Statement of Account with Thomas Carpenter, 26 April 1802
Statement of Account with Thomas Carpenter
Thomas Jefferson Esq. | ||||
1802. | Dr | |||
January | 29 | To Thomas Carpenter— | ||
Putting new facing to an under Waistcoat | $1.50 | |||
To 3 pr linnen drawers & 3 pr fustain Drawers | 13.50 | |||
To a pr Overhawles of Quean’s rib | 5.50 | |||
March | 22 | Making a Silk Coat & trimings | 3.25 | |
6 Pearl Buttons | 25 | |||
April | 19. | New facing an under Waistcoat | 1.50 | |
To a pr Overhawles Quean’s Rib | 5.50 | |||
To a pr of Do— Nankeen | 3. — | |||
Repairing John a Coat & a pr Pantaloons | 75 | ![]() |
||
26— | To a Livery Jackett for the Stable boy | 7.50 | ||
$42.25 |
MS (ViU: Edgehill-Randolph Papers); in Carpenter’s hand; addressed: “Mr Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ.
OVERHAWLES: overalls were trousers or leggings worn over other clothing while traveling or as protection against wet weather. The cloth that Carpenter used in this case was very likely a material more commonly known as queen, or queen’s, cord, a ribbed cotton fabric of English origin (; Phyllis G. Tortora, ed., Robert S. Merkel, consulting ed., Fairchild’s Dictionary of Textiles, 7th ed. [New York, 1996], 453; Newburyport Herald, 2 Nov. 1802; New-York Gazette and General Advertiser, 12 Nov. 1803; Salem, Mass., Essex Register, 22 May 1822).
JOHN FREEMAN, a Maryland slave whose labor TJ hired in this period, worked in the dining room of the President’s House ( , 2:1043; Vol. 33:508n).
On 21 June, TJ wrote an order on John Barnes to pay Carpenter the $42.25 for his account to 26 Apr. In his financial memoranda, TJ designated that $7.75 of the amount (apparently a mistotaling of the final two entries in Carpenter’s statement) was “for servts.” He noted that the remainder of the payment—which he recorded as $34.50, due to his mistake in adding the amount for the servants’ clothing—was for his own clothing (
, 2:1076).