John Jay Papers
Documents filtered by: Period="Jefferson Presidency"
sorted by: date (descending)
Permanent link for this document:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jay/01-07-02-0143

To John Jay from Peter Augustus Jay, 3 March 1809

From Peter Augustus Jay

New York 3d Feb. ^March^ 1809

Dr Papa

I recd. your letter of the 22d Feby on Friday last—1 Judge Benson2 being still at Albany I could not consult him, but I called the next morning on Sir James & offered to pay him the Ballance of your Acct. deducting the £50 due on his agreement to you— He said he was willing to settle in this way & I thereupon offered gave him a Check for the Money & drew a Receipt for him to sign in these words— “Recd. New York 25 Febry. 1809 of John Jay two hundred & twenty six pounds eight Shillings & seven pence in full of the Ballance due from him to me as one of the Residuary Devisees of our Father Peter Jay decd.”3 And I wa To this Receipt he objected because it was in full— I told him it was time a final Settlement shd take place & that if he had any Objections to the Account you had rendered, they might better be discussed before than after a payment of the Ballance— He answered that he wished for a final Settlement, that he did not deny the Account wa to be correct tho for want of Vouchers with which to compare ^it^ he could not admit it to be so—That he wd give a Receipt for so much money due him as one of his fathers residuary Legatees— That he did not want the money & I might pay it or not as I pleased— I replied that the Account had been long rendered, that I understood he had consented to receive the Ballance as being all that was due upon it— That a Receipt on account always implied that more was due—And that in short I could ^only^ pay the Money upon an understanding that the Settlement was final— After these Ideas had been sufficiently pressed on both sides he persisted in refusing a Receipt in full & I to pay in refusing to pay the money without one— I therefore took back my Check— He ^then^ changed the Subject of Conversation asked about your Health, made many Inquiries about our family, & singularly enough told that he wished you to acquaint him with all you knew concerning our Ancestors at the time of their leaving France & all the Anecdotes you c[oul]d collect concerning them, together with the His[tor]y. of the Cortlandt Family— & he desired me to mention this to you—

On Monday he wrote me a note desiring me to call upon him which he I did— He said he had sent for me to make ^me^ more fully understand his Reasons for declining to give such a Receipt as I had required— after recapitulating his former objections he added this new one— That since rendering the Account you had in all probabilityly received more moneys belonging to Grandpapa’s ^your fathers^ Estate, all share in which wa he would relinquish by a Receipt in full— I answered that I had no reason to suppose you had recd such moneys but that as I was ignorant on that Subject I would be content for ^with^ a Receipt in full of the Ballance of the Account rendered. He said that he had not for a long time seen that Account, but that he wd look for & consider it. On Wednesday he wrote me that he had found it, & the next morning I called on him again when he offered & proposed & I rejected several forms of Receipts till at length we agreed that I should make an exact Copy of the Account itself & that he should write a Receipt under it in the following words—

Received in New York, March 2. 1809 of John Jay Esqr. by the hands of Peter A. Jay two hundred & twenty six pounds 8/7 in full of my share of the Balance of the above account. James Jay—

This was according executed, & I gave him a Receipt under the for the £50 under the Copy of the Agreem[en]t which you sent me, & paid him $441.07 equal to £176.8.7— I forgot to mention that at my first visit he said he wished to have the Accounts settled that related to Uncle Augustus’s Estate—4

Mary has had a fright but luckily has suffered nothing else— She caught a Cold a few Days ago which produced a swelled Breast— but by the immediate application of proper Remedies the swelling was entirely dispersed—

Mr. Munro has not yet returned. I hope your Health continues to mend— My best love to Nancy I am &c

P. A. Jay

John Jay Esqr.

Dft, NNC (EJ: 11426). Endorsed.

1JJ to PAJ, 22 Feb. 1809, not found.

2Egbert Benson.

3JJ’s father, Peter Jay, died on 17 Apr. 1782.

4Augustus Jay, JJ’s older brother, was mentally impaired and boarded with neighbors and people in nearby communities for much of his adult life. He passed on 23 Dec. 1801.

Index Entries