Thomas Jefferson Papers

Thomas Jefferson’s Promissory Note to Edmund Bacon, 7 April 1813

Promissory Note to Edmund Bacon

1813. Apr. 7.

I promise to pay to Edmund Bacon or order on or before the 1st day of August next three1 hundred and seventy Dollars for value recieved. I say 370. Dollars, witness my hand this seventh day of April eighteen hundred & thirteen

Th: Jefferson

the above belongs to John Bacon of the County of Botetourt to whose credit the money must be Applyed when recevd agreeable to Assignment

Martin Dawson & Co

MS (Roberta B. Coscia, Memphis, Tenn., 2007); edge frayed; in TJ’s hand, with postscript in Martin Dawson’s hand; signed by TJ and Dawson; endorsed by Dawson: “Thomas Jefferson Esqr to Edmund Bacon} Specialty due 1st Augt 1813 $370”; notation on verso in Dawson’s hand, signed by Edmund Bacon: “for value recvd I assign to John Bacon three hundred & Twenty Seven Dollars and twelve Cents of the within to him Given under my hand Apl the 7th 1813”; at foot of verso in Dawson’s hand:

“due 1 Augt 1813. 327.12 
Int to 1 Aug 1815  39.26 
[366.38]”;
additional memorandum by TJ on verso: “Credits to be given on this bond:
D
 cash 30 
 a coachee [i.e., a lightweight horse carriage (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 )] & smith’s work  150.
1822. Oct. 16.  various orders assumed to wit
 D
to John Winn  40
John R. Jones  96.36
Branham & Bibb   16.62
Martin Dawson  80.
412.98.”

In his own record of this transaction, Edmund Bacon confirmed that on 7 Apr. 1813 he had assigned $327 of TJ’s note to John Bacon (ViU: Edmund Bacon Memorandum Book, 1802–22). TJ was not notified until 8 Oct. 1815 that $42.88 was still due to Edmund Bacon and that the remaining $327.12 had been assigned to John Bacon (MB description begins James A. Bear Jr. and Lucia C. Stanton, eds., Jefferson’s Memorandum Books: Accounts, with Legal Records and Miscellany, 1767–1826, 1997, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series description ends , 2:1315).

1Reworked from “one.”

Index Entries

  • Bacon, Edmund; TJ’s promissory note to search
  • Bacon, John search
  • Bramham & Bibb (Albemarle Co. firm) search
  • carriages; coachee search
  • Dawson, Martin, & Co. (Milton firm) search
  • Dawson, Martin; merchant search
  • Jefferson, Thomas; Business & Financial Affairs; Promissory Note to Edmund Bacon search
  • Jones, John R. search
  • Winn, John; merchant search