Thomas Jefferson Papers
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Enclosure: William Latham to William Maury, 25 January 1821

Enclosure

William Latham to William Maury

Liverpool 25 Jany 1821

Dear William

Your Father & Mother are going to Buxton tomorrow—the former has had a very bad cold for the last 3 weeks, but is now better & goes to Buxton to reestablish himself—   I have had some conversation to day with your Mother & I have promised to write to you on the subject,—it is this.—

Your Father never appears to have looked to the possibility of one of his Sons succeeding him in his situation as Consul, altho a matter that would be very desirable for his family as the situation is now becoming valuable & ought from this time to nett £700 a £800 ⅌ annum—at least to any one who would succeed him, as your Father is at an expense for Clerks &c which certainly might be considerably lessened—   he appears to dislike taking it into consideration & therefore your Mother is unwilling to say any thing of it to him—but she authorizes me to tell you that in the event of anything happening to your Father, & which at his time of life ought to be taken into view;—for the sake of his family, she would be most anxious that you should succeed him, provided that there was any prospect of an application being successful—   The point is—to ascertain that prospect—& if it is to be done at all, it can only be by sounding the proper authorities when you are at Washington in July next—   your Mother is most earnest in her wishes that, you should take proper steps for that purpose & I promised that I would write to you accordingly—

If the situation is a valuable one & the claims of applicants to be discussed, I should presume that your Fathers services for so many years—the consideration that for a long period it was no remuneration to him & that several years it was absolute loss—that he leaves a family & of which are 4 Sons to whom a limited Commission business is no fortune in these times—certainly these are claims that are quite as strong as can be urged by any other Candidate.—

Your Mothers opinion & mine is, that if with the assistance of your Fathers strong friends in Virginia & your Uncle at Washington you could discover the feelings of the Executive towards you as a successor to your Father, & that there was a reasonable prospect of success, it would be an easy matter to induce your Father to look very favorably upon the object that is proposed & to pave the way for it by a proper representation from himself—

signed William Latham

Tr (DLC); entirely in Maury’s hand.

William Latham, merchant, was in partnership with James Maury in Liverpool by 1812. Latham left the Maury firm in 1837 and worked on his own as a merchant and broker in Liverpool until at least 1843. By 1847 his business was located in London. Latham moved by 1848 to Neston, ten miles south of Liverpool, where he remained until he returned to London in 1856 (James Maury to TJ, 16 July 1812; Gore’s Liverpool Directory [Liverpool, 1821], 210; London Gazette 1 [1837]: 46; Gore’s Directory of Liverpool and Its Environs [(1843)], 301; Liverpool Mercury, 19 Feb. 1847 supplement, 15 Feb. 1848, 4, 25 Jan. 1856).

Index Entries

  • Latham, William; and J. Maury’s consulship search
  • Latham, William; identified search
  • Latham, William; letter from, to W. Maury search
  • Liverpool; U.S. consulship at search
  • Maury, Fontaine; family of search
  • Maury, James (1746–1840); as consul at Liverpool search
  • Maury, Margaret Rutson (second wife of James Maury [1746–1840]); and J. Maury’s consulship search
  • Maury, William; and J. Maury’s consulship search
  • Maury, William; letter to, from W. Latham search