From Thomas Jefferson to Méry, 6 October 1803
To Méry
Oct. 6. 1803. Washington
Th: Jefferson has recieved the letter of mr Mery dated the 3d inst. and regrets that, having no acquaintance in the mercantile line, at Philadelphia, there is not a single house there of whom he is authorised to ask the favor desired by mr Mery, & that his entire unacquaintance with every person & thing connected with money-matters disables him from indicating any other resource for the advance of money mr Mery may have occasion for. he returns him the note from the Marquis de la Fayette to Madame Astorg & presents him his salutations.
PrC (ViW: Tucker-Coleman Collection); endorsed by TJ in ink on verso. Enclosure: see Méry to TJ, 3 Oct.
madame astorg was likely Élisabeth Marie de Grassin d’Astorg, whose husband had been a naval officer with the French fleet that supported the American and French armies during the American Revolution and a member of the National Guards formed in 1789 on Lafayette’s initiative (, 3:1373-4; John H. Stewart, A Documentary Survey of the French Revolution [New York, 1951], 110).