From John Jay to Peter Augustus Jay, 4 November 1822
To Peter Augustus Jay
Bedford—4th. Novr. 1822—
Dear Peter
I have recd. your Letter of the 31 Ult—1 That the Fever has abated and that there have been no Cases of it in your part of the City are agreable Circumstances— I hope Helen’s Indisposition will not be of long Continuance, and that the Health of the Rest of your Family may not be interrupted by Sickness— It will always give us pleasure to see you and them here, but let not your visits to us interfere with with interesting Business—
You did well in declining to be a Candidate for a Seat in Congress— circumstanced as you are, I think Clients are of more Importance to you than Offices—
The Elms you have planted will be good Substitutes for the Locusts, if planted as I presume they are, at a greater Distance from the House—
Having occasion to send Peter Blake2 with a waggon to saw Pitts for Salt &c. I take this Opportunity of sending by him some Turkees for your Aunt. We have this year reared a great number of them— far more than in any preceding Year— My last Letter to you went to Rye with Mary & Sarah— in it I mentioned the Horses had of Mr. Redon—3 endeavour to bring that Business to a Conclusion—
We are all as well as usual—
My Love to Mary & the Children—to Aunt4 & Miss Effey— I am Dear Peter Your very affectte Father
John Jay
Peter Augustus Jay
ALS, NNC (EJ: 11623). Endorsed: “Letter from John /Jay Bedford / 4 Nov 1822.”
1. See JJ to PAJ, 13 Aug. 1822, above; and the reply, PAJ to JJ, 31 Oct. 1822, ALS, NNC (EJ: 06263).
2. Peter Blake was a longtime servant of the Jays. See Last Will and Testament, [18 April 1829], below.
3. Claudius Redon, livery stable operator and horse dealer who moved between New York and Charleston, in the 1810s-20s. Redon won best broodmare 10 Nov. 1820, at the Cattle Show and Fair of the New-York County Agricultural Society. He left his stable at 14 Beekman Street around Dec. 1820 for Charleston. Redon had another stable at 66 Liberty Street in July 1821. His next New York business location appears to be the Jay’s Canal Street stable, starting in May 1822. Redon sold JJ a pair of coach horses, one of which was lame. JJ spent some time trying to cure the horse at Bedford, and then come up with an equitable agreement with Redon in May 1823, then realizing by July 1823 that this was unlikely. See PAJ to JJ, 9 May 1823, below; JJ to PAJ, 23 July 1822, ALS, NNC (EJ: 11619); JJ to PAJ, 19 May 1823, ALS, NNC (EJ: 11508); and JJ to PAJ, 1 July, ALS, NNC (EJ: 13551). See also Commercial Advertiser (New York), 5 Nov. 1813; Mercantile Advertiser (New York), 8 July 1818; Plough Boy, vol. 2: 219; City Gazette and Daily Advertiser (Charleston), 8 Dec. 1820; New-York Evening Post, 3 Jan. and 18 July 1821; Daily Advertiser (New York), 6 May; and National Advocate (New York), 19 Oct. 1822.
4. Aunt Polly.