John Martin Baker to Thomas Jefferson, 16 July 1809
From John Martin Baker
Washington City July 16th 1809
Sir,
I have the Honor to make known to You, that in all the present month, I shall embark with my family for the Balearick Islands; (via Algiers) immediately on my arrival at Majorca, I shall have the satisfaction Sir, to select, and Ship per the very first opportunity, the Two Pipes Albaflor wine, and address them, as you were pleased to direct me, and now take the liberty Sir, to inclose a list of the other articles the production of the Island of Majorca, any of which, that you may please to have sent; I pray you to oblige me with your order, I will have the gratification to select them, see them packed, and Shipped. Mrs. Baker prays you Sir, to accept her most Respectful Compliments, and joins me with our Children in prayers for your Preservation, Health and Happiness.
John Martin Baker.
Mrs Baker desires me to say Sir, that she would be highly gratified with the view of Monticello, to have it inlayd in Landscape, at Majorca
RC (MHi); below signature: “To The Most Honorable Thomas Jefferson. Monticello”; postscript on separate page; endorsed by TJ as received 20 July 1809 and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure not found.
John Martin Baker (d. 1841), a naturalized American citizen born in British-controlled Majorca, was appointed United States consul for the islands of Minorca, majorca, and Ibiza by TJ in February 1803. In 1807 he received an additional appointment as consul at Tarragona, and in May 1808 TJ selected him to carry dispatches to France. In January 1809 Baker became a State Department clerk, but in October of that year he embarked for the Mediterranean and served in his consulships until his return to the United States in 1816. During his service in the Balearic Islands he regularly shipped groceries and wine to TJ, who subscribed to Baker’s book, A View of the Commerce of the Mediterranean (Washington, 1819; , 11 [no. 705]). In 1831 he was appointed consul at Rio de Janeiro, and in 1840 he became consul for the port of Nuevitas in Cuba (James Madison to TJ, 20 Aug. 1802 [DLC]; , Sec. of State Ser., 4:397; , 1:441–2, 2:60, 4:178, 193, 5:298, 301 [4, 8 Feb. 1803, 2 Dec. 1807, 7, 30 Dec. 1831, 8–11 July 1840]; Baker to TJ, 28 Aug. 1805 [DLC]; , 2:1352n; Baker to TJ, 1 June 1813, 29 Aug. 1817; TJ to Baker, 8 Mar. 1819; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, 21, 23 July 1841).
Index Entries
- Albaflor (wine) search
- Baker, Harriet Weissenfels (John Martin Baker’s wife); requests landscape view of Monticello search
- Baker, John Martin; and TJ’s order for goods from Majorca search
- Baker, John Martin; identified search
- Baker, John Martin; letters from search
- Balearic Islands search
- groceries; purchased by TJ search
- groceries; suppliers of search
- Monticello (TJ’s estate); landscape view of search
- wine; Albaflor search