1Thomas Jefferson’s Circular to Prospective Donors to Central College, 4 August 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
You have probably seen mentioned in the public papers that it is in contemplation to establish near Charlottesville a seminary of learning which shall embrace all the sciences deemed materially useful in the present age. towards this object the legislature has passed an act giving us a constitution nearly of our own choice, under the name of the Central College , making the Governor patron of...
2Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper and John Wayles Eppes, 16 September 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
The shortness of the time now left to Francis for the pursuit of Academical studies, calls for extreme parcimony in the employment of the portion of it which still remains to him: and I am rendered more anxious for the economy of this remnant by information recieved from him, of which I was not before apprised. it seems there is a distinction in the College of Columbia between what are called...
3From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 26 September 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Your two letters of Aug. 9. & Sep. 21. were duly recieved: and altho’, according to the latter I may expect your servant tomorrow, if you succeed in the purchase of the horse, yet as mr Coles is now here & proposes to go by the way of Eppington I think it surest to answer by him. I have had your table, copying press & bust well packed in a box, and as I am sure it would be agreeable to mrs...
4Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 10 April 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 6 th is rec e ived. I set out the day after tomorrow for Poplar Forest , and shall be there till the 1 st of May . you say you will be at home the 25 th . I really think Francis had better come on diret direct
5Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 1 June 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
For want of time to consult you on it, I have taken a measure of great responsibility on my self as to Francis , for your pardon for which I must rely on the motives, and what I hope will be the effect of it. French is become the most indispensable part of modern education. it is the only language in which a man of any country can be understood out of his own; and is now the preeminent...
6Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 9 September 1814 (Jefferson Papers)
I am sorry to learn by Francis’s letter that your you are not yet recovered from your rheumatism, and much wonder you do not go and pass a summer at the Warm springs . from the examples I have seen I should entertain no doubt of a radical cure. the transactions at Washington and Alexandria are indeed beyond expectation. the circumjacent country is mostly disaffected, but I should have thought...
7Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 28 July 1822 (Jefferson Papers)
I learn with sincere regret the continuance of your ill health, placing at the same time much reliance on the vis vitae at your time of life, which is quite sufficient to promise a restoration of order to the system. the benefit you recieved from the springs the last year encourages confidence in a repetition of the experiment. I think with you that it has been unlucky that Francis so early...
8Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 25 December 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
Our letters crossing each other on the road have anticipated the grounds of mutual excuse for their being the first which were written. my occupations are now almost entirely without doors, in the farms the garden, the shops E t c. I shut up my room on going to breakfast & scarcely enter it again but to dress for dinner, after which I read little, & never write. this of course withdraws me...
9Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 22 October 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 16 th was safely recieved with the check on the bank of Virginia for 3500.D. inclosed. the expression in the reciept I sent you of 2 checks on the bank E t c for 4000.D. will I think comprehend with sufficient certainty the deposit of 500 D. as well as the check of 3500. I did not know at the time whether the 500.D. had been paid in cash, or by a check, but thought it...
10From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 6 May 1798 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote you last on the 11th. of April, & the day after recieved yours of Apr. 4 . I inclosed you at the same time the communications just then recieved from our envoys. others are lately recieved, but, as far as made known to us, they contain only a long memorial given in by them, justifying all our complaints , and repelling those of France. it takes up the subject from the time of Genet’s...
11Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 3–5 June 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
I learnt accidentally a day or two ago that you were proposing to sell Pantops , and had offered it to some persons in this neighborhood. this is done, I have no doubt, after mature consideration, and under the view that it will be most beneficial to Francis , of whose interests no one can be a more faithful depository than yourself. candor obliges me to say that an estate so closely and...
12From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 8 March 1800 (Jefferson Papers)
My last was to Maria of the 12th. of Feb. I have been discouraged from writing under the apprehension that my letters did not get to you. I therefore inclosed that to mr Jefferson. since this I have recieved yours of Feb. 7. 10. 16. & 20. by which I have had acknolege ments of the receipt of all mine except of Dec. 21. & my last of Feb. 12. this I shall hear of in due time. the former was sent...
