Benjamin Defoor to Thomas Jefferson, 8 November 1819

From Benjamin Defoor

Nov. 8th 1819

Mrs Defoor sends Mr Jefferson four Turkeys Seven Goslings six Ducks the Guinea fowls we cannot catch

Benj Defoor

35/〃

RC (DLC); dateline adjacent to signature; endorsed by TJ, with his calculation at foot of text:

					s
“4.	turkies	@	3/	0–	12
7.	geese	@	2/	0–	14
6	ducks	@	1/6	0–	9
					35	= 5.83.”

Benjamin Defoor (Defoe) was living in Albemarle County by 1782, when he owned one slave. By 1820 he had five slaves. Defoor sold TJ fowl several times between August 1816 and August 1824 (Vi: RG 48, Personal Property Tax Returns, Albemarle Co., 1782; DNA: RG 29, CS, Albemarle Co., 1820; 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 , 2:1325, 1336, 1347, 1363, 1406).

Index Entries

Defoor, Martha White (Benjamin Defoor’s wife); and fowl for TJ search
Defoor (Defoe), Benjamin; and fowl for TJ search
Defoor (Defoe), Benjamin; identified search
Defoor (Defoe), Benjamin; letter from search
ducks; TJ purchases search
geese; TJ purchases search
guinea fowl; TJ purchases search
turkeys; purchased by TJ search

You Are Looking At

Source Project: Jefferson Papers
Title: Benjamin Defoor to Thomas Jefferson, 8 November 1819
Author: Defoor, Benjamin
Recipient: Jefferson, Thomas
Date: 8 November 1819

Reference

Cite as: “Benjamin Defoor to Thomas Jefferson, 8 November 1819,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-15-02-0162. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 15, 1 September 1819 to 31 May 1820, ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018, p. 185.]