To Thomas Jefferson from Antonia Carmichael, 14 October 1795
From Antonia Carmichael
pres de chester town ce 14 octobre 1795
Monsieur
Etant arrivée depuis quelque’s semaines dans ce pais et ne sachant par quel moyen vous faire passer un livre intitulé la Conquête du Mexique que feu mon mari vous avoit destiné ainsi que quelques papiers a votre adresse. Si les lettres d’Hernand Cortes a Charles Quint ainsi que les gravures vous font plaisir je crois pouvoir vous les procurer. J’ai l’honneur d’Être Monsieur Votre tres humble
veuve carmichael
Je vous prie d’Adresser vos lettres a Mr. Nicholson chester-town.
RC (DLC); in an unidentified hand, signed by Mrs. Carmichael; at foot of text: “A Monsieur Monsieur Jeffersson en Virginie”; endorsed by TJ as received 10 Nov. 1795 and so recorded in SJL.
Antonia Reynon Carmichael (d. 1800), the Spanish-born second wife and widow of William Carmichael, the former American chargé d’affaires and commissioner to Spain, who left her without funds after his death earlier in 1795, lived for the rest of her life near Chestertown, Maryland, and collected over $9,600 from the federal government in connection with the settlement of her husband’s accounts (Samuel G. Coe, The Mission of William Carmichael to Spain [Baltimore, 1928], 97–8).
SJL records a letter from TJ to “Mde. de” Carmichael of 9 Nov. 1795 which has not been found.