401Thomas Jefferson to George Richardson, 16 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of Dec. 22. has been duly recieved. if you wish to write to your brother in Jamaica & will send the letter to me I will endeavor to get a conveyance for it. should you propose to go to Jamaica , it is presumed a passage can always be had from any of the seaport towns, where also you can be al inoculated with the kine pox before your departure. Baltimore or Norfolk would I suppose...
402Thomas Jefferson to Eli Alexander, 17 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
When I saw you at court I requested you would not meddle with any grounds without the 8. fields of Shadwell till we should settle our difference as to Lego . yet in my ride to-day I percieve you have ploughed a considerable piece of ground outside of those fields. if we cannot settle this question between ourselves, or by disinterested neighbors, I shall not decline the umpirage of the law,...
403Thomas Jefferson to John Barnes, 17 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
It is long since I have had occasion to write to you. your favor of the 12 th now furnishes it. the annual remittance to my friend Kosciuzko shall never wait a moment for my quota of it. accordingly I now inclose you a letter to Mess rs Gibson & Jefferson who will thereupon pay the sum you shall call for. it’s precise amount I cannot fix so well as you can. you know what would have been the...
404Thomas Jefferson to Dabney Carr, 17 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote some time ago to mr Barlow to ask the favor of him to lend me an instrument called a Dynamometer, and took the liberty of saying you were to be in Washington shortly and would be so kind as to bring it. it is in a box about the size of that of a surveying compas. will you be so good as to call on him, & take charge of it if he can spare it to me. Your’s affectionately PoC ( MHi ); at...
405Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 17 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 10 th came safely to hand, and I now inclose you a letter from Francis . he continues in excellent health, and employs his time well. he has written to his Mama & grandmama . I observe that the H. of R. are sensible of the ill effect of the long speeches in their house on their proceedings. but they have a worse effect in the disgust they excite among the people, and the...
406Thomas Jefferson to George Jefferson, 17 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Since mine of the 3 d inst. I have drawn on you on the 11 th for 30.D. paiable to John Butler or order, and for 20.D. paiable to Edmund Bacon or order. and this day I have inclosed to mr Barnes a letter addressed to you, desiring you to answer his draught for a sum of between 3. & 400.D. which is not exactly known to me, but will be fixed by him. Affectionately Yours
407Thomas Jefferson to William Baldwin (Draft), 19 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 7 th inst. has been duly recieved, with the pamphlet inclosed, for which I return you my thanks. nothing can be more exactly & seriously true than what is there stated; that but a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, & perverted into an engine for...
408Thomas Jefferson to William Baldwin (Final State), 19 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson returns to mr Baldwin his thanks for the copy of the letters of Cerus & Amicus just recieved from him he sincerely wishes it’s circulation among the society of friends may have the effect mr Baldwin expects of abating their prejudices against the government of their country. but he apprehends their disease is too deeply seated: that identifying themselves with the mother society...
409Resolutions of the Orleans Territorial Legislature, [19 January 1810] (Jefferson Papers)
Resolutions. Résolutions. Resolved by the Legislative Council and by the house of Representatives of the Territory of Orleans , that the long, important and faithfull public services of Thomas Jefferson , late President of the United States , entitle him to the thanks of a gratefull nation. Résolu par le Conseil Legislatif
410Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Ritchie, 19 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson returns mr Ritchie thanks for the copy of mr Wood’s New theory of the rotation of the earth which he has safely recieved. he thinks he was indebted to mr Ritchie some time ago for a copy of Peter Plimley’s letters also, and that he has failed to make his acknolegements for it. he begs him now to recieve them, and to assure him that he has rarely met with such a treat. he...
411Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Main, 20 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 10 th inst. has been duly recieved & I now return you the paper it inclosed with some subscriptions to it. I go rarely from home, & therefore have little opportunity of promoting subscriptions. these are of the friends who visit me, and if you will send their copies, when ready, to me, I will distribute them, and take on myself the immediate remittance of the price to you. I...
412Thomas Jefferson to Jesse Perry, 20 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Watkins , who superintended & worked with my out-carpenters, has left me this year. he was employed in such carpenter’s work as the plantations required, and I gave him 150. Dollars a year, his provisions & a house to live in. I do not know on what footing you are at present employed with your brother , & certainly do not mean to break in on any arrangement of his with you. but if it...
413Thomas Jefferson to John M. Perry, 20 January 1810, with Notes on Agreement with Perry, 19 April 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
There is an old affair between mr Magruder & myself which I really had supposed done with, but he has lately revived it. he furnished me with some plank, & charged such extravagant prices as never had been given in this neighborhood by the half. I paid him according to the highest prices I had ever paid, amounting to £27–9 and wrote him that if he was not satisfied with that I would replace...
