From James Madison to Robert R. Livingston, 3 July 1810
To Robert R. Livingston
Washington July 3. 1810
Dear Sir
It has been my wish to find some specimen of manufacture within my domestic precincts worthy of being presented to your daughter Mrs. Livingston.1 Delay has not relieved me from the mortification of betraying the poverty of our resources, by resorting to Mrs. M’s Smokehouse; from which are forwarded a few Virginia Hams, in a *Box addressed to the care of the Collector at N. Y. Mr. Gelston. If they should prove such as are sometimes prepared, they may, as a variety, be not altogether unacceptable. I pray you, in having them delivered, to express to Mrs. Livingston the respect & thankfulness, of which I have given so deficient a proof, & to be assured, yourself, of my high esteem & regard.
James Madison
RC (NHi: Robert R. Livingston Papers).
1. Early in 1809 Livingston had sent JM a roll of cloth as a gift from his daughter, Mrs. Edward P. Livingston, explaining that the wool was “carded, spun, & wove in her house” (R. R. Livingston to JM, 17 and 24 Jan. 1809 [DLC]; JM to R. R. Livingston, 13 Mar. 1809, , 1:37–38).