From Thomas Jefferson to J. P. P. Derieux, [4 July 1796?]
To J. P. P. Derieux
[4 July 1796?]
[…]1 after […]2 Loss by fire you […] I procured 2. bed ticks, 3 pair sheets, and 6. blankets to ask your acceptance of towards replacing those you had lost. They were made up in a bale, and are now at Colo. Bell’s who will forward them to you, or keep them till you pass on to Staunton as you shall direct. With my best respects to Mme. Derieux, I am Dear Sir Your friend & servt
Th: Jefferson
P.S. I was so pleased with the egg-plants brought by Peter, and his dressing them according to the directions you were so good as to give, that I must ask some seed, and advice how to cultivate them.
RC (Dabney S. Lancaster, Richmond, 1945); consists of mutilated fragment, being the lower half of one page; date tentatively conjectured from SJL and internal evidence; at foot of text: “Mr. Derieux.”
Loss by fire: see TJ to James Monroe, 12 June 1796, and note.
According to SJL, TJ and Derieux exchanged 18 letters between 11 July 1796 and 22 Aug. 1799, none of which has been found.
1. Estimated half page missing.
2. Parts of two lines torn away here and below.