Thomas Cramer to Thomas Jefferson, [by 1 April 1822]
From Thomas Cramer
[by 1 Apr. 1822]
Sir
I have the honor to communicate to you the above resolve of the Agricultural Society of the Valley, which has been lately formed of which your friend Judge Holmes is President.1 I feel very much gratifyed, that it has fallen to my lott, to be the organ of commuenication of the Society, to a man distinguished for his love of Agriculture as well as all the civic virtues which adorns human nature, I remain with profound respect your Obt Hbe St
Thos Cramer
RC (DLC: TJ Papers, 221:39564); subjoined to enclosure; undated; endorsed by TJ (with the additional notation: “Agricultl soc.”) as a letter of 4 Mar. 1822 received 4 Apr. 1822 from Winchester and so recorded in SJL; with FC of TJ to Cramer, 7 Apr. [1822], beneath endorsement. RC (DLC); address cover only; with Dft of TJ to Thomas Leiper, 22 July 1824, on verso; addressed: “Thomas Jefferson Esqr near Charlotte’s Ville Albemarle County Va”; stamp canceled; postmarked Winchester, 1 Apr.
Thomas Cramer (b. ca. 1783), merchant and farmer, was a native of Ireland. By 1810 he lived in Frederick County, and he served as a captain in the county militia in 1814. Cramer dissolved a Winchester mercantile partnership in 1816, but he continued business independently until 1820. He helped establish the Bank of the Valley in 1817 and served as a director, 1818–23. Cramer owned three slaves in 1810, six in 1820, and eight in 1840. By 1838 he was a Frederick County justice of the peace. A farmer with five slaves in Marion County (later West Virginia) by 1850, Cramer lived there until at least 1868. His real estate and personal property in 1860 were worth $6,000 and $3,300, respectively (DNA: RG 29, CS, Frederick Co., 1810–40, Marion Co., 1850, 1850 slave schedules, 1860; Stuart Lee Butler, A Guide to Virginia Militia Units in the War of 1812 [1988], 87; Winchester Republican Constellation, 11 Jan. 1817; [1816–17 sess.], 67 [5 Feb. 1817]; Leesburg Genius of Liberty, 20 Jan. 1818; Winchester Gazette, 21 Oct. 1820; Richmond Enquirer, 21 Jan. 1823, 8 May 1838; Vi: Frederick Co. Chancery Causes, case 1875-007).
The Agricultural Society of the Valley was lately formed in Winchester at a 31 Dec. 1821 meeting. On 27 Jan. 1826 the Virginia General Assembly passed an act incorporating the “President and Trustees of the Agricultural Society of the Valley in Virginia,” whose objectives were “the improvement of agriculture, and such mechanic arts as are connected therewith, together with the promotion of domestic manufactures, and the rearing of all kinds of useful domestic animals” (Richmond Enquirer, 26 Jan. 1822; [1825–26 sess.], 86–7).
Cramer also sent James Madison an undated letter around this time with a 4 Mar. 1822 resolution electing him an honorary member of the Agricultural Society of the Valley (Madison, Papers, Retirement Ser., 2:487–8).
1. Omitted period at right margin editorially supplied.
Index Entries
- Agricultural Society of the Valley (Winchester); and J. Madison search
- Agricultural Society of the Valley (Winchester); described search
- Agricultural Society of the Valley (Winchester); TJ elected a member of search
- agriculture; Agricultural Society of the Valley search
- Cramer, Thomas; as secretary of Agricultural Society of the Valley search
- Cramer, Thomas; identified search
- Cramer, Thomas; letter from search
- Holmes, Hugh; as president of Agricultural Society of the Valley search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Honors & Memberships; Agricultural Society of the Valley, membership search
- Madison, James (1751–1836); and Agricultural Society of the Valley search