Thomas Jefferson to Robert Richardson, 10 December 1812
To Robert Richardson
Poplar Forest Dec. 10. 12.
Sir
I have occasion for some iron backs for my fire places at this place, of a particular size & form. mr Reuben Perry, house joiner at Lynchburg has promised to make the mould and forward it to you, and, as it is probable his wood will not be well seasoned & liable to shrink, I have to request you to have 7. cast as soon as convenient. if you have any opportunity of lodging them at mr Robertson’s in Lynchburg it will be an additional convenience as my waggon can bring them here as a return load. your bill, if forwarded to me by post to Monticello near Milton shall be paid by an order on Gibson & Jefferson in Richmond. Accept the assurance of my respects
Th: Jefferson
PoC (MHi); at foot of text: “Mr Richardson Oxford iron works”; endorsed by TJ.
Robert Richardson was superintending clerk at David Ross’s Oxford Iron Works in Campbell County. He had worked there since about 1792, and he probably continued at the ironworks until Ross’s death in 1817. Richardson moved to Richmond, but after he bought 133 acres in Campbell County from Ross’s estate by 1820, he returned there for at least five more years (Charles B. Dew, “David Ross and the Oxford Iron Works: A Study of Industrial Slavery in the Early Nineteenth-Century South,” , 3d ser., 2 [1974]: 190, 201, 216–8, 222; ViHi: David Ross Letterbook, esp. Ross’s memorandum for Richardson, [before 29 Dec. 1812]; TJ to Richardson, 1 Aug. 1813; Campbell Co. Deed Book, 10:441, 596–7, 12:513–4, 15:152–3).
Index Entries
- Gibson & Jefferson (Richmond firm); and household articles acquired by TJ search
- Oxford Iron Works (Campbell Co. firm) search
- Perry, Reuben; TJ’s carpenter search
- Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); chimney backs for search
- Richardson, Robert; and Oxford Iron Works search
- Richardson, Robert; identified search
- Richardson, Robert; letters to search
- Robertson, Archibald; receives goods for TJ search