51Thomas Jefferson to John Adlum, 13 January 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
While I lived in Washington you were so kind as to send me 2. bottles of wine made by yourself, the one from currans, the other from a native grape , called with you a fox-grape, discovered by mr Penn’s gardiner . the wine of this was as good as the best Burgundy and resembling it. in 1810. you added the great favor of sending me many cuttings. these were committed to the stage Mar. 13. on the...
52Thomas Jefferson to John Adlum, 20 April 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favors of Feb. 15. & Mar. 13. were recieved in due time, but were not acknoleged because I was daily in expectation of the cuttings which should have accompanied the latter. on the 15 th inst. I recieved yours of the 10 th & concluding the bundle of cuttings had been rejected at some post office as too large to pass thro’ that line, I had yesterday, in despair, written my acknolegements...
53Thomas 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...
54Thomas Jefferson to Eli Alexander, 17 April 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
Being much pressed by mr Higginbotham for a debt I owe him, and towards the discharge of which I promised him my rents, I paid over to him immediately the 200. D. you paid me the other day, & must sollicit the paiment of the balance of rent due since the 1 st day of December last . this I trust the sale of your crop of wheat will have enabled you to do, and that the request will be deemed...
55Enclosure: 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...
56Thomas Jefferson to Eli Alexander, 25 January 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
Having some heavy sums to pay at our March & April courts I should be glad if in the disposal of your crops you could have an eye to those periods so far as respects the rent now due. as the prices of wheat & flour are now good, and the earliest sales of tob o will undoubtedly be the best, I trust no loss can arise from early sales. being to set out for Bedford tomorrow or next day & to be...
57Thomas Jefferson to Eli Alexander, 22 December 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
When I met with you on Lego the other day I had not been on the lands before for 9. years, and was not from recollection of the ground perfectly possessed of the questions between us. I have since rode over them again & again with care. it will appear to any person on view of the ground, 1. that you have not cleared an acre; the distinction between clearing & belting being too familiar to...
58Thomas Jefferson to Eli Alexander, 10 June 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Bacon had to buy 60. barrels of corn for me, and he understood that you had agreed at court to deliver that quantity. but n a note which he sent you for a waggon load this morning being returned to him without any other answer, seemed to imply a negative of the bargain. my people at Lego having been without bread yesterday, & to be so to-day till we could buy it, I was obliged to send off...
59Thomas Jefferson to Eli Alexander, 27 May 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Having been obliged to purchase corn this year to the amount of 1200.D and great engagements on that account becoming due at our next court & from thence to the 1 st of July , I had otherwise arranged with mr Higginbotham to whom your last year’s rent had been destined, so as to avail myself of it for these pressing calls. and I counted on the reciept of it not only from the advanced season of...
60Thomas 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...
61Thomas Jefferson’s Memorandum on Lease to Eli Alexander, [ca. 7 March 1810] (Jefferson Papers)
The points on which Th: Jefferson insists with mr Alexander are the following, & he will, opposite to each, quote the very words of the lease. Words of the lease 1 st that the part of his tract of Lego leased to mr A. was adjoining to Shadwell ‘that the sd Eli shall have on lease E t c a part
62Thomas 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,...
63Thomas 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...
64Thomas Jefferson to Eli Alexander, 22 July 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
Being extremely pressed by mr Higginbotham I must again urge you on the subject of the arrearages of your rent. this has been rendered the more necessary by a total disappointment of mr Shoemaker to pay the order on him in favor of mr Higginbotham who had a right to expect a large sum from these two resources. your answering your balance to him therefore will oblige Sir PoC ( MHi ); at foot of...
65Thomas Jefferson to the Citizens of Allegany County, Maryland, 31 March 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
The sentiments of attachment, respect & esteem expressed in your address of the 20 th Ult. have been read with pleasure, and would sooner have recieved my thanks, but for the mass of business engrossing the last moments of a session of Congress . I am gratified by your approbation of our efforts for the public general good, and our endeavors to promote the best interests of our country, & to...
66Thomas Jefferson to Paul Allen, 20 August 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
In my letter of the 5 th inst. I requested what time you could give me for further enquiry on the subject of the life of Gov r Lewis . I have since satisfied myself that there is no more matter within my reach, and being about to set out on a journey, on which I shall be absent three weeks, I have concluded it best to forward you without delay the sketch I have been able to prepare. Accept...
67Thomas Jefferson to Paul Allen, 5 August 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Not being able to go myself in quest of the information respecting Gov r Lewis which was desired in your letter of May 25. I have been obliged to wait the leisure of those who could do it for me. I could forward you within a few days a statement of what I have collected, but more time would improve it, if the impression of the work will not be delayed. I will ask the favor of you therefore to...
