To Thomas Jefferson from David Gelston, 24 January 1805
From David Gelston
New York, Jany. 24th. 1805.
Sir,
Soon after the receipt of your letter of the 30th ultimo, I received the enclosed from Mr Lee—the Fabius having put into New Port—
I have been in constant expectation of the arrival of the Ship in this Port, but have not since heard any thing further from her—from the peculiar quality of the wine, and not knowing, but some circumstance might happen to compel the unlading of the ship at New Port, I take the liberty to suggest to you, the propriety of writing to some person at that place, to secure the wine in a warm cellar, until the present extreme severity of the weather, shall so far abate, as to justify shipping it to the City of Washington—
In the mean time, should the Ship arrive here, I shall take the best care of the wine in my power—
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, Sir, your obedient servant
David Gelston
RC (MHi); at foot of text: “Thomas Jefferson President United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 30 Jan. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures: (1) Dupl of William Lee to TJ, 12 Sep. 1804. (2) Lee to Gelston, Bordeaux, 10 Oct. 1804, enclosing a bill of lading for the wine and sweetmeats sent to TJ by the Fabius, which is now destined for New York instead of Alexandria; Lee asks Gelston to take charge of the shipment and use his endeavors to preserve the wine “from the frost which might essentially injure it”; if the weather is mild when the Fabius arrives, Lee recommends sending the wine immediately to Alexandria or Georgetown should a vessel offer (RC in same; addressed: “Mr Gelston Collector for the port of N York New York with five Cases of Wine and two cases of sweet meats for the President of the United States”; postmarked Newport, Rhode Island, 2 Jan.).