To James Madison from Richard Forrest, 25 April 1822
From Richard Forrest
Washington April 25th. 1822
Dear Sir,
The enclosed letter came by this day’s Mail with those for the Dept of State, which I hasten to forward.1
My Son Julius, wrote me a few days ago, that he was desirous of collecting all the materials in his power, relative to the Society which has been established in Virginia commemorative of the first landing of our ancestors at James Town, as a similar one is about to be formed in Maryland, to celebrate the landing of those at St. Mary’s. He has understood that two orations have been delivered on the occasion to which he alludes, one of which was by your late nephew, and thinks it probable that you may possess a copy of one or both2—in which case he begs you will have the goodness to loan them to him for a short time, when, if you wish it, they shall be safely returned.
The present weather is highly favorable to the growing crop of wheat, but there never was, in th⟨e⟩ recollection of the oldest inhabitant so miserable a prospect as at the present time. On this day three week⟨s⟩ I rode through Montgomery County, and not half the whea⟨t⟩ I saw, will pay the expense of reaping. Tobacco bears a good price. The Crops at Marlbro, and Queen Ann have been in brisk demand at 5 and 7 dollars for the second quality, and 8 and 10 for first.
Congress are about adjourning, an event most anxiously looked for by every Inhabitant of this place. Pray offer my best respects to Mrs. Madiso⟨n⟩ in which Mrs. Forrest, Sally and Mary join, and believe me dear [Sir], most sincerely your obt Serv
Richd. Forrest3
RC (ViU: Madison Papers, Special Collections). Docketed by JM.
1. This was probably Richard Rush to JM, 6 Mar. 1822.
2. One of these pamphlets was probably the Report of the Proceedings of the Late Jubilee at James-Town, in Commemoration of the 13th May, the Second Centesimal Anniversary of the Settlement of Virginia … (Petersburg, Va., 1807; 13482). It contained the orations of Briscoe C. Baldwin and John Madison, two students at the College of William and Mary. John Madison (1787–1809) was the son of JM’s brother, William Madison (Chapman, “Descendants of Ambrose Madison,” 31).
3. Richard Forrest (ca. 1767–1828) married Sarah Craufurd of Maryland in 1787. They moved to Washington in 1800, where they were neighbors and friends of the Madisons. Forrest was a clerk in the State Department, 1801–28 (Daily National Intelligencer, 9 Oct. 1828; Kate Kearney Henry, “Richard Forrest and His Times, 1795–1830,” Records of the Columbia Historical Society 5 [1902]: 87–95).