414Thomas Jefferson to Thomas T. Hewson, 21 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I have duly recieved your favor of the 8 th inst. informing me that the American Philosophical society had been pleased again unanimously to re-elect me their President. for these continued testimonies of their favor, I can but renew the expressions of my continued gratitude, and the assurances of my entire devotion to their service. if in my present situation, I can, in any wise, forward...
415Thomas Jefferson to Jonathan & Thomas Foster, 23 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson returns his thanks to Mess rs J. & Thomas Foster for the Prospectus of their paper. he would willingly have become a subscriber, but that, attached to reading of a very different kind, & to other pursuits, he has ceased to read newspapers & consequently to subscribe for them. he prays them therefore to recieve this apology, with his best wishes for the success of their paper &...
416Thomas Jefferson to Erastus Granger, 23 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson presents his compliments to mr Granger with his thanks for the two specimens of Indian eloquence which he was pleased to send him, & are safely recieved. they are both of a very high order of merit, & especially that of Red Jackett . he is very sensible of this mark of attention from mr Granger & of the kind sentiments expressed in his letter & prays him to accept the assurances...
417Thomas Jefferson to Paul Hamilton, 23 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed letter would have been more properly addressed to yourself, or perhaps to the Secretary at War . I have no knolege at all of the writer; but suppose the best use I can make of his letter, as to himself or the public, is to inclose it to you for such notice only as the public utility may entitle it to. perhaps I should ask the favor of you to communicate it, with the samples, &...
418Thomas Jefferson to Joel Barlow, 24 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 15 th is recieved & I am disconsolate on learning my mistake as to your having a dynamometer. my object being to bring a plough to be made here to the same standard of comparison by which Guillaume’s has been proved, t nothing less would be satisfactory than an instrument made by the same standard. I must import one therefore, but how, in the present state of non-intercourse is...
419Thomas Jefferson to Gideon Granger, 24 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I was sorry, by a letter from mr Barlow the other day, to learn the ill state of your health, and I sincerely wish that this may find you better. young, temperate, & prudent as you are, great confidence may be reposed in the provision nature has made for the restoration of order in our system when it has become deranged; she effects her object by strengthening the whole system, towards which...
420Thomas Jefferson to John Garland Jefferson, 25 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Dec. 12. was long coming to hand. I am much concerned to learn that any disagreeable impression was made on your mind by the circumstances which are the subject of your letter. permit me first to explain the principles which I had laid down for my own observance. in a government like ours it is the duty of the Chief-magistrate, in order to enable himself to do all the good which...
421Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 26 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 21 st brought to my mind Col o Bentley’s business. I immediately examined the papers, & calculated the balance due, a small one, and wrote to mr James Pleasants a statement of the account, authorising him on paiment of the balance to Gibson & Jefferson in Richmond , to convey the lands to Col o Bentley discharged of all further claims on my part. Francis
422Thomas Jefferson to James Pleasants, 26 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
You were one of the Commissioners (and now I believe the only surviving one) for carrying into execution a decree of the court of Chancery for the sale of a tract of land in Goochland mortgaged to me by the late W m Ronald to secure a debt. you are therefore acquainted with the case without further explanation. I recieved some time ago, through mr Eppes , a request from Col o Bentley ,...
423Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson’s Account with William Bentley, 26 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Copy of the statement of paiments furnished by Col o Bentley . ‘the following paiments have been made to mr Hanson , as p r statement given by him to the Commissioners, & by one of them to me. £ s d 1797. Aug. 5 . then rec d through the hands of
424Thomas Jefferson to David Campbell, 28 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of Nov. 5. was two months on it’s passage to me. I am very thankful for all the kind expressions of friendship in it: & I consider it a great felicity, through a long and trying course of life, to have retained the esteem of my early friends unabated. I find in old age that the impressions of youth are the deepest & most indelible. some friends indeed have left me by the way,...
425Thomas Jefferson to John Barnes, 29 January 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 25 th came to hand last night & I am quite satisfied to pay the 2. months interest delayed by my forgetting I had the certificates. you will therefore be pleased to consider the interest as beginning Apr. 1. 1809. and make your draught on Gibson & Jefferson for the year ending Apr. 1. 1810. of which I will give them advice ever Your’s affectionately PoC ( DLC : TJ Papers ,...
