Thomas Jefferson Papers

To Thomas Jefferson from a "True Friend, Alltho a woman," 20 June 1802

From a “True Friend, Alltho a woman”

Lankester County June th20. 1802

Honnored Sir/

Being at the City of Washington the latter end of the siting of Congress, & in the house whare Arthor St. Clare, as I understood, with a Major Zigler, & a Number of Men from the N. Western Country, whare St. Clare is govener, I apprehended that they ware treasenably inclined, from there discorse, in several evenings that I set in the next room, St. Clare said that Thomas Jefferson, the presidant was, A damed Villon & Albert Gallaten, was no better, & as he St. Clare as Govener, had very great influance in pittsburg, haveing two sons in that quarter, & one an Offiser in the garrison in fort pitt & a Son at Chilacothey, that was states atturney, & one at Cincinata & one at Montgomary County whos Names I do not remember, but he said that he was Collector of the tax’s, on stills & Carrages, for that district, & that a Cornal Nicholas, at pootsgrove in the same County with a Wm. Nicholas, who was if I under stood Marshall of that district that the above mentiond persons, had all sworn to do all in there power, to turn you out of Offis, or sacrafise them selves in the attemt. the reason I did not right before was I wanted to consult my husband, who said it ought to be maid known to you whih I now do. I think it my duty due to the president, in order that he may be apprised of it, as I think it is a deep lad scame against you, you Honnored Sir, will never know whom I am, but be asured your well wisher, & True friend, alltho a woman.

RC (DLC); at foot of text: “Thos. Jefferson Esqr.”; endorsed by TJ as received from “Anon.” on 6 July and “St. Clair” and so recorded in SJL.

MAJOR ZIGLER: David Zeigler, of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was a Revolutionary War veteran and former major in the United States Army. As a witness at the inquiry into Arthur St. Clair’s disastrous Indian campaign of 1791, Zeigler provided testimony that confirmed the supply and logistical difficulties faced by St. Clair’s army. Resigning his commission in 1792, Zeigler settled in Cincinnati. TJ appointed him marshal for Ohio in 1803 (Washington, Papers description begins W. W. Abbot, Dorothy Twohig, Philander D. Chase, Theodore J. Crackel, and others, eds., The Papers of George Washington, Charlottesville, 1983–, 53 vols. description ends , Rev. War Ser., 13:216; Pres. Ser., 10:15; William Henry Engle, ed., Notes and Queries Historical, Biographical and Genealogical Relating Chiefly to Interior Pennsylvania, Annual Volume, 1897 [Harrisburg, 1898; repr. Baltimore, 1970], 1–2; Smith, St. Clair Papers description begins William Henry Smith, ed., The St. Clair Papers, The Life and Public Services of Arthur St. Clair, Cincinnati, 1882, 2 vols. description ends , 2:290–2; JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States … to the Termination of the Nineteenth Congress, Washington, D.C., 1828, 3 vols. description ends , 1:447).

St. Clair’s sons included Arthur St. Clair, Jr., the attorney general for the Northwest Territory, and Daniel St. Clair, a veteran of the American Revolution and a collector of internal revenues in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. St. Clair’s son-in-law, Samuel Robb, resided in Cincinnati (Engle, Notes and Queries, 58–9, 62–3, 68–70; ASP description begins American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1832–61, 38 vols. description ends , Miscellaneous, 1:282; Vol. 36:465).

CORNAL NICHOLAS: probably Colonel Francis Nichols, a former officer in the Continental army and resident of Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania. His brother, William Nichols, also a Revolutionary War veteran, served as the U.S. marshal for Pennsylvania from 1795 to 1799 (Syrett, Hamilton description begins Harold C. Syrett and others, eds., The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, New York, 1961–87, 27 vols. description ends , 16:484n; 18:233–4; PMHB description begins Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 1877– description ends , 20 [1896], 504; 24 [1900], 234–5; Heitman, Register description begins Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution, April, 1775, to December, 1793, new ed., Washington, D.C., 1914 description ends , 413–14; JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States … to the Termination of the Nineteenth Congress, Washington, D.C., 1828, 3 vols. description ends , 1:189, 325).

Index Entries

    You Are Looking At

    Source Project
    Jefferson Papers
    Title
    To Thomas Jefferson from a "True Friend, Alltho a woman," 20 June 1802
    Author
    a “True Friend, Alltho a woman”
    Recipient
    Jefferson, Thomas
    Date
    20 June 1802

    Reference

    Cite as
    “To Thomas Jefferson from a "True Friend, Alltho a woman," 20 June 1802,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-37-02-0520. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 37, 4 March–30 June 1802, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010, pp. 635–636.]