1Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 18 August 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
Yours of the 3 d came to hand duly. soon after that date you would recieve mine of the same date , relieving all doubt. the letter of mine which you mention as having seen in the newspapers was placed there by my consent. I am pelted for it in that vehicle and in private letters complaining of the use made of it by the Nat l Intelligencer and the federal papers, I inclose you a copy of my...
2Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 3 August 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 24 h came to hand on the 29 th ins t , but I have not been able to See my grandson till this day. I now enclose you his receipt for the Fredericksberg Check on the bk of Virginia for 500 D. he says it will render very signal service at this time to the family. the quarter from which it came will be unknown to the family
3Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 17 June 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
My grandson lately returned from Warren where he had explanations on the subject of your letters, with Sarah Nicholas the eldest daughter and Mentor of the family. she acknoleged the distresses of the family, and agreed to accept what was proposed on two conditions. 1. that the money comes not from myself. 2. that they should be permitted to repay it, if ever in their power. as to the 1 st I...
4Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 10 May 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
I am just returned from my other home in Bedford where I pass much of my time. on consulting with my grandson he informs me that the elder daughter of mrs Nicholas , living with her, from her extraordinary good sense & discretion has the whole affairs of the family under her care, and that it is only on consultation with her that the best application of your favor can be decided on, and that...
5Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 14 March 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Feb. 25. was recieved the last night only, having been 16. days on it’s passage. I mention this as an apology for the date of this letter. I have no hesitation in becoming the channel of your kindness to our deceased friend , nor to engage for the secret of the source from which it will flow. my grandson Thomas J. Randolph married a daughter of mr Nicholas , hold it holds the...
6Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 14 February 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved three days ago your favor of the 3 d with it’s benevolent proposition respecting our deceased & unfortunate friend W. C. Nicholas . he left no son under a course of education. of his three sons, the eldest, Col o Robert , is engaged in an enterprise in Louisiana with his brother in law John Smith . the second is hesitating between that and the study of the law. they are both of them...
7From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 20 August 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 8th. came to hand only two days ago & I hasten to say I shall be glad to recieve mr Martin’s drill whenever it can be ready. during the present interruption of commerce we send an Aviso every 6. weeks to France & England for the purposes of public & mercantile correspondence, and in any one of these I can send the drill. I have recieved the plough from the Agricultural...
8From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 23 June 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
The Agricultural society of Paris has had a plough presented to them which, performing equally good work, requires but one half the force to draw it necessary for what had till then been deemed the best plough in France. in their zeal for improvement they sent one of them to England, and have sent me one, lately arrived at New York, & ordered round to Richmond where it will be open for...
9From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 6 January 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
Your ingenious friend, mr Martin, formerly made for me a drill of very fine construction. I am now very desirous of sending one of them to the Agricultural society of Paris, with whom I am in correspondence, & who are sending me a plough, supposed to be of the best construction ever known. on trial with their best ploughs, by a dynamometer, it is drawn by from one half to 2/3 of the force...
10From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1 August 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved two days ago your letter recommendatory of mr Woodford. I knew his father well and can readily believe that his merits are descended on the son, and especially after what you say of him. if we could always have as good grounds to go upon it would greatly relieve the terrible business of nominations. but lest you should not have attended to it, I have taken up my pen in the moment of...
11From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 6 January 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Dec. 26. has been duly recieved, and was recieved as a proof of your friendly partialities to me of which I have so often had reason to be sensible. my opinion originally was that the President of the US. should have been elected for 7. years, & for ever ineligible afterwards. I have since become sensible that 7. years is too long to be unremoveable, and that there should be a...
12From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 26 November 1799 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Wirt, who is of my neighborhood, offers himself a candidate for the clerkship of the H. of Repr. and being known to few of the members, his friends are naturally anxious that what may be said of him with truth should be said. I only fulfill a duty therefore when I bear testimony in this as I would in any other case. he has lived several years my near neighbor, having married the daughter...
