Thomas Jefferson Papers
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-43-02-0256

From Thomas Jefferson to James Lindsay, 25 April 1804

To James Lindsay

Monticello Apr. 25. 04.

Sir

I must apologise for an error of mine in weighing some money delivered me by mr Lilly as recieved from you; and which I made to weigh less than you had done. you were right and I was wrong. I inattentively weighed it as Spanish gold, and it was not, till going to weigh some of it out again to another person, I adverted to it’s being all in Portuguese half joes & Moedas: and calculating anew, found it made up exactly the difference between my former count and yours, and that the sum recieved was precisely £48. as you had noted it. I pray you to accept my apology and assurances of esteem.

Th: Jefferson

PrC (MHi); at foot of text: “Mr. James Lindsay”; endorsed by TJ in ink on verso.

James Lindsay was a nephew of TJ’s Albemarle County neighbor Reuben Lindsay. He resided at The Meadows in Louisa County (Woods, Albemarle description begins Edgar Woods, Albemarle County in Virginia, Charlottesville, 1901 description ends , 257; VMHB description begins Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 1893- description ends [1902], 10:203; Vol. 38:397-8n; RS description begins J. Jefferson Looney and others, eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series, Princeton, 2004- , 13 vols. description ends , 1:563n).

On 13 Apr., TJ received £48 from Gabriel lilly for nails purchased by Lindsay (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 , 2:1124).

Portuguese half Johannes (half joes), which got their name from King João V, and moedas were gold coins in circulation in America (OED description begins J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner, eds., The Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford, 1989, 20 vols. description ends ; 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 , 1:82; Vol. 1:408n, 512, 513, 517).

Index Entries

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    Source Project
    Jefferson Papers
    Title
    From Thomas Jefferson to James Lindsay, 25 April 1804
    Author
    Jefferson, Thomas
    Recipient
    Lindsay, James
    Date
    25 April 1804

    Reference

    Cite as
    “From Thomas Jefferson to James Lindsay, 25 April 1804,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-43-02-0256. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 43, 11 March–30 June 1804, ed. James P. McClure. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017, p. 308.]

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