From John Jay to Lady Mary Clarke Vassall Affleck, 17 May 1825
To Lady Mary Clarke Vassall Affleck
Bedford—West Chester County—N. York 17th. May 1825
Accept my thanks my Lady! for the friendly Letter which you did me the Honor to write on the 14 June 1824— I recd. it on the 7th. Day of this month; and regret the occurrences which prevented its being delivered to me by the Gentleman mentioned in it—1 The Respect due to your Recommendation and to their Characters would have ensured to them a welcome Reception, and induced me to give them Letters of Introduction to several Gentlemen from whom they would have recd. every Mark of friendly Attention—2
Many Alterations have taken place in this your ^our^ native Country since you left it— But few of those with whom we associated before the Revolution are now alive— The kind mention made in your Letter respecting Mrs. Jay leads me to observe that many years have elapsed since she departed from this World to a better—3 circumstanced and connected as you are in England, your Friends in New York have more Reason to desire than to expect the Satisfaction of seeing you among them.
Since the Year 1801 I have constantly resided at this place; and altho my Health has for many years been declining, yet I have great Reason to be contented and thankful—
With the best Wishes that the Evening of your Life may continue serene and free from clouds, I remain Your Ladyships obliged & obt. Servt Lady Affleck—
Dft, NNC (EJ: 08801). Lady Mary Clarke Vassall Affleck (1748–1835), was the New York–born sister of Charity Clarke Moore (1747–1838), wife of Benjamin Moore and mother of Clement Clarke Moore (1779–1863). Both were daughters of British Major Thomas Clarke (b. 1692), whose estate Chelsea House was north of Greenwich Village. Mary Clarke’s first husband was Jamaican landowner Richard Vassall (1732–95), who was of a Massachusetts merchant family. Vassall married Clarke in New York before the war of independence, and then, as a Loyalist, relocated to London, eventually residing in Golden Lion Square. JJ and PAJ visited Vassall during the Jay Treaty mission. See PAJ Memoranda Book, D, NNC. Mary and Richard Vassall’s daughter was Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Baroness Holland (1771–1845). Mary Clarke’s second husband was Sir Gilbert Affleck, 2nd Baronet (1740–1808), of Dalham Hall, Suffolk.
1. See Affleck to JJ, 9 June, 1824, ALS, NNC (EJ: 09123). Date discrepancy not explained; JJ is possibly in error. Letter apparently brought by hand from England. The name of the carrier is not specified.
2. Along with the unnamed gentleman, the letter serves as a letter of introduction for MPs John Stuart-Wortley, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe (1801–55) and Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley (1799–1869), later 14th Earl of Derby and Prime Minister. Stuart-Wortley and Smith-Stanley, along with MPs John Evelyn Denison (1800–1873), later 1st Viscount Ossington, and Henry Labouchere (1798–1869), later 1st Baron Taunton, made an 1824 tour of the U.S. and Canada. For part of the trip above Albany, they were accompanied by James Fennimore Cooper. See Cooper, Last of the Mohicans; A Narrative of 1757, historical introduction by James Franklin Beard, James A. Sappenfield and E. N. Feltskog, eds. (Albany, 1983), xx.
3. In her letter of June 1824, Lady Affleck sends regards to SLJ, unaware of her death. See note 1, above.