426Thomas Jefferson to John Hollins, 5 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your habits of kindness to me present you always first, when, wanting any thing from Baltimore , I look around for some one who will procure it for me. having made my last bow of Adieu to politicks, and emptied my head compleatly of all it’s concerns, I am become a mere farmer devoted to it from interest & inclination. we find plaister as beneficial to our lands as perhaps to any whatever, &...
427Thomas Jefferson to Jonathan Shoemaker, 6 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
It has been a sincere affliction to me to be so importunate with you on the subject of my rents, but my necessities; which I only partly explained to you, have forced it on me. I inclose for your perusal two letters recieved by the last mail , which will shew you how sorely I am pressed, and that the urgencies I have stated to you were really less than the truth. be so good as to return the...
428Thomas Jefferson to Eli Alexander, 7 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Our lease witheld the right of clearing within the limits of Shadwell for a reason, well considered, that there is not now as much woodland on the tract as will maintain it in fences and firewood. it gives a right to cut rails & firewood leaving the smaller growth to supply it’s place in time, and being it’s only chance of supply renders it indispensable that that should be left, and the...
429Thomas Jefferson to John Harvie, 10 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favors of Jan. 1. and 12. are both recieved. mine of Dec. 28. had been written with a view to state on paper what was supposed to be agreed between us, & to invite a corresponding statement from yourself, that we might see if we understood one another. I suppose I have been unfortunate in the choice of terms used in my letter, because I find doubts still in your mind which that was...
430Thomas Jefferson to Caesar A. Rodney, 10 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I have to thank you for your favor of the 31 st ult. which is just now recieved . it has been peculiarly unfortunate for us personally, that the portion in the history of mankind, at which we were called to take a share in the direction of their affairs, was such an one as that history has never before presented. at any other period, the even-handed justice we have observed towards all...
431Thomas Jefferson to Eli Alexander, 12 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Randolph will ride with you any day you please to the lands on Lego , & confer on the accomodation you propose. any thing which he thinks I might agree to without too much injury, I shall willingly agree to. In order to furnish you with proper evidence of the grounds which on Saturday last I agreed you should clear, I observe that the opening of the Upperfield over the road at Shadwell has...
432Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Knox, 12 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Jan. 22. loitered on the way somewhere so as not to come to my hand until the 5 th inst. the title of the tract of Buchanan which you propose to translate was familiar to me, & I possessed the tract; but no circumstance had ever led me to look into it. yet I think nothing more likely than that, in the free spirit of that age and state of society, principles should be avowed,...
433Thomas Jefferson to James Lyle, 12 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I have recieved your letter of Jan. 24. and recieved it with sincere affliction, and with the more on account of the utter incapacity in which it finds me to yield any prompt compliance, with your call, a call to which former indulgencies render it very painful to me not to give effect. I will explain to you my situation. when the end of my service in the government was approaching, I resolved...
434Thomas Jefferson to Edward Coles, 16 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson presents his friendly respects to mr Coles and wishing the inclosed to get to the hands of mr Treat while in Washington , & not knowing where there to direct to him, he takes the liberty of putting it under cover to mr Coles , in the expectation that mr Treat being of the army, & lately from the Arkansa , may be known at the President’s , or certainly at the
435Thomas Jefferson to John Hollins, 16 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Altho the late change of Weather from cold to warm has probably relieved you from an embargo so much more effectual than the one we tried, yet I take the chance of the post to anticipate the departure of the plaister and to pray it may be sent in the rough according to the advise of mr Pitt as mentioned in your’s of the 9 th . we are in the habit of grinding it at my own mills. P. Carr is...
436Thomas Jefferson to John Breck Treat, 16 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
The above is a copy of a former letter to you acknoleging the reciept of your Meteorological observations from Arkansa & of the disposition of them. the letter of the Philosophical society was inclosed in it. not knowing a better channel, I inclosed mine to Gov r Claiborne , requesting he would transmit it. the same mail which brings me your favor of the 5 th inst. from Washington , brings me...
437Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on Agreement with John Harvie, [ca. 17 February 1810] (Jefferson Papers)
M r Harvey’s sale of Belmont to Taylor is at 12½ D £3–15 p r acre. his deeds & patents call for about 2300. a s but a survey he had made makes but about 2000. a s . he is to recieve 2000 £ in July & 1000 £ a year after till the whole is paid the whole will be from 7500.£ to 8625 £ to obtain this price he gave up stock & rent of about £500. value as he supposes. Rogers is to fix this value, &...
438Thomas Jefferson’s Quitclaim to John Harvie, 18 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Know ye that Thomas Jefferson of Monticello in the county of Albemarle in consideration of the sum of one dollar to him in hand paid by John Harvie of the county of Rockingham , and of sundry covenants entered into between the said Thomas & John, doth by these presents remise, release, & for ever quitclaim for himself & his heirs unto the said John & his heirs, all the right, title, & claim...
