George Fleming to Thomas Jefferson, 30 October 1815
From George Fleming
Louisa Healing Springs Octo 30th 1815
Sir
The papers I have taken the liberty of sending to you contain the description of a new theory on the application of Steam, I sent a copy to Docr Thornton (patent office) some weeks past, who has done me the honor to notice my communication in a manner that gives me much encouragement, I wished for some months past to send them to you, & only hesitated because I never had the happyness of your acquaintance, nor the pleasure of seeing you, if under these circumstances I have made too free I still hope you will excuse me, & that you will believe there is no one I should be more unwilling to offend than yourself
I have a small Mill whose profits are yet very important to me & which often wants water & “duris urgens in rebus egestas” has led to this imagination & some others, but none terminating in results like this, for if this can perform but one fourth only what the philosophy & figures promise, I shall be satisfied,
I can scarcely tell you how much I should be gratified if you will have the goodness & can spare the time to look at this thing, & in that case a line directed to me at Goochland C. House would reach me sooner than from the office of this county.—I am Sir wth the highest respect
Geo. Fleming
RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 15 Dec. 1815 and so recorded in SJL.
George Fleming, miller, emigrated as a young man from his native Ireland before 1781, when he was living in Maryland. He worked as a merchant before turning to farming. By 1799 Fleming owned a 1,300-acre tract of Louisa County land known as Healing Springs. He unsuccessfully sought a consular position in Europe in 1809. Due to his expertise in milling, in 1820 Fleming was appointed a commissioner at TJ’s suggestion in the latter’s lawsuit against the Rivanna Company. In 1827 Fleming patented his improvement in “the application of steam power in raising water, &c.” (Louise Pecquet du Bellet, Some Prominent Virginia Families [1907; repr. 1976], 1:406; William Hand Browne and others, eds., Archives of Maryland [1883–1972], 47:533; Fleming to Samuel Overton, 3 Feb. 1799 [ViW: Overton Family Papers]; Richmond Enquirer, 14 Oct. 1808; Edmund Winston to James Madison, 9 Nov. 1809, and Spencer Roane to Madison, 30 Nov. 1809 [both in DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1809–17]; TJ to John H. Peyton, 22 Jan. 1820, and enclosure; Peyton to TJ, 24 Feb. 1820; , 334).
duris urgens in rebus egestas: “Want that pinches when life is hard,” from Virgil, Georgics, 1.146 (, 1:108–9).
1. Manuscript: “you.”
Index Entries
- Fleming, George; and steam engines search
- Fleming, George; as miller search
- Fleming, George; identified search
- Fleming, George; letters from search
- Georgics (Virgil) search
- machines; steam engine search
- steam engine search
- Thornton, William; as patent office superintendent search
- Virgil; Georgics search