1Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 14 November 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
It is a duty no less pleasing than honorable to me, to address you on behalf of the Historical & literary Committee of the American Philosophical Society , in the Capacity of their Corresponding Secretary. You have, no doubt, been informed of the recent establishment of this Committee, & of the views & objects for which it has been instituted. If not, you will receive full information on the...
2Thomas Jefferson to Peter S. Du Ponceau, 22 January 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
I have been 4. of the last 5. months absent from home, which must apologise for this very tardy acknolegement of your favor of Nov. 14. I learn with much satisfaction the enlargement by the Philosophical society of the scope of their institution, by the establishment of a standing committee for History, the moral sciences and general literature. I have always thought that we were too much...
3Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 8 February 1816 (Jefferson Papers)
The letter which you did me the honor to write to me on the 22 d ult o was duly laid before the Philosophical Society & the Historical Committee at their Successive meetings. The Committee met last night, & I have it in charge to return you thanks in their name for the very acceptable present of M r Hawkins ’s Sketch of the Creek Country, & the generous offer which you have made of Such other...
4Thomas Jefferson to Peter S. Du Ponceau, 26 January 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I promised you in my letter of Jan. 22. 16. to make enquiry on the subject of the MS. journal of the boundary between Virginia and North Carolina , run in 1728. of which you have a defective transcript. I have since been able to obtain the original for perusal, and now have it in my possession. I call it original , because it is that which has been preserved in the Westover family, having...
5Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 17 February 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
I have received the letter which you have done me the honor to write to me on the 26 th ult o . It would have done great pleasure to the Historical Committee to have contributed to the restoration of the interesting MS. of which your letter gives an account; but the one in their possession, and which, by their order, I have the honor to enclose, is entirely different from that which you...
6Thomas Jefferson to Peter S. Du Ponceau, 6 November 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
The long delay of the MS. of Col o Byrd which you were so kind as to send me , needs apology. on the 26 th of June I wrote to mr Benjamin Harrison of Berkley from whom the other had been borrowed, to ask permission to send it to the Philosophical society with a view to it’s publication. the following is an extract from his answer of July 11.
7Thomas Jefferson to Peter S. Du Ponceau, 7 November 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
A part of the information of which the expedition of Lewis and Clarke was the object has been communicated to the world by the publication of their journal; but much & valuable matter remains yet uncommunicated. the correction of the longitudes of their map is essential to it’s value; to which purpose their observations of the Lunar distances are to be calculated & applied. the new subjects...
8Thomas Jefferson to Peter S. Du Ponceau, 7 November 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson presents his compliments to M r Duponceau , & his thanks for his pamphlet on Phonology. he supposes, with him, that all sud d en reformation of our orthography is as desperate as it would be inconvenient. he presumes the slow process of amendment will continue, which has been going on for ages; that this may in time reduce the power of the letters to greater uniformity, as has...
9Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 5 December 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
The two letters which you have done me the honor to write to me, dated the 6 th & 7 th ultimo , have been laid by me before the Historical Committee of the Philosophical Society , together with the valuable Manuscripts which accompanied them. They have directed me to return you their warm thanks for these fresh instances of your enlightened & unwearied Zeal in the Cause of Science &...
10Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 11 December 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
In the last letter which I had the honor of writing to you, I omitted to return you thanks in the name of the Historical Committee for the very interesting MSS. which you had the goodness to forward to them on the Subject of opening the Isthmus of Darien . They are fully Sensible of its value & importance, & beg leave to tender you their thanks, with the assurance that your injunction on the...
11Thomas Jefferson to Peter S. Du Ponceau, 30 December 1817 (Jefferson Papers)
An absence of 6. weeks has occasioned your letters of the 5 th & 11 th inst to lie thus long unacknoleged. after I had sent off the two other Westover MSS. I recieved a 3 d of the same journal. on perusing it, I am not sensible, by memory, of any thing not contained in the former, except 8. pages of a preliminary account of the abridgment of our limits by successive charters to other colonies....
12Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 5 January 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I do myself at present the honor merely to acknowledge the receipt of your Letter of the 30 th ult o . The Committee are highly Sensible of the value of your Correspondence & of the important aid you have been pleased to give them Since their institution. They have expressed their S Grateful Sense of it in a report to the Society , which will be presented at their meeting on Friday next,...
13Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 6 January 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I have now the honor to answer your Letter of the 30 th ult o . The Committee , I have no doubt, will be as much pleased as I am to find that there is a probability of Supplying the deficiencies of their Copy of the Westover MS. You will render them great service if you can procure for them the loan of that which you have lately received. It will be carefully used & punctually returned. I beg...
