Thomas Jefferson to Randolph Harrison, 28 September 1815
To Randolph Harrison
Poplar Forest, Sep. 28. 15.
Dear Sir
During a long visit to this place I have had leisure to think of your house. you seemed to require 6. rooms, neither more nor less, and a good entrance or passage of communication. the inclosed is drawn on that plan. the ground plat is in detail, and exact; the elevation is merely a sketch to give a general idea. the workman, if he is any thing of an Architect will be able to draw the particulars. affectionately yours
Th: Jefferson
PoC (MHi); at foot of text: “Mr Harrison”; endorsed by TJ.
Randolph Harrison (1769–1839), planter and first cousin of TJ, married another first cousin, Mary Randolph, in 1790, and one of their sons, William Mortimer Harrison, was buried in the graveyard at Monticello in 1812. He managed a portion of the Cumberland County plantation of his father, Carter Henry Harrison, for a number of years and was given a parcel of this land. Harrison eventually bought out his brothers’ shares in their father’s property, relocated his family in about 1800 to the parental home of Clifton, and prospered. He contributed to the subscription for Central College and represented Cumberland County in the Virginia House of Delegates, 1826–27. After his death at the White Sulphur Springs, Harrison’s estate was valued at close to $90,000 (Scandal at Bizarre [2004], 33–6, 66–7, 154, 163; TJ to Harrison, 23 Mar. 1807 [DLC]; Harrison to TJ, 17 Feb. 1818; , 1:253; , 328, 333; Cumberland Co. Will Book, 10:164–5, 310–14; Richmond Enquirer, 1, 11 Oct. 1839).
35 [1927]: 207–11, 302–9, 451–5; , 2:1248, 1249, 1279; Cynthia A. Kierner,The enclosed ground plat and elevation have not been identified. An undated architectural drawing by TJ has sometimes been linked to this letter and to an addition Harrison made about 1835 to an existing structure on his Ampthill property near Clifton (Kimball, Jefferson, Architect, nos. 203–4, p. 185).