From Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 20 September 1804
To William Short
Monticello Sep. 20. 04.
Dear Sir
According to the desire in your letter of July 19. & that to mr Price, I have settled the rents of Indian Camp to the end of 1783.1 either from a defect of my instructions to mr Lilly or his understanding them, he had proceeded in the collection of the rents for that year and made considerable progress before I knew & stopped him. I some time last autumn sent you a supplement to our accounts coming down to Oct. 6. 03. and accounting for all the rents to the end of 1802. as I believed: but mr Lilly had placed Burras a tenant there in the beginning of 1802. & not knowing that or the amount of his rent, it was not entered in the account. I now subjoin a statement of that, of all the rents of 1803, and of certain arrears from Giannini & Tyler; the former recently got from him by Lilly by taking from him fodder, beehives & whatever he could get, and the latter not yet paid. this 2d. supplement adds £38–13–9 = 128.95 D to the Dr. side of my account: the additions to the Cr. side I cannot state, because I must recur for them to mr Barnes’s account which I have not here. but you are in possession of them. I have turned over to mr Price for collection £31–12–6 which comprehends all rents due to the end of 1803. I also inclose you at his request a plat of the land, noting (with a pencil) the tenement & rent of every tenant as he has settled them. considering the fencing done by Durrett, & the lands he relinquished I thought the terms agreed between him & Price not unreasonable. I shall set out this day sennight for Washington. not knowing where you are, or what are to be your future movements I add only my affectionate salutations, & assurances of great esteem & respect.
Th: Jefferson
| paid to G. Lilly |
turned over to Price |
Total | ||
| £ | £ | £ | ||
| Durrett | 1803 | 23–19–9 | 7–16–3 | 31–16–0 |
| Price | 1803 | 13–16–0 | 13–16–0 | |
| Burras | 1802 | 5–5–0 | 5–5–0 | |
| 1803 | 7–3–3 | 7–3–3 | ||
| Lively | 1803 | 11–2–0 | 11–2–0 | |
| Giannini | Sundry years | 6–0–0 | 6–0–0 | |
| Tyler | 1795.6.7. | 2–17–0 | 2–17–0 | |
| 46–6–9 | 31–12–6 | 77–19–3 | ||
| Lilly’s commn on £152–19–9 pd. by Th:J. | 7–13–0 | |||
| to be debited to Th:J. | 38–13–9 | |||
RC (DLC: Short Papers); at foot of text: “Mr. Short”; endorsed by Short as received 8 Oct. at New York. Enclosure: survey by William Tompkins of Short’s Indian Camp property, dated July 1804; subdivided into eight plots farmed by Short’s lessees; plots are labeled by Tompkins according to their acreage, and three are identified by him according to lessee; with TJ’s added notations in pencil labeling other plots according to lessees and all plots according to rent collected; in the left top corner are TJ’s calculations in ink listing the eight plots totaling 860 acres, for which £26 and 5,600 pounds of tobacco have been paid in rent; endorsed by Tompkins: “Plat of W. Shorts Land” (MS in same).
In his epistolary record, Short noted a letter of 23 July to his Indian Camp manager Joseph Price, in which he discussed arrangements for forwarding rents to George Jefferson and leases with John Durrett and Anthony Giannini (FC in same; Vol. 42:480).
some time last autumn: TJ probably meant his letter of 12 Jan. 1804 (Vol. 42:167-9).
George Jefferson provided Short with an update on tenant arrears in a 24 Nov. letter to Short, forwarded by TJ “to the care of mr George Taylor broker Philadelphia” and postmarked at Washington, 30 Nov. (RC in DLC: Short Papers; endorsed by Short as received 4 Dec. at Philadelphia).
1. Thus in MS.