Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson’s Bond to Wakelin Welch, 20 July 1810

Enclosure

Bond to Wakelin Welch

Know all men by these presents that I Thomas Jefferson of Albemarle county in Virginia am held and firmly bound to Wakelyn Welsh of the kingdom of Great Britain in the sum of thirteen hundred & sixty eight pounds twelve shillings and six pence lawful money of Virginia, to the paiment whereof to the said Wakelyn Welsh, his executors, administrators or assigns, I bind myself my heirs executors & administrators. Given under my hand and seal this 20th day of July one thousand eight1 hundred & ten.

The Condition of the above Obligation is such that if the sd Thos his exrs or admrs2 whenever thereto required shall pay3 to the said Wakelyn Welsh his executors, administrators or assigns the sum of six hundred and eighty four pounds six shillings & three pence of like lawful money with interest at the rate of 6. p. c. per annum from the date hereof until paid4 then this obligation to become void, but otherwise to remain in full force.

Dft (MHi); entirely in TJ’s hand, with beginning of his signature (“Th”) erased.

Wakelin Welch, a merchant in London, joined his namesake father in business in 1783. In that year the elder Welch (d. 1796) was the surviving partner in the London mercantile firm of Robert Cary & Company, to which TJ owed money both in his own right and as a beneficiary of the estate of his father-in-law, John Wayles. At TJ’s death his debts to Welch remained unpaid (Herbert E. Sloan, Principle and Interest: Thomas Jefferson and the Problem of Debt [1995], 17–8; 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 , 6:272–3, 29:173–4, 217–8, 268, 419; 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 , 1:395–6, 616, 2:951, 1034, 1258).

1. Word interlined in place of “seven.”

2. Manuscript: “dmrs.”

3. Reworked from “if the above bound Thomas shall on demand pay.”

4. Phrase from “with interest” to this point interlined.

Index Entries

Jefferson, Thomas; Business & Financial Affairs; account with W. Welch search
Tazewell, Littleton Waller; and TJ’s account with W. Welch search
Wayles, John (TJ’s father-in-law); and TJ’s account with W. Welch search
Welch, Wakelin; identified search
Welch, Wakelin; TJ’s account with search
Welch, Wakelin; TJ’s bond to search

You Are Looking At

Source Project: Jefferson Papers
Title: Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson’s Bond to Wakelin Welch, 20 July 1810
Author: Jefferson, Thomas
Recipient: Welch, Wakelyn
Date: 13–2 July 1810

Reference

Cite as: “Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson’s Bond to Wakelin Welch, 20 July 1810,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-02-02-0447-0003. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 2, 16 November 1809 to 11 August 1810, ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005, p. 515.]