Thomas Jefferson Papers
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-02-02-0109

Thomas Jefferson to Archibald Thweatt, 13 January 1810

To Archibald Thweatt

Monticello Jan. 13. 10.

Your favors of Dec. 28. & Jan. 4. have been duly recieved. I had not recollected the admission of the will in the bill. this however I presume they would be permitted to correct by amendment if it were found they had done it against the fact. but their quotation gives me a hope the will is recorded, as I know not how else they could have a copy.

There was a compleat set of accounts current from an early period of mr Wayles connections with Farrell & Jones down to the time of our settlement. these were (I think) tacked together. they were certainly left with mr Wayles’s other papers in possession of mr Eppes, & doubtless must be among the papers now there. they were too bulky to be lost. there were also duplicates of most of them. out of these I endeavored to make up a set for myself which I find among my papers. there was one, of which there was no duplicate; and of that I find I took a copy myself to compleat my set. these accts are to the following dates

 £ sterl.
1770. Dec. 31. Balance 7600– 5– 4
1771. 7521– 9– 2
1772. 9134– 13. 
1773 9982– 9 
1774 11,157– 8– 7
1776. 12,547– 15– 10
1777. 11482– 18– 1
1783. May 31. (includg 8. y. int. & other things disallowed) 14158– 19– 6

that of 1773. is the one copied by myself, and in it are these articles,

 £
on the Dr Side ‘1773. Aug. 13. To Bathurst Skelton’s balce 31. Dec. 1772. 586– 8– 7’
on the Cr. side ‘1772. Dec. 31. By Bath. Skelton for commn recievg  £433–13–1  21– 13– 10’

on the back of the account in the calculation of interest are the following

 ‘Skelton’s balance 586– 8– 7
 deduct commn on do   21–13–10   564–14–9 balce of Skelton’s’

which last sum is then carried into the mass of the interest account.

while there is a doubt whether the original set can be found, I do not like to trust these by the post. but you can act on this information on the assurance that the papers shall be produced. there is no doubt however that mr Kinnan of Petersburg, the successor of Hanson, must possess a compleat set of these accounts, & can give you a certificate of the sum debited to us for B. Skelton, & of which his estate was discharged by F. & Jones. I am still anxious about the finding of the original will, & of it’s being recorded. I have the Horrors at the very idea of settling the administration of R. Skelton’s estate. I am sure it is now an impossibility. with my affections to the two mrs Thweats and congratulations to the younger one, I add the assurances of my great esteem & respect.

Th: Jefferson

PoC (MHi); at foot of first page: “Mr Archibd Thweatt”; endorsed by TJ.

Thweatt’s letter of dec. 28., not found, is recorded in SJL as received from Petersburg on 3 Jan. 1810.

At his death TJ’s father-in-law, John wayles, owed a great deal of money to the British firm of Farell & Jones. Francis eppes, TJ, and Henry Skipwith, as executors, divided the debt among themselves in February 1790. In March 1807 TJ paid off his portion to Robert kinnan, who had succeeded Richard hanson as attorney for Farell & Jones (MB description begins James A. Bear Jr. and Lucia C. Stanton, eds., Jefferson’s Memorandum Books: Accounts, with Legal Records and Miscellany, 1767–1826, 1997, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series description ends , 1:751–2, 768, 2:1199).

The two mrs thweats were the addressee’s wife, Lucy Eppes Thweatt, and his sister-in-law, the recently married Mary “Polly” Eppes Thweatt. The women in question were nieces of TJ’s deceased wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, and sisters of John Wayles Eppes, TJ’s son-in-law (Dorman, Eppes Descendants, 2:399–400, 410).

Index Entries

  • Eppes, Francis (TJ’s brother-in-law); as J. Wayles’s executor search
  • Eppes, John Wayles (TJ’s son-in-law); mentioned search
  • Eppington (Eppes’s Chesterfield Co. estate); J. Wayles’s papers at search
  • Farell & Jones (British firm); J. Wayles’s account with search
  • Gilliam v. Fleming; and settlement of accounts search
  • Hanson, Richard; attorney for Farell & Jones search
  • Jefferson, Thomas; Business & Financial Affairs; payments to Farell & Jones search
  • Kinnan, Robert search
  • marriage; of M. E. Thweatt search
  • Skelton, Bathurst; and Gilliam v. Fleming search
  • Skelton, Reuben; and Gilliam v. Fleming search
  • Skipwith, Henry (TJ’s brother-in-law); as J. Wayles’s executor search
  • Thweatt, Archibald; and Gilliam v. Fleming search
  • Thweatt, Archibald; letters from accounted for search
  • Thweatt, Archibald; letters to search
  • Thweatt, Lucy Eppes (Archibald Thweatt’s wife); TJ sends greetings to search
  • Thweatt, Mary (Polly) Eppes (John Wayles Eppes’s sister; Richard Noble Thweatt’s wife); marriage of search
  • Wayles, John (TJ’s father-in-law); and Farell & Jones search
  • Wayles, John (TJ’s father-in-law); and Gilliam v. Fleming search