13From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 4 June 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
In revising my philosophical apparatus I find I have some articles to spare which will be of use to Francis when he comes to that part of his education, and may in the mean time amuse yourself. these are Martin’s portable air pump & apparatus by Dollond an Hydrostatic balance by Dollond a Solar microscope in brass, with Wilson’s pocket apparatus by Dollond a best barometer. a Camera obscura,...
14From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 29 April 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
It is now long since I have heard from Maria or yourself. Congress will rise certainly on the 3d. and I shall leave this on the 5th. for Monticello where I shall be one fortnight, and return hither. I mention my movements that if you should be meditating a visit to your plantation about that time we may meet, and at any rate that you may know whither to direct a letter to me. no important...
15Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 24 March 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
Your servant arrived here the day before yesterday, since which the weather has been showery, & is now threatening & uncertain if tomorrow is promising, Francis will set out. we part with him with more regret after every visit. while the cold weather kept him pretty much in the house, I made him do a little in the Latin grammar, merely to begin to exercise his memory. as soon as you think him...
16Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 30 April with 7 May 1816 postscript (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 8 th was recieved here on the 19 th inst. the information you have had as to the schools at Staunton and Lexington is correct. the latter has been at all times under the direction of an infuriated Presbyterian bigot and tory, better fitted to fanaticise than to instruct youth in useful knolege. when I was last here, I heard of their expelling two or three youths for the heinous...
17From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 24 May 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 16th. was recieved the day before yesterday; and altho’ I do not foresee a conveyance of the present, yet I write it to be ready for any one which shall occur. my intentions of having the levelling done at Pantops have continued, because till that is done, no planting of trees or other improvement, could be undertaken. I am now engaged in levelling my own garden. I have fewer...
18Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 11 September 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
I turn with great reluctance from the functions of a private citizen to matters of state. the swaggering on deck, as a passenger, is so much more pleasant than clambering the ropes as a seaman, & my confidence in the skill and activity of those employed to work the vessel is so entire, that I notice nothing, en passant, but how smoothly she moves. yet I avail myself of the leisure which a...
19Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 30 June 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
I am become quite delinquent in epistolary correspondence; my right wrist, from an antient dislocation, grows now so stiff, as to render writing a slow and painful operation, and has produced an aversion to the pen almost insuperable. I go therefore to the writing table under the spur of necessity alone. The delay in the opening of our seminary in this neighborhood has proceeded entirely...
20From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 29 September 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
After the inclosed was written & delivered to mr Coles, your servant arrived; I therefore send it by him instead of mr Coles. the purchase of the horse may lie till we meet in Washington as I shall not be in want of one during the winter. the two boxes with the harpsichord, table Etc were sent to mr Higginbotham yesterday to be forwarded by the boats to Gibson & Jefferson. a rod belonging to...
21From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 12 July 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 3d. is recieved. at that time I presume you had not got mine of June 19. asking the favor of you to procure me a horse. I have lost three since you left this place. however I can get along with the three I have remaining so as to give time for looking up a fourth suitable in as many points as can be obtained. my happiness at Monticello (if I am able to go there) will be lessened...
22Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 23 October 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
I receive here your favor of the 15 th and am gl ad you approve of the course proposed for Francis to confine his pur s uits to the important sciences exclusively. he may in the present year make such progress in them as to be able to pursue them to ad v antage th ereafter by himself. and if he can, for 2. or 3. years avoid the common error of premature marriage, he has s t ill time to make...
23From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 24 April 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 14th. came to hand last night, and I am glad it was written before mine of the 13th. could have been recieved, because that might have delayed the expression of your convenience. the 400. D. shall be remitted to G. Jefferson the first week in May for you. I remit it there because it appears that the conveyance by post between that place & you is too tardy & unsafe to be relied...
24From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 3 March 1802 (Jefferson Papers)
My last to you was of the 31st. of Jan. I now inclose you one for Maria. the H. of R. decided the great question on the repeal of the late judiciary bill, the night before last, by 60. against 31. it was yesterday past to the 3d. reading, and I expect it will be finally passed this day. this done, I am in hopes they will press forward the other important matters, as the season is now advancing...
25Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 13 October 1820, with Eppes’s Note (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 7 th came to hand yesterday. my journey to Bedford is pos of necessity postponed indefinitely by the circumstance of 3. of my carriage horses being recently taken with the disease called the sore tongue, which I am told will require 10. days for cure and leave them so emaciated as not to be able to take the road for some time. this will bring on cold weather which will oblige...