439Thomas Jefferson to Charles Johnston, 18 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Burgess Griffin informs me he has sold you my crop of tobacco made at the Poplar forest the last year, for which you will make paiment there, or preferably in Richmond , as far as may be convenient to me. be pleased therefore to pay to mr Burgess Griffin the sum of seventy four Dollars 29. cents, and in addition to this the proportion of the whole amount as it shall become due
440Thomas Jefferson to James Martin, 18 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Jan. 15. was very long coming to hand, the servant who brought it having been upwards of a fortnight on his way. the public post is the safest & speediest conveyance. before I recieved it I had written to mr Griffin that if mr Scott’s trespass should not prevent mr Harrison from making his first establishment,
441Thomas Jefferson to Eli Alexander, 20 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Randolph has communicated to me your propositions of compromise which he committed to writing from memory. to some of these I accede, to some I cannot. 1. I consent to your retaining the open grounds between Shadwell & the road you described for 2. years. 2. to your having the crop of wheat you have sown in the belted lands. 3. to your tending in tob o this year the other belted lands...
442Enclosure: Proposed Agreement between Thomas Jefferson and Eli Alexander, [ca. 20 February 1810] (Jefferson Papers)
Articles of compromise and agreement between Thomas Jefferson of the one part & Eli Alexander on the other, in addition to the original articles of agreement whereby the said Thomas Je leased to the said Eli his farm on the tract of land called Shadwell , and a certain portion of his tract called Lego . It is agreed that the road crossing the Shadwell branch near it’s mouth passing thence...
443Thomas Jefferson to William G. D. Worthington, 24 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I have to thank you for the pamphlet you have been so kind as to send me, and especially for it’s contents so far as they respect myself personally. I had before read your speech in the newspapers, with great satisfaction, & the more as, besides the able defence of the government, I saw that an absent and retired servant would still find, in the justice of the public counsellers, friendly...
444Thomas Jefferson to Lemuel J. Alston, 25 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the has been duly recieved; & it would have given me great pleasure to have been able to inform you that I possessed the Merino race of sheep, because I should then have certainly had the greater pleasure of furnishing you with them. I did possess a race of Spanish sheep which Robert Morris had recieved as Merinos. they had some valuable properties; but having sent the wool for...
445Thomas Jefferson to William A. Burwell, 25 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 16 th has given me real uneasiness. I was certainly very unfortunate in the choice of my expression when I hit upon one which could excite any doubt of my unceasing affections for you. in observing that you might use the information as you should find proper, I meant merely that you might communicate it to the President , the Secretaries of state or war , or to young mr Lee , as...
446Thomas Jefferson to Archibald Thweatt, 25 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 16 th is recieved, and I am delighted with the sight of the probat of Reuben Skelton’s will. nothing had ever given me such a fit of the horrors as the idea of settling an account of the administration of Reuben Skelton’s estate. I see no necessity now for the search proposed into mr Wayles’s papers of which this I believe was the chief object. I am obliged to be in Bedford on...
447Thomas Jefferson to John Barnes, 26 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letters to Gen l Kosciuzko ha covering bills of exchange for £200. sterling have been duly recieved. I have inclosed the 1 st to the Secretary of states office to be put under cover to General Armstrong with the dispatches of the department & by the safest conveyance occurring. I propose some time hence to ask a conveyance for the seconds second in the same way, unless you think of any...
448Thomas Jefferson to John Graham, 26 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed letter to Gen l Kosciuzko covers a confidential one from myself, as also a letter & bill of exchange from mr Barnes , remitting the profits of his funds in this country. a safe conveyance therefore is all important. I know of none which can be trusted, but such as you may embrace for your public despatches to Gen l Armstrong . will you do me the favor to put it under the same...
449Thomas Jefferson to Tadeusz Kosciuszko, 26 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I have rarely written to you; never but by safe conveyances; & avoiding every thing political, lest, coming from one in the station I then held, it might be imputed injuriously to our country, or perhaps even excite jealousy of you. hence my letters were necessarily dry. retired now from public concerns, totally unconnected with them, and avoiding all curiosity about what is done or intended,...
450Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Milligan, 28 February 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved duly your favor of the 3 d and with it the 3. vols of the Parent’s assistant, for which I thank you. it was very acceptable to my grandchildren & therefore to me. I shall also be glad to recieve the Tales of fashionable life when published. I had delayed asking you to forward your account until you could send me the 7 th & 8 th vols of the Scientific dialogues. but as it seems it...