Charles is one of those who are promoting it. A new paper is also to be published called the American in which the Errors of the federal Party are to be exposed.3 It is to be edited it is said by Johnson Verplanck James Hamilton & Charles King. Mr Clinton meets with great opposition at Albany. It will require all his talents to preserve his ascendancy. The Council have adjourned till the 2d March & I have heard nothing more of the Recordership.4 Our best love to Nancy. I am my dear father, Your Affect Son,
Peter Augustus Jay
John Jay Esqr
ALS, NNC (EJ: 06225). Addressed: “John Jay Esqr / Bedford / Westchester Co / N.Y.” Stamped. Endorsed: “P.A. Jay / 19 Feby. / ansd. 22 / new Paper agt. Federalists”.
1. Probably for the portrait attributed to John Vanderlyn.
2. Andrew Jackson visited New York City and was given an engraved gold snuff box by the mayor and aldermen on 23 Feb. 1819, for his military service. See Robert Cray, “’The Most Valiant in Defense of His Country’: Andrew Jackson’s Bequest and the Politics of Courage, 1819–1857,” Journal of the Early Republic 38 (2018): 231–60.
William Jay, by John Vanderlyn, 1819. (John Jay Homestead State Historic Site, Katonah, NY; New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation [JJ.1974.132])
3. The American of New York City was launched on 3 March 1819 as a semiweekly. Charles King served as editor alongside James A. Hamilton and Johnston Verplanck (1789–1829).
4. See PAJ to JJ, 28 Jan. 1819, above.