William Pelham to Thomas Jefferson, 23 May 1809
From William Pelham
Boston May 23. 1809
Sir
On the publication of my System of Notation I took the liberty of presenting you a copy and was much gratified by your favourable acceptance of it. A Periodical work published in this town has lately presented an analysis of the work and I have had it reprinted. I beg your acceptance of a copy.
Wm Pelham.
RC (MHi); at foot of text: “Mr Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ as received 1 June 1809 and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: Account of A System of Notation … From the Monthly Anthology of Jan. Feb. and March (Boston, 1809; , 5 [no. 210]; TJ’s copy in MBAt).
William Pelham (1759–1827) was a native of Williamsburg who served as a surgeon during the Revolutionary War. He moved to Boston about 1800 and owned a bookstore and publishing house, ran a circulating library, and sent TJ books, including his work, A System of Notation: Representing the Sounds of Alphabetical Characters by a New Application of the Accentual Marks in Present Use (Boston, 1808; no. 1129). Pelham sold his business in 1811 and moved in succession to Newark, New Jersey; to Philadelphia, where he operated a circulating library; to Zanesville, Ohio, where he edited the Ohio Republic; and finally, in 1825, to New Harmony, Indiana, where he published the New-Harmony Gazette (Caroline Creese Pelham, “William Pelham,” , 2d ser., 8 [1928]: 42–5; TJ to Pelham, 12 July 1808 [ViU: TJP]; no. 1505).