Thomas Jefferson Papers
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Thomas Jefferson to Jeremiah A. Goodman, 23 December 1814

To Jeremiah A. Goodman

Monticello Dec. 23. 14

Dr Sir

James arrived last night with your letter of the 19th. that of the 8th had been recd a day or two before, and that [of]1 the 3d about a week. I will by our next mail desire mr Gibson to inclose you 130.D. for mr Poindexter by mail, which I suppose you will recieve in a fortnight. I have a letter from mr Radford desiring the road thro’ his land may not be opened until the court establishes it, assuring me he will make no opposition. we must let that part lie then, & finish the rest. the account of your wheat crop is really disheartening. after taking out the seed sown, it does not give 2. for 1. the corn too is short. but it is sufficient if dealt out economically. by which I do not mean that any thing is to be under-fed. I know that neither people nor horses can work unless well fed, nor can hogs or sheep be raised. but full experience here has proved that 12. barrels for every laborer will carry the year through if kept under lock & key. we have tried this year the grinding the corn for the fattening hogs, & boiling the meal into mush. it is surprising how much sooner they have fattened. we think we have saved one half. the same saving might be made by grinding the corn for your horses and mixing the meal with chopped straw. the sending only 20. blankets was a mistake of mrs Randolph’s. the other 2. shall go by the waggon. I hope you are hurrying the tobacco. Davy, Bartlet, Nace & Eve set out this morning for Poplar Forest. let them start on their return with the hogs the day after your holidays end, which I suppose will be on Wednesday night, so that they may set out Thursday morning. caution them against whipping the hogs. the last year there was one so bruised all over, that not a single piece of it could be used, & several were so injured that many pieces of them were lost. I am very glad to learn that the negroes have recieved their clothes. Accept my best wishes

Th: Jefferson

RC (NN: George Arents Tobacco Collection); addressed from “Th: Jefferson” to “Mr Jeremiah A. Goodman Poplar Forest Bedford by Davy, Bartlet Nace & Eve.”

Missing letters from Goodman to TJ of 3, 8, 19, and 21 Dec. 1814 are recorded in SJL as received 14, 20, 22 Dec. 1814, and 7 Jan. 1815, respectively, with the last three letters described as coming from Poplar Forest.

On 29 July 1814 Goodman had mutually bound himself and TJ to pay Dabney poindexter £39 by Christmas Day “for value received.” Goodman made a partial payment of $100 for TJ on 11 Jan. 1815, an additional payment of £8.16 on an unspecified date, and a final payment of 4 shillings “in full of the within bond” on 29 July 1815 (MS in CSmH: JF; in Goodman’s hand and signed by him “for thos jefferson”; witnessed by Samuel Poindexter; signed receipts on verso in Dabney Poindexter’s hand, with the first one witnessed by James Poindexter; endorsed by Dabney Poindexter: “Bond of Jeremiah A. Goodman & Thomas Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ: “Poindexter Dabney 1814. Dec. 25.”).

The letter from William Radford to TJ concerning the road thro’ his land is presumably that of 8 Dec. 1814, not found, which is recorded in SJL as received 20 Dec. 1814 from Lynchburg. SJL also records missing letters from TJ to Radford, 24 Dec. 1814, and Radford to TJ, 7 Jan. 1815, with the latter received 18 Jan. 1815 from Poplar Forest.

TJ expected the Christmas holidays at Poplar Forest to end on Wednesday, 28 Dec. 1814.

1Omitted word editorially supplied.

Index Entries

  • agriculture; and fodder search
  • Bartlet (TJ’s slave; b.1786); delivers letter search
  • Bartlet (TJ’s slave; b.1786); transports hogs search
  • beds search
  • blankets; for slaves search
  • Christmas; holiday from labor during search
  • clothing; for slaves search
  • corn; as fodder search
  • corn; at Poplar Forest search
  • corn; for slaves search
  • Davy (TJ’s slave; b.1785); delivers letter search
  • Davy (TJ’s slave; b.1785); transports hogs search
  • Eve (TJ’s slave; b.1779); delivers letter search
  • Eve (TJ’s slave; b.1779); transports hogs search
  • fodder; for hogs search
  • fodder; for horses search
  • fodder; for sheep search
  • furniture; of slaves search
  • Gibson, Patrick; payments made for TJ search
  • Goodman, Jeremiah Augustus; and bond with D. Poindexter search
  • Goodman, Jeremiah Augustus; as Poplar Forest overseer search
  • Goodman, Jeremiah Augustus; letters from accounted for search
  • Goodman, Jeremiah Augustus; letters to search
  • horses; fodder for search
  • household articles; blankets search
  • James (TJ’s slave); delivers letter search
  • Jefferson, Thomas; Business & Financial Affairs; bond with D. Poindexter search
  • Monticello (TJ’s estate); hogs at search
  • Nace (TJ’s slave; b.1796); delivers letter search
  • Nace (TJ’s slave; b.1796); transports hogs search
  • overseers; TJ’s instructions to search
  • pigs; at Monticello search
  • pigs; at Poplar Forest search
  • pigs; transportation of search
  • Poindexter, Dabney; bond of with TJ and J. A. Goodman search
  • Poindexter, James; witnesses document search
  • Poindexter, Samuel; witnesses document search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); beds and blankets for slaves at search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); clothing for slaves at search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); corn grown at search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); hogs at search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); Overseers at; TJ’s instructions to search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); roads search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); tobacco grown at search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); wheat grown at search
  • Radford, William; letters from accounted for search
  • Radford, William; letter to accounted for search
  • Radford, William; road through land of search
  • Randolph, Martha Jefferson (Patsy; TJ’s daughter; Thomas Mann Randolph’s wife); mentioned search
  • roads; at Poplar Forest search
  • seeds; wheat search
  • sheep; fodder for search
  • slaves; blankets and beds for search
  • slaves; clothing for search
  • slaves; corn for search
  • slaves; holidays for search
  • straw search
  • tobacco; grown at Poplar Forest search
  • wheat; at Poplar Forest search
  • wheat; seeds search