Thomas Jefferson Papers
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From Thomas Jefferson to George Jefferson, 14 February 1798

To George Jefferson

Philadelphia Feb. 14. 98.

Dear Sir

Yours of Jan. 28th. is duly recieved. in mine of Jan. 14. I mentioned that Colo. Thos. Bell would be authorized to draw on you for 165.D. this was intended to answer two notes I had given Feb. 12. 1797. the one to Lucy Wood senr. for £33. the other to Lucy Wood junr. for £16.10 for the hire of negroes. I did not know into what hands these notes had got and desired Colo. Bell to seek them out & pay them. the last post brings me a letter from mr. Jourdan Harris informing me he has one of them, but does not say which. be so good therefore as to pay it on his presenting it legally assigned, and to take it in. this will lessen so much Colo. Bell’s draught on you if he should find out the other. so long ago as Nov. 18. Joseph Roberts shipped from hence for me 2. open stoves & […] 7. bundles of hoop iron. they were probably addressed to mr Johnston: but I have never heard whether they were recieved & have been forwarded. will you be so good as to enquire? the schooner John Brown took from hence the package described in the within receipt of Saml. De[sear] for Capt Stratton. I believe she had also on board an anvil, vice, & beak iron formerly mentioned. I think she was one of the vessels which got out at a short opening of the river which took place a fortnight ago. I hope she is arrived safe. all these articles are to be forwarded by the Milton boats. I must also get the favor of you to get mr Hay to bottle two casks (of 30 galls each) of his best beer for me, to have it packed in crates or barrels, & to pay him for it and forward them to Milton to the care of Fleming & Mc.lenahan. another office I have to impose on you which will be troublesome. Sr. John Sinclair President of the Board of agriculture in London, has desired me to send them some of our May wheat. I must get the favour of you to seek out some which is genuine & fine; as much as will fill two light flour barrels will suffice. the difficulty is to prevent it’s heating, a small degree of which you know destroys it’s vegetating power. let the cooper therefore make so many heads or round [boards] for the casks that after putting in a layer of wheat of 3. inches thick a head may be dropped in loose, then another layer of 3. Inches & another head, & so on till it be full. the layers will thus be so thin as not to contract much heat and what they do contract will not be communicated through the board. if to this could be added through the favor of the captain’s to take the [casks?] into the cabbin, it would be [secure?]. the [casks] must be addressed to Sr. John Sinclair, President of the board of Agriculture, Whitehall, London, and be sent by two different vessels bound to London. I have sold my [flour] this year at a price which is to be fixed by the highest price which shall be given at Richmond or Manchester from Nov. 1[0] (the date of the sale) to the last of March I believe, for I [cite] by memory, and am not entirely certain but it [run] to the last of April. I will ask the favor of you to keep an eye on the sales at those places, and to preserve for me proofs of the highest.—one other little commission for you & I am done. I own a lot of land in Richmond on the river, not far from Mayo’s bridge. mr Buchanan knows it, and was so kind as to undertake to pay whatever taxes were due on it, which were trifling if any. will you be so good as to enquire of him what he paid, to reimburse him, and hereafter to take it under your charge. you can also suggest to me whether it could without expence be put under some kind of occupation, to preserve the bounds and titles. I am with great esteem Dear Sir

Your friend & servt

Th: Jefferson

PrC (MHi); badly blurred; endorsed in ink by TJ.

Letters from TJ to Lucy Wood Senr. of 17 Dec. 1796 and 21 July 1797, recorded in SJL, have not been found. Also missing is a letter from her to TJ of 11 Dec., recorded in SJL as received 12 Dec. 1796. A letter from TJ to Lucy Wood Junr. of 18 Nov. 1797 and her response of 20 Nov., recorded in SJL as received 26 Nov. 1797, have not been found.

SJL records a letter from Jordan Harris of 5 Feb. 1798, received by TJ eight days later, which has not been found. A letter recorded in SJL from TJ to Harris of 14 Feb. 1798 is also missing.

On 19 Jan. 1798 TJ ordered John Barnes to pay Joseph Roberts $128.85, the balance of payment for three tons of iron rod shipped from Philadelphia on 18 Oct. 1797 and received at Monticello early in December, and on 19 Feb. 1798 TJ wrote another draft on Barnes to pay Roberts $73.40, $36 of which was for two stoves that TJ had ordered on Reuben Lindsay’s behalf (MB description begins James A. Bear, Jr., and Lucia C. Stanton, eds., Jefferson’s Memorandum Books: Accounts, with Legal Records and Miscellany, 1767–1826, Princeton, 1997, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series description ends , 2:968, 978, 979). TJ also wrote a draft on 23 Jan. 1798 ordering Barnes to pay $100 to Robert Aitken, recorded in MB description begins James A. Bear, Jr., and Lucia C. Stanton, eds., Jefferson’s Memorandum Books: Accounts, with Legal Records and Miscellany, 1767–1826, Princeton, 1997, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series description ends as a payment on account for the Milton firm of Fleming & McClenahan (drafts all in MHi, written and signed by TJ, endorsed by Barnes).

Date of the sale: TJ sold his crop of wheat to Fleming & McClenahan on 10 Nov. 1797 (MB description begins James A. Bear, Jr., and Lucia C. Stanton, eds., Jefferson’s Memorandum Books: Accounts, with Legal Records and Miscellany, 1767–1826, Princeton, 1997, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series description ends , 2:973).

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