Dabney S. Carr to Thomas Jefferson, 24 June 1819
From Dabney S. Carr
Baltimore 24th June 1819
Dear Sir,
Mr Hollins being obliged to be absent from the City this evening, desired me to enclose the within letter to you; which was delivered to him to day by the two Italians who were sent you by Mr Appleton and arrived this day after a passage of ninety days from Leghorn in the Brig Strong. We were unable to get them on board the Steam Boat for Norfolk this morning owing to their not having performed Quarantine; and Mr H. now thinks it best that they should go on in the Stage, which they promise to do on Sunday morning. As they are totally unacquainted with the English language, he thinks it best I shd accompany them as far as Washington, from which place they will go in the Steam boat to Frederickbg consigned to Mr Robt Patton or in case of his [absence?] to Mr Garrett Minor, either of which gentlemen [shall?] forward them to you. An account of their expen[se]s shall be made out and forwarded so soon as Mr Appletons drafts come to hand. They should have left this tomorrow morning but that they wished a little recreation after so long a voyage; and there is not much danger of their being induced to remain here as wages of all sorts are very low here at present. Wishing them a safe arrival at Monticello where I hope they may find you and yours all well
Dabney S. Carr
RC (ViU: TJP-CC); torn at seal; addressed: “Thomas Jefferson Esqr near Charlottesville Virginia”; franked; postmarked Baltimore, 24 June; endorsed by TJ as received 30 June 1819 and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: Thomas Appleton to TJ, 25 Feb. 1819, and enclosures.
Dabney S. Carr (1802–54), attorney and public official, was born in Albemarle County, the son of TJ’s nephew Peter Carr. By the age of fifteen he moved to Baltimore to work for his uncle Samuel Smith in the mercantile firm of S. Smith & Buchanan. He studied law and was a practicing attorney by 1824. Two years later Carr participated in the public effort to raise funds to ease TJ’s financial distress. In 1827 he founded and edited the Baltimore Republican and Commercial Advertiser, a newspaper in which he strongly supported Andrew Jackson’s 1828 presidential campaign. Following his election, Jackson appointed Carr naval officer for the district of Baltimore. He immediately sold the newspaper and held his new position until 1843. In the latter year President John Tyler named Carr the United States minister resident at Constantinople (later Istanbul), where he served for six years before returning to Baltimore. He died in Charlottesville and is buried at Monticello (; ViU: CC; , 160; Margaret Nicholas to Jane H. Nicholas Randolph, 7 Dec. 1817 [ViU: ER]; Matchett’s Baltimore Directory, for 1824 [Baltimore, 1824], 51; Carr to Thomas Ritchie and Claiborne W. Gooch, 29 Mar. 1826 [ViHi: Gooch Family Papers]; DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1825–29; , esp. 7:65–6; Baltimore Patriot & Mercantile Advertiser, 16 Apr. 1829; , 4:47, 90, 6:51, 62, 195, 209, 8:110 [14 Jan., 12 Apr. 1830, 14, 30 Apr. 1842, 18 Dec. 1843, 11 Jan. 1844, 4 Jan. 1850]; Matchett’s Baltimore Director for 1851 [1851], 51; Richmond Daily Dispatch, 29 Mar. 1854; Richmond Enquirer, 31 Mar., 4 Apr. 1854; gravestone inscription in Monticello graveyard).
The Baltimore Patriot & Mercantile Advertiser of 23 June 1819 announced the arrival on that day of the brig strong, “78 days from Leghorn.”
Index Entries
- Appleton, Thomas; and stonecutters for Central College–University of Virginia search
- Baltimore, Md.; stagecoach from search
- Baltimore, Md.; wages in search
- boats; steamboats search
- Carr, Dabney S. (TJ’s grandnephew); and stonecutters search
- Carr, Dabney S. (TJ’s grandnephew); identified search
- Carr, Dabney S. (TJ’s grandnephew); letter from search
- carriages; stagecoaches search
- Hollins, John; and stonecutters search
- Italy; stonecutters from search
- Minor, Garrett (of Fredericksburg) search
- Patton, Robert (d.1828) search
- Raggi, Giacomo; as stonecutter for University of Virginia search
- Raggi, Michele; as stonecutter for University of Virginia search
- Strong (brig) search
- Virginia, University of; Construction and Grounds; stonecutters for search