To Thomas Jefferson from John Rice Jones, 11 February 1804
From John Rice Jones
Vincennes, Indiana Territory 11th Feby. 1804
Sir/
The within vocabulary, and another Copy, was put into my hands sometime since, for the purpose of inserting, in the Languages of any of the Indian Tribes I was acquainted with, the names of the several words therein comprised; which, when done, I was requested to forward to you—The other Copy has been delivered, many months since, to a gentleman of St. Louis, a considerable Trader with the osage nation, who promised me to fill it up with the words of that Tongue—As soon as it is finished, which will be soon, it shall be forwarded—
I would have done myself the honor of sending you, the inclosed one, of the miamia Language, long since, had I not been informed that you were already furnished with one; which however from the Information of Capn Lewis, who I had the pleasure of seeing at Cahokia a few days ago, appears not to be true.
Some part, perhaps the whole of the Information contained in the “emancipated American,” has, I doubt not, been communicated to you by Capt Lewis, who informed me of his Intention of doing so—For fear it has not, I take the liberty of inclosing a newspaper, wherein that piece has been inserted, for your perusal, and of assuring you that, from the best Information I could obtain on the spot, it does not in the least exaggerate the Conduct of the late Spanish officers, and that the Charges alledged against them, can most, if not all of them be substantiated.
Should you wish to have vocabularies of the Languages of any of the other Tribes in these parts, I shall think myself honored in receiving your Commands and with pleasure obey them.—
With Sentiments of the most profound respect I have the honor to be Sir, your most obedient and very humble servant
Jno Rice Jones
RC (DLC); at foot of text: “Thos. Jefferson, Esqr. Prest. of the United States”; endorsed by TJ as received 6 Mch. and so recorded in SJL. Enclosures not found.
John Rice Jones (1759-1824) was born in Wales and trained as a lawyer in London before emigrating to the United States in 1784. He soon settled out west, becoming commissary for American troops at Vincennes and acquiring land there and at Kaskaskia. He became the first attorney general for the Indiana Territory and later served on Indiana’s legislative council. After splitting politically from William Henry Harrison, he led efforts to make Illinois a separate territory. Dedicated to the expansion of slavery into the region, he settled eventually on the west side of the Mississippi, where he held mining interests, and was named to the legislative council of Missouri Territory. He served in Missouri’s constitutional convention in 1820 and after statehood was appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri (Charles E. Burgess, “John Rice Jones, Citizen of Many Territories,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, 61 [1968], 67-8, 80-1; , 2:9, 601-2).
gentleman of st. louis: likely Auguste Chouteau, who was permanently settled in the city, but possibly his half-brother Pierre Chouteau, who spent much of his life among the Osage but may have then been in St. Louis (Vol. 41:473n; Meriwether Lewis to TJ, 26 Mch. 1804).
Jones was implicating Charles Dehault Delassus, the late spanish lieutenant governor for upper Louisiana, in a scheme to issue land grants dated before the Spanish retrocession to France. Jones reported on the “iniquitous and fraudulent Grants” in a letter of 21 Jan. to Thomas T. Davis, judge of the Indiana Territory. An anonymous communication from Kaskaskia to Gallatin, dated 18 Oct. 1803, also reported a number of large, back-dated land grants made by Spanish officers. An extract from this letter appeared in a congressional report and was reprinted in newspapers. Isaac Briggs reported on similar issues confronting American administrators in lower Louisiana (, 7:168-9; , Public Lands, 1:173; New York American Citizen, 18 Feb. 1804; Vol. 41:350).