John Moody to Thomas Jefferson, January 1812

From John Moody

Richmond January 1812—

Honorable Sir

I have written on to washington to Obtain a Majors Commision in the Service to Several friends—at this Crisis of publice affairs my pulse Beats high I am willing to offer my1 Sevices in a Suitable Station and the above would be an Eligeable one, I will take it particularly kind if you will be So Very Oblidgeing as to write a few Lines of Reccomendation in my favour to the proper placee as I have Very few Acquaintance at washington, Mr J. Monroe I have written to and one or two Others

with the Highest Respect I am your most Obt

John Moody

RC (DLC: TJ Papers, 195:34631); partially dated; endorsed by TJ as received 2 Feb. 1812 and so recorded in SJL.

John Moody (ca. 1747–1826) was a Revolutionary War veteran who settled in Richmond in 1786 and belonged in the 1790s to the Richmond mercantile firm of Moody & Price. In 1798 he was attacked in print for his Republican views. Moody regularly wrote to both TJ and James Madison in search of patronage. By 1806 Moody sold millstones in his own shop in Richmond, and by 1808 he was an agent for the inventor Oliver Evans. As such, he granted licenses for the use of Evans’s patented milling machinery (PTJ description begins Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, and others, eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 1950– , 31 vols. description ends , 29:429n; MB description begins James A. Bear Jr. and Lucia C. Stanton, eds., Jefferson’s Memorandum Books: Accounts, with Legal Records and Miscellany, 1767–1826, 1997, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series description ends , 2:989; Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, John C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, 1962– , 29 vols.: Congress. Ser., 17 vols.; Pres. Ser., 5 vols.; Sec. of State Ser., 7 vols description ends , Congress. Ser., 17:198–9; Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, John C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, 1962– , 29 vols.: Congress. Ser., 17 vols.; Pres. Ser., 5 vols.; Sec. of State Ser., 7 vols description ends , Sec. of State Ser., 2:450; Richmond Enquirer, 11 Jan. 1806; Leesburg Washingtonian, 2 Oct. 1810; Moody to TJ, 20 Nov. 1821, 20 Sept., 1 Dec. 1824, 31 Jan. 1825; TJ to Moody, 27 Nov. 1821; Richmond Enquirer, 3 Oct. 1826).

Moody’s letter to James monroe has not been found. He asked Monroe for patronage on at least two other occasions (Moody to Monroe, [ca. Jan. 1801] [Vi: RG 3, Governor’s Office, Executive Papers], 4 Oct. 1814 [DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1809–17]).

1. Manuscript: “my my.”

Index Entries

Jefferson, Thomas; Correspondence; letters of application and recommendation to search
Moody, John; identified search
Moody, John; letters from search
Moody, John; seeks military appointment search
patents; of O. Evans search
patronage; letters of application and recommendation to TJ search

You Are Looking At

Source Project: Jefferson Papers
Title: John Moody to Thomas Jefferson, January 1812
Author: Moody, John
Recipient: Jefferson, Thomas
Date: 1–31 January 1812

Reference

Cite as: “John Moody to Thomas Jefferson, January 1812,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-04-02-0356. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 4, 18 June 1811 to 30 April 1812, ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007, p. 468.]

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