26From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 7 February 1799 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of Jan. 20. & 24. are duly recieved. in the former you mention the reciept of £40. for me, and Maria’s of the next day says that mr Eppes expected to recieve £30. more for me at the ensuing Cumberland court. not having heard from mr Randolph on the subject of the hire of your negroes, I was in the moment of recieving your letter, just about to inclose you a draught on George Jefferson...
27Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 8 December 1809 (Jefferson Papers)
I should sooner have informed you of Francis’s safe arrival here but that the trip you meditated to N. Carolina rendered it entirely uncertain where a letter would find you. nor had I any expectation you could have been at the first meeting of Congress till I saw your name in the papers brought by our last post. disappointed in sending this by the return of the post, I avail myself of General...
28From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 20 September 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of the 5th. mentioning that you should be at Eppington till the 14th. & then proceed to Cumberland did not get here till the 15th. it had either been put into the post-office at Richmond after the mail hour, or loitered there a week. I thank you for your attention to the purchase of a horse. I now send for him, & the bearer goes first to Cumberland, & if yourself or the horse...
29Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 6 February 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved a letter of Dec. 28. from Francis to which I had deferred an answer until I could speak with more certainty of the prospects of our central college . he describes his situation as neither agreeable nor advantageous. Doct r Cooper had engaged with us as professor of the Physiological sciences, and had moreover offered to take charge of our classical school, until we can get for that...
30Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 30 March 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
The inclosed letter came to my hands a few days before Francis left us, & was reserved to go by him. it was however forgotten. I hope you will be my apologist with mrs Eppes and that she will pardon this omission of a declining memory, and accept the assurance of my respects. my constant affections attend on yourself. PoC ( MHi ); dateline at foot of text; endorsed by TJ. The inclosed letter...
31Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 24 January 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Francis arrived here in good health the day before Yesterday. I think he cannot do better than to take this occasion of learning Spanish, because it is a language rarely taught in this country, and will be of great importance within his day. it is that too in which all the early history of America is written. I suppose he may acquire so much of it in 2. or 3. months as to pursue it easily...
32Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 21 April 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
I found here your letter of the 2 d on my return from a three weeks visit to Bedford : and as I see by a resolution of Congress that they are to adjourn on the 23 d I shall direct the present to Eppington where it may meet you on your passage to Carolina . mr Thweatt is to let me know when I am to set out for
33Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 19 January 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 7 th has been recieved & I sincere ly congratulate you on the resolution of all your complaints into a regular & fixed gout. a severe fit now and then with clear intervals of health is certainly preferable to a perpetual half sickness. it will relieve you too from medecine, as we all know there is none for the gout but patience and flannel. I really think your allowance to...
34Thomas 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...
35From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 11 April 1798 (Jefferson Papers)
My last letter from Maria was of Mar. 20. & from yourself of Feb. 8 . the dates of my latest to Maria were of Apr. 1. Mar. 7. and to yourself of Feb. 18. you have seen in the papers the resolutions proposed by mr Sprigg, the first of which was that under existing circumstances it is not expedient to resort to war with France. it is very uncertain how this would have been decided. but the...
36Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 7 December 1810 (Jefferson Papers)
Your letter of Nov. 19. desiring me to send to Haden’s for Francis on the 29 th did not get to my hands till the evening of that day Wormeley set off the next morning and I was happy to find he was in time to recieve him. he got here to breakfast the morning after he parted with you. I did not write to you by Wormley because I supposed you would have passed on. on the 12 th of Nov. I had...
37From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 8 April 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
I arrived here on the 4th. inst. and found the family at Edgehill all well. we are now all together at this place, and only want the addition of your’s and my dear Maria’s company to be entirely happy. I shall leave it pointedly on the 25th. if not some days before. mr Overton is married & settled adjoining us. Nancy Jefferson is said to be about marrying Charles Lewis. this is our only small...
38Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 1 May 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I have recieved a letter from mr Burton , informing me he had purchased for me a barrel of Scuppernon wine. I had before informed him that I would desire mr Gibson of Richmond to pay his draught for it, and I had accordingly so done, but mr Burton prefers settling it with you. I therefore now inclose you a draught on Gibson , the most convenient channel of remittance to myself, and I am in...
39Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 26 October 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I have procured from Leschot for mrs Eppes a very elegant watc h and of the very best construction being of the kind called à cylindre horizontal ; the only inconvenience of which is that they require being touched with oil a little oftener than the others. he had no watch of the common construction which was proper for a lady. he required 40.D. boot, allowing only 30.D. for the gold of the...
40From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 21 December 1799 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor from the Hundred came to hand the [day before] yesterday. I have been detained here a week by bad weather. [this morn]ing mr Nicholas & myself breakfasted at Sun-rise to set out: but heavy snow is now come on. we shall start as soon as it holds up. our election was yesterday. Woods carried it against P. Carr by 247. against 122 votes. those of your people who were unwell when you...
41Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 6 September 1811 (Jefferson Papers)
I had before learned with great concern your affliction with the rheumatism. your remedy of the cold bath is new to me, except a single instance of the wife of an overseer of mine who uses the cold bath every day of her life, and the day she omits it, has a return of Rheumatic symptoms. I have had an attack of it myself for two months past, confined a part of the time, without fever, and...
42From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 9 October 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
Understanding that you thought of building some time ere long on the upper Pantops, I mentioned to Maria (I do not recollect whether I did to you) that I thought it indispensable that the ground should be first levelled as that of Monticello is, and that if you would be at the trouble of hiring hands, & having the work done, I would pay their hire: and this I recommend to you: desirous of...
43Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 31 March 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Francis will set out tomorrow for Mill-brook . he has his constant health, and has applied himself assiduously & solely to Spanish. he now possesses this so well that reading a little in it every day, he will be in no danger of losing it. in the French he is well established; and the possession of these two languages is well worth the little check he has recieved in his Latin, I think he...
44From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 28 July 1787 (Jefferson Papers)
The letter which you were so kind as to write to me the 22d. of May 1786. was not delivered to me till the 3d. of May 1787. when it found me in the neighborhood of Marseilles. Before that time you must have taken your degree as mentioned in your letter. Those public testimonies which are earned by merit and not by sollicitation may always be accepted without the imputation of vanity. Of this...
45From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 12 May 1803 (Jefferson Papers)
Your’s of the 6th. is recieved. I have not yet heard any thing from mr Hancocke respecting the syrup of punch. I remit monies to G. Jefferson by this post, out of which he will answer the 400 D. for which I now inclose you an order. If the proposition you make of the exchange of the lands in Bedford for Lego, involved no further consequence, the difficulties would be lessened. but a...
46Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 25 June 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved a week ago your favor of the 15 th and should sooner have answered it, but that I have been awaiting the issue of a negociation between Jefferson and his uncle T. E. Randolph for a relinquishment of his lease of Pantops . the result of this is too doubtful to detain me longer from notifying my acceptance of your offer of Pantops on the terms of your letter, that is to say, for ten...
47From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 11 July 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
[unfavorable change in appearances there, unless we consider as such a procrastination which may be fairly ascribed to other causes. We find from our last information that we shall have one of the finest roads in the world from Athens to Fort Stoddert, which is within 180 miles of New Orleans. This last distance will admit a good road but an expensive one. All the stuff you see in the papers...
48From Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 18 February 179[8] (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote you last on the 1st. inst. and three days ago recieved Maria’s of the same date. we have intelligence which seems to be authentic that the Spaniards have delivered up the posts on the Missisipi. this is the more welcome, as the commencement of war in that quarter seemed more imminent than it is with France. we are certainly more indebted for avoiding it to the good sense & moderation...
49Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 10 June 1822 (Jefferson Papers)
I have been so late in getting my tob o to market that I have not been able sooner to remit you the 1 st year’s interest. so dilatory are the means of the farmer & planter. Francis wrote me that you were willing I should import for him (with some books I am importing for myself from London ) Thomas ’s Coke Littleton & Bacon ’s abridgment. these are dear books and with the loss by exchange,
50Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 24 June 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
I am this moment arrived here with Ellen & Cornelia , and find Francis who arrived last night. I will take care and attend him to the Academy & see to every thing necessary for him. we will keep him with us as long as we stay (a week or 10. days) and rub him up in his French. I learn with great concern the state of your health, but can prescribe nothing by but patience & the springs with good...