1. Nathaniel Tracy had come to France via Cowes with Jefferson and his daughter Martha aboard his vessel Ceres, which had sailed from Boston in early July. His purpose was to settle claims against his firm; his lack of success eventually contributed to his worsening financial plight (Jefferson, Papers description begins The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd and others, Princeton, 1950- . description ends , 7:363–364; Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates description begins John Langdon Sibley and Clifford K. Shipton, Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Boston, 1873- . description ends , 17:250).