To John Jay from Frederick Jay, 20 April 1782
From Frederick Jay
Poughkeepsiee 20th. April 1782
Dr Sir
My last to you was of the 3d. Ulto. covering a Tripte. of mine of the 1st. Decr. a Copy of which I had not time to make—it was short, & contained very little more than giving you an accot. of Papa’s illness and that he was past recovery.1
It gives me pain to inform you that it pleased God to take him from us on the morning of the 17th. Inst. and was yesterday interr’d in the Vault of Gysbert Schenck Esqr. at Fish Kill—it is very remarkable that he expir’d on the same day and month and the very hour that our poor Mother did.2 to give you an accot. of his illness would only add to your Grief—his greatest complaint was frequent & violent pains in his breast & the last attack proved fatal.
Poor Nancy and Peter are much distress’d, Nancy especially, but nothing to make them easy & comfortable shall be wanting on my part. I will not forsake them, in a Word, ever Since & long before our Robbery I have had the burthen of the Family upon me, & the weight has been almost too heavy for me to bear—however I am determined to do all I can and shall be happy if what I have done and will still do will be satisfactory.
Your not hearing as often from me as you had reason to expect or I would wish, must in a great measure be attributed to the great charge I had upon me, and being under the necessity of attending Papa every other night during his Illness which commenced early in Decr: as realy effected both my Body and mind to such a Degree as rendered me almost incapable of doing any thing.
Sir James left us in the beginning of Feby. & went to Eliz. Town to sollicit some of his Friends in NY. to lend him money, & was to have return’d in three weeks—he remained in Jersey untill the 15th Inst. when a Party of the Enemy took him out of his Bed at Arent Schuylers and carried him to NY. where he is now confin’d in Provost—such another Man surely was never born—3
I have it not in my power to send you by this Conveyance a Copy of the Will and Codicil, they being at Kent—there is no material alteration made by the Codicil. Mr. Benson is an Executor, to which I make no doubt you’l have no Objection—4
I shall continue here with Peter and Nancy this Summer, in order to settle Matters as well as the times will permit, when & where I shall move to is uncertain, but it will be highly necessary for me to get in business and endeavour to make up for lost time.
Your Son is still with me, but will in a few days return to Jersey with his Aunt Susan—5 it gives me pleasure to inform you, that he has greatly improved, and if he could speak plain would read as well as any Boy of his Age ever did— I am sorry you have not given some Person directions about his Education; this I hinted to you in my former Letters—it will not be to his advantage to remain long at Eliz. Town—
The only Articles we have received from you are, thirty bushells salt, one bale coarse cloth with linnings, a bale of blankets and some oznabrigs,6 in all of which you have been greatly impos’d upon. The Cloth not much superiour to brown paper, the oznabrigs rotten, and the Blankets only fit for Cradles— I shall write you again shortly. Peter, Nancy & Mrs. Jay join me in assuring you and Sally of our affection & that I am yours
Fred. Jay
P.S. I am just inform’d that another Bale of blankets is arrived at Phia.
Inform P.M. that his Mother is very well— Mr. Benson has inform’d me that you have given him directions about Peter, I am glad of it and will assist him all in my power— Mr. Benson is now in Albany.
F: Jay
ALS, NNC (EJ: 6335). Endorsed.
1. See Frederick Jay to JJ, 1 Dec. 1781, ALS, NNC (EJ: 6331); the letter of 3 Mar. 1782 has not been found.
2. On 18 July, JJ first learned of his father’s death from letters of RRL. See JJ to RRL, 13 Aug. 1782, ALS, NHi: Robert R. Livingston (EJ: 829); Dft, NNC (EJ: 7956); E, NN: Bancroft (EJ: 2755); and Margaret Beekman Livingston to JJ, 21 Apr. 1782, ALS, NNC (EJ: 8355). No letters from JJ to his brother concerning their father’s death prior to that of 3 Oct. 1782, Dft, NNC (EJ: 5761), have been found. JJ’s mother, Mary Van Cortlandt Jay, died 17 Apr. 1777. Members of the Jay family had traditionally been buried in the graveyard of St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery in New York City. British occupation of Manhattan made interment in the family plot impossible. Peter Jay and many of his descendants now are buried in the family cemetery in Rye. Laura Jay Welles, The Jay Family of La Rochelle and New York (New York, 1938), 15–16.
3. See the editorial note “Sir James Jay” on pp. 783–87. Arent Schuyler was a second cousin of General Philip Schuyler.
4. For the terms of the will and codicils, see the editorial note “The Estate of Peter Jay” on pp. 720–21.
5. Susan Livingston had completed a winter of visiting in Dutchess County and was about to take Peter Augustus Jay to Elizabethtown.
6. Oznabrig, or osnaburg: a heavy, coarse cotton fabric, originally manufactured in the German city of Osnabrück.