68Thomas Jefferson to Paul Allen, 18 August 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
In compliance with the request conveyed in your letter of May 25. I have endeavored to obtain, from the relations & friends of the late Governor Lewis , information of such incidents of his life as might be not unacceptable to those who may read the Narrative of his Western discoveries. the ordinary occurrences of a private life, and those also while acting in a subordinate sphere in the army,...
69Thomas Jefferson to William O. Allen, 20 April 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I have duly recieved your favor of Feb. 9. with the copy of the publication called Love & Madness which it inclosed, & beg leave to return you my thanks for this mark of your attention. when I collected the proofs of the genuineness of Logan’s speech I did not know of this publication containing it. I afterwards recieved it from a friend. but that which you send me is of an edition older by...
70Thomas Jefferson to Burgess Allison, 20 October 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I had seen the advertisement of your spinning machine some time ago, and wished to know it’s principle, as I was certain it would be ingenious. I have just been gratified with it in mr Cooper’s emporium, and am as much pleased with it as I expected. it has some valuable improvements on the Jenny which I am in the use of in my family. will you be so good as to inform me what one of them of 12...
71Thomas Jefferson to Alrichs & Dixon, 22 September 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
My letter of Aug. 30. informed you of my departure on a journey before I could consult the person who has charge of my small spinning establishment as to the kind of roll which a hand carding machine should make to suit us. I am but just returned from that journey, and on consulting him he sais the perpetual roll would not suit us, that it should be the short roll, such as is given off by...
72Thomas Jefferson to Alrichs & Dixon, 26 February 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
My letter of Jan. 14. has been followed with such a constant succession of ice & snow as to have kept our river impracticable for the passage of produce down it till within a few days past. I state this as an apology for the remittance for the carding machine not having followed that letter earlier than this. it has been a subject of deep regret & mortification to me, & the more so as living...
73Thomas Jefferson to Alrichs & Dixon, 14 January 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Dec. 2. arrived here while I was on a journey which occasioned me an absence of between 5. & 6. weeks. I found it on my return here, and learning at the same time that the carding machine was on it’s way up the river, I waited a? till I could acknolege the reciept of both together. the machine arrived safely, and has now been at work some days. the person who directs my factory I...
74Thomas Jefferson to Alrichs & Dixon, 11 March 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I was much concerned to learn by a letter from Mess rs Gibson & Jefferson of Richmond that they found difficulty in procuring a bill for the remittance I desired to be made to you. I immediately wrote to them to inclose you a hundred dollar bank bill of Richmond , which I doubted not you could have exchanged. the difference between this & the amount of your bill would be no more than a just...
75Thomas Jefferson to Alrichs & Dixon, 30 August 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 19 th comes to hand in the moment of my setting out on a journey which will keep me from home some weeks, and it happens that the person who has charge of my small spinning and weaving establishment is absent also, so that I cannot consult him on the particular kind of hand-carding machine which will suit us. the establishment is small, being merely for houshold use. be so...
76Thomas Jefferson to Jacob Alrichs, 10 August 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
When you were so kind as to exhibit to me at Washington your Spinning machine with 6. spindles (for I believe it was yourself who attended there) I understood you meant to employ your mind in the construction of a carding machine on the same scale, to go by hand, and if it succeeded, that I should be furnished with one one on request. I understand you have fully succeeded in it, and I now ask...
77Thomas 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...
78Thomas Jefferson’s Circular to Certain Republican Senators, 19 September 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
The death of mr Mathers , Serjeant at arms to the Senate, is likely, I understand, to overwhelm you with sollicitations. each candidate will doubtless put into motion every lever he can employ. one of them, Joseph Dougherty , whom perhaps you knew while he lived with me in Washington , where he did my riding business, imagines I may serve him, by bearing testimony to his character. during the...
79Thomas Jefferson to Mary Blair Andrews, 15 September 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
It has been communicated to me through a friend that you wish my opinion on a paragraph of the will of the late venerated judge Blair , for which purpose a copy of the will has been transmitted to me. it is now more than 40. years since I have retired from the profession of the law, and during this long interval I have been occupied in pursuits which gave little occasion of retaining...
80Thomas Jefferson to William Annesley, 26 March 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
I am duly sensible of the mark of consideration you ha ve been so kind as to shew me in consulting me on the subject of your new system in ship and boat building; but neither my occupations nor habits permit me any longer to indulge myself in speculations of that kind: and at no time of my life should I have been a competent judge of this. born and educated among the mountains, I am quite a...