William A. Thompson to Thomas Jefferson, 19 January 1822
From William A. Thompson
New York 19: Jan: 1822.
Respected Sir,
Your favour of the 10th inst, with Mr Coffee’s letter enclosed came to hand yesterday; I with pleasure hasten to comply with your requst—I made inquiry concirning the prices of the several articles desired,1 and find them to be at present as follows viz:—
| Dry pure2 white-lead | $13 | per 100 lb3 | |
| Linseed oil, raw per Gall: | .75 cnts | ||
| Do Boiled do | 1 | .25. | |
| Spirits of Tupentine per Gall: | .40 | ||
|
Double Tin per Box marked thus x and containing 100 sheets 17 by 12 |
 |
$16 | |
|
Second quality and smaller size containing 225 sheets 10 by 13 and ½ |
|
13 | :50 |
The smaller size, with two crosses thus xx, which denotes the quality of the tin, would be about $2 more per box.—
I made the preceding inquiry, of a man who carries on the tin business, in an extensive manner, and has covered a number of houses in this city: He appears to be a correct judge of the kind and quality necessary for that purpose; and says, the size and quality above mentioned, are the ones most commonly used in the covering of houses.—
I beg to add, that any service, I can be to Mr Jefferson, in the transacting of any business for him in this City, will be rendered with the greatest pleasure.
| W. A. Thompson |
| No 21. Cedar St N.Y— |
RC (MHi); endorsed by TJ as received 31 Jan. 1822 and so recorded in SJL. RC (ViU: TJP); address cover only; with Dft of TJ to Thomas Appleton, 17 May 1824, on verso; addressed: “Thomas Jefferson Esquire Montecello near Richmond v,a”; noted in an unidentified hand as “forwarded” to “Charlottesville”; stamped; postmarked New York, 21 Jan., and (faint) Richmond, 2[6?] Jan.
William Augustus Thompson (b. 1788), attorney, was a native of Sullivan County, New York, who practiced law in New York City by 1810. He was admitted to the New York Supreme Court as a counsellor at law in 1812 and licensed as a solicitor in the Court of Chancery the following year. Politically a Tammany Republican, Thompson represented New York City in the state assembly in 1823 and 1826. He was president of the new Greenwich Fire Insurance Company in 1824 and president of the Franklin Bank of New-Jersey three years later. Thompson still practiced law in 1850, and he lived with his daughter’s family in New York City in 1855 (James Eldridge Quinlan, History of Sullivan County [1873], 521; [1810]: 360; [1822]: 436; New York Columbian, 29 Oct. 1812; New-York Evening Post, 29 Oct. 1813, 27 Sept. 1821; New York Commercial Advertiser, 28 Apr. 1824, 3 Apr. 1827; New York National Advocate, 28 Aug. 1826; Franklin B. Hough, The New-York Civil List [1858], 199, 204; Doggett’s New York City Directory, for 1850–1851 [(1850)], 497; N-Ar: N.Y. state census, New York City, 1855).
TJ’s favour of the 10th inst to Thompson and mr coffee’s letter enclosed have not been found, and neither is recorded in SJL.
1. Manuscript: “disered.”
2. Manuscript: “puer.”
3. Manuscript: “bf.”
Index Entries
- building materials; lead search
- building materials; tin search
- Coffee, William John; correspondence of search
- household articles; linseed oil search
- household articles; turpentine search
- lead; white search
- linseed oil search
- medicine; turpentine search
- oil; linseed search
- oil; turpentine search
- Thompson, William Augustus; and goods for TJ search
- Thompson, William Augustus; and W. J. Coffee search
- Thompson, William Augustus; identified search
- Thompson, William Augustus; letters from search
- Thompson, William Augustus; letter to accounted for search
- tin; price of search
- tin; roofs search
- turpentine; used in medicine search
- white lead search