To John Jay from Peter Augustus Jay, 3 September 1824
From Peter Augustus Jay
New York 3 Septr. 1824
My dear Father
I have received your letter of the 24 August1 last— I returned from Albany on Wednesday last & was not a little surprized to find Sister Banyer & my daughter Mary in town— They propose going to Providence in the Steam Boat, & perhaps to go to Boston from thence— They are now waiting for my John whom they wish to take with them, but who has not yet returned from Niagara to which his uncle2 has had the Kindness to take him. Mrs. Banyer went yesterday to Flushing & I have not seen her since.
General La Fayette will have so many places to visit, & so much ceremony to undergo, that I think it doubtful whether he will pay you his promised visit this Fall.3 Whenever he does I dare say you will have previous notice. I left them making preparations at Albany to receive him there, & a ridiculous Dispute had commenced between the Governor & Common Council as to
Marquis de Lafayette, by Samuel F. B. Morse, 1826. Oil on canvas. (Collection of the Public Design Commission of the City of New York; photograph by Glenn Castellano)
which should receive the General and introduce him to the other. It is now thought that he will not be able to go there—4
The new houses are nearly roofed.5
When I left Albany the Chancellor6 was still engaged with the first cause on his Calendar tho’ he had sat more than a week. I am to argue the Cause No. 507 which is of some consequence Finding that it could not come on for some time I came home, but as the Chancellor told me that he would sit four or five Weeks, I shall probably have to return —Mr Roosevelt8 who remains at Albany & is engaged on the same side with me let me know when I am like to be wanted. Were it not for this cause I should come to Bedford immediately. My best love to Nancy Augusta & the Children I am my dear father Your very Affectionate son,
Peter Augustus Jay
John Jay Esqr
ALS, NNC (EJ: 06279). Endorsed: “… ansd—6 Septr. 1824—”. For reply, see JJ to PAJ, 6 Sept. 1824, below.
1. Letter not found.
2. See WJ to JJ, 25 Aug. 1824, above.
3. Lafayette toured the U.S. from 15 Aug. 1824 to 7 Sept. 1825. New York held a welcoming parade for Lafayette on 16 August. Two days later, the Corporation of New York made a resolution to ask Lafayette to sit for a portrait. The Governor’s Room at City Hall was “graced with the full length portraits of a Washington, a Clinton, a Jay, and a Hamilton,” and the aldermen thought that General Lafayette belonged in this distinguished company. See Evening Post (New York), 19 Aug. 1824; and MCCNYC, 18 Aug. 1824, 14: 38. These portraits, including JT’s 1805 JJ portrait, would be joined by a Samuel F. B. Morse’s full-length oil of Lafayette, completed in 1826. From 20 Aug. to 5 Sept., Lafayette toured New England.
4. After staying in New York City, Lafayette made a steamboat tour of the Hudson Valley on the James Kent, embarking for West Point on 16 Sept. 1824. The party arrived at Albany late in the evening of 17 Sept., greeted first by Albany mayor Ambrose Spencer (1765–1848), “and the members of the corporation. The members of the Common Council and those friends who had been specially invited having been introduced the General was then conducted to the Governor’s apartment…” The American historical register and monthly gazette of the historic, military and patriotic hereditary societies of the United States of America, vol. 3 (1896), 184; Knapp, Memoirs of General Lafayette, 208; and Auguste Levasseur, Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825: or, Journal of a voyage to the United States, John D. Godman, trans., vol. 1 (Philadelphia, 1829), 112–14.
New York’s governor Joseph C. Yates (1768–1837) would be replaced by DeWitt Clinton’s election in November. See PAJ to JJ, 25 Dec. 1823, note 4, above. Lafayette was not able to visit Bedford, and apologized. See JJ to Lafayette, 20 Sept. 1824; and Lafayette to JJ, 10 Nov. 1824, both below.
5. Walker Street development. See JJ to PAJ, 20 May 1818, above. On roofing, see PAJ to JJ, 5 Mar. 1824, ALS, NNC (EJ: 06275).
6. Nathan Sanford (1777–1838), chancellor (1823–26), and U.S. senator (1815–21); defeated by Martin Van Buren, but later returned to the senate (1826–31).
7. William Irving and others vs. George Humphrey. See William Johnson, Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Court of Chancery of New York, vol. 7 (New York, 1887), 324–28. Humphrey made false statements to creditors.
8. James I. Roosevelt, law partner. See PAJ to JJ, 20 May 1819, note 3, above.