14Thomas Jefferson to Peter S. Du Ponceau, 17 January 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favors of the 5 th & 6 th are recieved, and I am sorry it is not in my power to interest any of the Indian agents for you & particularly those of the 4. Southern tribes . these are all new men to me. mr Meigs Agent with the Cherokees would be the most likely to be useful to you. I recieved last night a letter from mr Harrison , who had been so kind as to give me the pocket MS. of Westover...
15Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 22 January 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
The Historical Committee met last night, when your Letter of the 30 th ult o & my answers of the 5 th & 6 th inst. were laid before them. They have ordered me to reiterate to you the thanks which I had already anticipated for the many favors which they have received at your hands, & particularly for the Communications accompanying your last . Your Memoir on the boundaries of Louisiana was...
16Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 24 January 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I have received the Letter you have done me the honor to write to me on the 17 th inst. There is no part in which the two MSS of the line in our possession are both alike defective; what is wanting in the one is supplied by the other as far as they respectively go; but I ought to observe that the MS. which you have had the goodness to deposit with us is not So Satisfactory or So full as the...
17Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 14 February 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I have the satisfaction to inform You that the Volume of the Society ’s Transactions now in the Press will be out in the Course of next Week. In the mean while I have the honor of enclosing to you the Printed sheets which contain a Report of the Historical Committee , in which you will find a feeble expression of their gratitude for the patronage with which you have honored them & the favors...
18Thomas Jefferson to Peter S. Du Ponceau, 19 February 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
your favor of Jan. 24. was duly recieved, and I now inclose you the supplements for the three hiatuses in your MS. all your references were found satisfactorily except that of March 9 th to the words ‘bush, which is a beautiful evergreen, & may be cut into any shape.’ I found no such words under that date in the folio MS. and therefore had the whole of that day copied. it is the only instance...
19Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 24 February 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I have received the Letter you have done me the honor to write to me on the 19 th inst, including the parts of the History of the line, which were deficient in our MS. I regret that I innocently put you to the trouble of having 16 pages Copied more than was necessary. For the passage which You could not find, & for which you looked according to my letter to the date of the 9 th of March is in...
20Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 14 April 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I have the Satisfaction to inform you that the Historical Committee has received from M r Biddle , the MSS. of Lewis & Clarke . I enclose a Copy of the Letter with which he accompanied them, with some Memoranda by M r Vaughan at foot. This enclosure dispenses me from the necessity of stating further particulars. The Society & its Committees go on with Zeal & Spirit.
21Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 9 June 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
I have the honor of enclosing to you the Prospectus of the first Volume of our Historical Transactions now in the press. You will see by it that your Alumni are not idle, & you will, no doubt, rejoice in the good effects of the encouragement which you have constantly given to our Society , & particularly to this Committee , who Still solicit the continuation of your patronage. RC ( DLC ); at...
22Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 1 March 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
I am ordered by the Historical Committee to inform you that they have caused to be transmitted to you a Copy of the first Volume of their Transactions, which I understand the Bookseller has already forwarded by Mail. This was rather done irregularly, their order having been anticipated by one of their officers. I have now the honor to request in their name your acceptance of the Book as a...
23Thomas Jefferson to Peter S. Du Ponceau, 14 March [1819] (Jefferson Papers)
I thank you, dear Sir, for the valuable volume of your historical transactions which you have been so kind as to send me, and I rejoice to see that the history of our aborigines is so ably commenced before their final extinction, or their amalgamation with us. wishing it may continue to engage the exertion of talents so competent to it I salute you with friendship & respect. RC ( PPAmP :...
24Thomas Jefferson to Peter S. Du Ponceau, 7 July 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
I have lately had an opportunity of procuring a copy of a Vocabulary of the Nottoway tribe of Indians . these with the Pamunkies and Mattaponies were component parts of the great Powhatan confederacy which covered all the lower part of this state , and probably spoke the general language of the Powhatans. this vocabulary was taken by mr John Wood formerly professor of mathematics in W m & Mary...
25Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 12 July 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
I have received the letter you have done me the honor to write to me dated the 7 th inst. enclosing a Vocabulary of the language of the Nottoway tribe of Indians , which I shall not fail to lay before the Historical Committee at their next meeting, & in the mean while, I am free to anticipate their cordial thanks for your unwearied & effectual exertions in promoting the great cause of American...
26Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 13 July 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Du Ponceau has the honor of enclosing to M r Jefferson , a Short Comparative Vocabulary of the Nottoway & Iroquois idioms. Few words will be found in which the Analogy is not Striking. It may be carried farther, but he believes this will be Sufficient to Shew the affinity which exists between those languages. M r D. regrets that his Stock of Tuscarora words is very Scanty, as these...
27Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 18 July 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
I hope I shall not be considered intrusive in communicating to you the Substance of the answer I have just received from M r Heckewelder to a Letter I wrote to him on the Subject of the Nottoway Indians. He thinks with me they are of the Iroquois, not of the Lenape family. He considers their name Nottaway , to be the Same with Nadowési or Naudowessie the denomination which the Chippeways (a...
28Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 12 September 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
The Vocabulary of the Nottoway language which you have had the goodness to send to me , has only encreased my thirst for more. There are, you Say, yet in Virginia remnants of the Mattaponey & Pamunkey Tribes—If vocabularies of those could be obtained, it might lead to interesting results. The Nottoways, I have no doubt, were the ancient Tuscaroras, who the two others were, remains to be...
29Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 9 October 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
I take the liberty of introducing to you in the person of M r L. C. Vanuxem , the bearer hereof, a young American, who to a mind formed by nature for the Philosophical Sciences, unites the advantages of a regular Scientific education in the best Schools & under the best professors abroad. He is lately returned from Paris where he was three Years engaged exclusively in the Study of Chemistry &...
30Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 14 December 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
M r Du Ponceau presents his respects to M r Jefferson , & has the honor of Sending to him at the request of M r Pickering a cop corrected sheet of his Essay on an uniform Orthography of Indian languages, to be Substituted for the Same Signature in the copy formerly Sent , which is now cancelled. RC (
31Thomas Jefferson to Peter S. Du Ponceau, 28 December 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
This letter is strictly confidential. some time ago a mr John Sanderson , of Philada , addressed a letter to me , informing me he was engaged in a biographical work which embraced the life of our late Chancellor Wythe , of whom however his materials were scanty, & requesting me to supply him. of the Mentor of my youth I felt the duty of bearing witnesses to his virtues, and furnished what I...
32Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 3 January 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
I have received the Letter you have done me the honor to write to me , dated the 28 th ult o which shall be treated as it is meant, as Strictly private & confidential. I am well acquainted with M r Sanderson . Some Years ago a M r Carré , a planter from S t Domingo
33Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 23 March 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
I had the honor some time ago of introducing to you M r L. C. Vanuxem , a young American Mineralogist, whom you had the goodness to receive at your House with D r Cooper . Being a Candidate for the professorship of Chemistry & Mineralogy in the new University at Charlotte ville , his father
34Thomas Jefferson to Peter S. Du Ponceau, 31 March 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 23 d is recieved. the acquaintance I had the pleasure of forming with mr Vanuxem while he favored me with a visit gave me a very high sense of his merit and qualifications. in addition to this your recommendations and those of D r Cooper place him on very high ground but I fear we are as yet far from the time at which we may turn our attention to the choice of Professors. our...
35Peter S. Du Ponceau to Thomas Jefferson, 19 April 1821 (Jefferson Papers)
Your polite & ready answer to the letter I had the honor of writing to you on the Subject of M r Vanuxem calls for the expression of my gratitude. The young Gentleman will regret exceedingly that it will not be in his power to commence his useful labours in your immediate view & under your immediate protection. It would have been Such an advantage as he Surely will not meet with elsewhere....
36To Thomas Jefferson from Peter Stephen Duponceau, 19 May 1825 (Jefferson Papers)
Count Charles Vidûn, of Turin, who will have the honor of delivering you this Letter is one of the few Noblemen of Europe, who extending their views beyond the Circle in which they live, wish to become experimentally acquainted with human Nature under all its diversified aspects. He has already travelled over the greatest part of Europe & Asia, & has I believe even penetrated into Africa. He...
37To Thomas Jefferson from Peter Stephen Duponceau, 5 November 1825 (Jefferson Papers)
By order of the Board of Directors of the Society for the Commemoration of the landing of William Penn, I have the honor of informing you that at their meeting on the 2 d inst. you have been unanimously elected an honorary member of that Svociety. I am directed also to transmit to you a printed copy of their Constitution & of their various proceedings since their first institution. I am happy...
38From Thomas Jefferson to Peter Stephen Duponceau, 16 November 1825 (Jefferson Papers)
Th: Jefferson returns his thanks to the Board of Directors of the society for the Commemoration of the landing of W m Penn on the American shore. he learns with sincere pleasure that a day will at length be annually set apart for rendering the honors so justly due to the greatest lawgiver the world has produced, the first in either antient or modern times who has laid the foundation of govmt...