Thomas Jefferson to Lemuel J. Alston, 25 February 1810
To Lemuel J. Alston
Monticello Feb. 25. 10
Sir
Your favor of the1 has been duly recieved; & it would have given me great pleasure to have been able to inform you that I possessed the Merino race of sheep, because I should then have certainly had the greater pleasure of furnishing you with them. I did possess a race of Spanish sheep which Robert Morris had recieved as Merinos. they had some valuable properties; but having sent the wool for examination to Philadelphia and Wilmington, it was there pronounced to be not Merino. raising sheep myself only for the table & coarse manufactures, I have substituted the Barbary sheep for those abovementioned. the last I possessed of the Spanish race I gave to mr Eppes of your house, and do not now possess a single one of them. If unable to gratify you in the particular wish you entertained, it still furnishes me an opportunity of expressing the high esteem I felt for you during the term of our joint concern in the public service, and of assuring you of it’s continuance, with sentiments of great respect & consideration.
Th: Jefferson.
PoC (DLC); at foot of text: “The honble L. Alston”; endorsed by TJ.
1. Space for number left blank in manuscript, with “13” later inserted by an unknown hand.
Index Entries
- Alston, Lemuel James; and merino sheep search
- Alston, Lemuel James; letters to search
- Eppes, John Wayles (TJ’s son-in-law); and sheep search
- Morris, Robert (1735–1806); provides sheep to TJ search
- Philadelphia; wool analyzed at search
- sheep; Barbary search
- Wilmington, Del.; wool from TJ’s flock analyzed at search
- wool; samples of search