13From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 24 January 1799 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Tazewell died about noon this day after an illness of about 36. hours. on this event, so melancholy for his family & friends, the loss to the public of so faithful and able a servant no reflections can be adequate. The object of this letter (and which I beseech you to mention as from me to no mortal) is the replacement of him by the legislature . many points in Munro’s character would...
14From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 26 November 1798 (Jefferson Papers)
We formerly had a debtor & creditor account of letters on farming; but the high price of tobo. which is likely to continue for some short time, has tempted me to go entirely into that culture and in the mean time my farming schemes are in abeyance, and my farming fields at nurse against the time of my resuming them. but I owe you a political letter. yet the infidelities of the post office and...
15From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 4 June 1798 (Jefferson Papers)
I now inclose you mr Martin’s patent. a patent had actually been made out on the first description, and how to get this suppressed and another made for a second invention without a second fee was the difficulty. I practised a little art in a case where honesty was really on our side & nothing against us but the rigorous letter of the law, and having obtained the 1st. specification, and got the...
16From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 6 April 1798 (Jefferson Papers)
I had just recieved from New York the box containing mr Martin’s model of the hand-threshing machine, & the drill, when your favor of Mar. 25. came to hand, and I had nearly compleated a drawing to be filed in the Secretary of state’s office. I suspend further proceeding till I hear from you. in the mean time mr Bingham had communicated to me a model which he had recieved from England. I think...
17From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 23 December 1797 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of Novemb.—did not come to my hands till Dec. 13. It had awaited my arrival here: and the ordinary affairs of business and ceremony prevented my applying to the patent office till Dec. 21. I then paid at the treasury the 20. Doll. bill you inclosed adding 10. Dollars, the price of the drill, as you had mentioned. The petition and description are lodged in the patent office. But a...
18From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 8 October 1797 (Jefferson Papers)
We have heard much here of an improvement made in the Scotch threshing machine by Mr. Martin, and that you have seen and approved it. Being myself well acquainted with the original geered machine, and Booker’s substitution of whirls and bands (as I have one of each kind) it will perhaps give you but a little trouble to give me so much of an explanation as will be necessary to make me...
19From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 8 June 1795 (Jefferson Papers)
I inclose you a few seed of the Rutabaga, or Swedish winter turnep. This is the plant which the English government thought of value enough to be procured at public expence from Sweden, cultivated and dispersed. A Mr. Strickland, an English gentleman from Yorkshire, lately here, left a few seeds with me, of which I impart to you. He tells me it has such advantages over the common turnep that it...
20From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 15 April 1795 (Jefferson Papers)
We have tried the drill with Lucerne seed, and found it shed a great deal too much, so that we were obliged to lay it aside. I presume therefore I was mistaken in saying the band and buckets which came were for turnep seed. We rather guess they were for peas or corn. I must correct therefore my petition for the two larger sizes, and in the uncertainty in which I am, I must rather pray for a...
21From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 13 April 1795 (Jefferson Papers)
This is not the long letter I intend to write in answer to yours of the 5th. Ult. That must await a rainy day, perhaps a rainy season. But as the sowing the succory will not await, I write a line for the present, merely to cover a little seed which I have procured from a neighbor for you. It must be sown immediately, in drills which will admit the plough, and very thin in the drill as the...
22From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 29 December 1794 (Jefferson Papers)
I have long owed you a letter, for which my conscience would not have let me rest in quiet but on the consideration that the paiment would not be worth your acceptance. The debt is not merely for a letter the common traffic of a day, but for valuable ideas, which instructed me, which I have adopted, and am acting on them. I am sensible of the truth of your observations that the atmosphere is...
23From Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1 May 1794 (Jefferson Papers)
In my new occupation of a farmer I find a good drilling machine indispensably necessary. I remember your recommendation of one invented by one of your neighbors; and your recommendation suffices to satisfy me with it. I must therefore beg of you to desire one to be made for me, and if you will give me some idea of it’s bulk, and whether it could travel here on it’s own legs, I will decide...