Thomas Jefferson Papers

Opie Norris to Thomas Jefferson, 12 June 1820

From Opie Norris

Charlottesville 12 June 1820

Dr sir

Above you have a statement of your acct with the Charlottesville Female Academy, for rent last year—

The board of Stock holders will have a meeting in a few days, when, this acct will be Obliged to be rendered to the board, and if it is convenient for you to discharge it, before1 the meeting of the board it will greatly Oblige

Your friend & Humble servt

O Norris. B.F.A.

RC (MHi); subjoined to enclosure; addressed: “Thomas Jefferson Esqe Montichello”; endorsed by TJ as received 14 June 1820 and so recorded in SJL; additional notation by TJ beneath endorsement: “June 29. pd by ord. for 36. D on P. Gibson,” with TJ’s financial records indicating that the payment was “for my assumpsit of rent to Female academy for Stack’s schoolhouse” (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, 2 vols., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series description ends , 2:1365).

A group of local parents founded the charlottesville female academy in 1819. As the building purchased for its use at the time of its establishment was needed in 1819–20 by Gerard E. Stack for the Charlottesville Academy and by Peter Laporte for his boardinghouse, during that period classes for the girls’ school were held instead in a structure located on the corner of Third and High streets. Courses were taught in English grammar, reading, composition, geography, history, astronomy, and arithmetic. French and music lessons could also be obtained for an additional charge. The school’s stock holders included TJ’s correspondents Alexander Garrett, James Leitch, and John Winn. The institution was active well into the 1820s (John Hammond Moore, Albemarle: Jefferson’s County, 1727–1976 [1976; repr. 1986], 102–3; TJ to John H. Cocke, 3 May 1819; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, 10 Jan. 1821).

A missing letter from TJ to Norris of 15 June 1820 is recorded in SJL.

1Manuscript: “befor.”

Index Entries

  • Charlottesville Academy; schoolhouse for search
  • Charlottesville Female Academy search
  • education; female search
  • Garrett, Alexander; and Charlottesville Female Academy search
  • Gibson, Patrick; and payments made for TJ search
  • Jefferson, Thomas; Business & Financial Affairs; account with Charlottesville Female Academy search
  • Laporte’s boardinghouse (Charlottesville); location of search
  • Leitch, James; and Charlottesville Female Academy search
  • Norris, Opie; and Charlottesville Female Academy search
  • Norris, Opie; letters from search
  • Norris, Opie; letter to accounted for search
  • schools and colleges; Charlottesville Female Academy search
  • schools and colleges; for women search
  • Stack, Gerard E.; and Charlottesville Academy search
  • Winn, John (d.1837); and Charlottesville Female Academy search
  • women; education of search