From Thomas Jefferson to Charles Ludlow, 17 June 1803
To Charles Ludlow
Washington June 17. 1803.
Sir
Having occasion to have a small matter paid to mr Cheetham for the articles mentioned in the inclosed letter to him, and having no pecuniary connections in New York, mr Barnes authorises me to hope you will be so good as to make paiment for them, and to debit it to him in an account existing between you. under these circumstances I take the liberty of inclosing the within, open, that you may be apprised of the extent of the trouble I propose to you, which goes to the forwarding to me the articles to be recieved from mr Cheetham, by the stage, under my address: and to ask the favor of you to stick a wafer in the letter to mr Cheetham, handing it on to him, and letting him know you will pay his bill. hoping you will excuse the liberty I take, I pray you to accept my salutations & assurances of respect.
Th: Jefferson
RC (NjMoHP); addressed: “Mr. Charles Ludlow New York”; franked and postmarked; endorsed by Ludlow as answered 24 June. PrC (MHi); endorsed by TJ in ink on verso. Enclosure: TJ to James Cheetham, 17 June 1803.
New York merchant Charles Ludlow (1765–1814) resided at 18 Wall Street. With the support of Clintonian Republicans, TJ appointed him commissioner of bankruptcy in early 1803. He was elected director of the New York branch of the Bank of the United States for the first time on 31 Jan. 1803 and continued serving as a director of the New-York Insurance Company. Ludlow served for many years as John Barnes’s friend and business agent in New York (Longworth’s American Almanac, New-York Register, and City-Directory [New York, 1803], 199; New-York Gazette and General Advertiser, 10 Jan. 1801, 5 Feb. 1803; Republican Watch-Tower, 17 Jan. 1801; New York Commercial Advertiser, 11 Jan. 1806; New York Mercantile Advertiser, 12 Dec. 1814; , 3:524; Vol. 37:308, 439, 572; Vol. 39:299–300, 612).