Jeremiah Sullivan and Theophilus Pettigrue to Thomas Jefferson, 9 August 1819
From Jeremiah Sullivan and Theophilus Pettigrue
City Washington Augst 9th 1819
Sir.
Having learned from Mr Caridilli that you wanted a few Stone Cutters that understood something of Carving, we take the liberty of applying to you for a job at such, having worked at the Capital at Carving under the Inspection of Mr Andrea, to whom we refer you for a Character & we likewise beg leave to mention that we have some Patomac Marble both in slab and block which Mr Caridilli told us you wanted the marble is of the best quality, and the quickest manufactured,1 for we have done the only Mantle Pieces that has been done here, the Marble you can have at your own prices, Sir your answer is earnestly Requested as we are not going to stop here but a few days—
Jermh Sullivan & Thes Pettigrue
RC (ViU: TJP); in an unidentified hand; endorsed by TJ as received 16 Aug. 1819 and so recorded (with additional notation: “inclosed to S. A. Broeck.”) in SJL. Enclosed in TJ to Arthur S. Brockenbrough, 17 Aug. 1819.
Jeremiah Sullivan, stone carver, had by the summer of 1819 been employed for a year as an ornamentalist by Giovanni Andrei in Washington, D.C. In 1825 he and Thomas McIntosh sculpted relief panels for the United States Capitol. During the 1840s Sullivan oversaw work done at the Treasury building, offered his services to the Smithsonian Institution “as a superintendent of any branch of masonry or cut stone work,” and operated a “marble yard” (Andrei to TJ, 10 Aug. 1819; James M. Goode, The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington, D.C. [1974], 577; , 34:1101 [11 June 1840]; Anthony Reintzel, comp., The Washington Directory, and Governmental Register, for 1843 [1843], 83; William J. Rhees, The Smithsonian Institution: Journals of the Board of Regents, Reports of Committees, Statistics, Etc. [1879], 31).
Theophilus Pettigrue, stone carver, resided on Capitol Hill in Washington until at least 1822 (DNA: RG 29, CS, Washington, D.C., 1820; Judah Delano, The Washington Directory [Washington, 1822], 64).
1. Manuscript: “macfactured.”
Index Entries
- Andrei, Giovanni; sculptor for U.S. Capitol search
- building materials; marble search
- Capitol, U.S.; marble for search
- Capitol, U.S.; sculptors at search
- Cardelli, Peter (Pietro); and sculptors for University of Virginia search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Correspondence; letters of application and recommendation to search
- marble; Potomac search
- patronage; letters of application and recommendation to TJ search
- Pettigrue, Theophilus; identified search
- Pettigrue, Theophilus; letter from search
- Pettigrue, Theophilus; seeks employment at University of Virginia search
- Sullivan, Jeremiah; identified search
- Sullivan, Jeremiah; letter from search
- Sullivan, Jeremiah; seeks employment at University of Virginia search
- Virginia, University of; Construction and Grounds; stonecutters for search