To Thomas Jefferson from Tucker Moore Woodson, 15 April 1805
From Tucker Moore Woodson
Charlottsville April 15th. 1805.
Sir
Inclosed you find a letter written by Joseph Woodson now resident at Manchester. My acquaintance with this young Man will not justify my saying any thing for or against him—Yet I feel it a duty owed to all to promote so far as I can the hapiness of my fellow man. This duty otherwise than letting Known the wish he expresses for serving his Country & himself could not be discharged
I am Sir Most Respectfully yr Ob Servant
T M Woodson
RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR); endorsed by TJ as received 30 Apr. and “Woodson Joseph to be employed in Navy” and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: Joseph Woodson, Jr., to Tucker Moore Woodson, 27 Mch., Manchester, Virginia, mentioning their “consanguinity” and asking that his request for a naval appointment be put to the president; “I trust to your friendship for your influence with Mr Jefferson” (RC in same; endorsed by TJ).
Tucker Moore Woodson, a distant relative of TJ, was a considerable landowner in Albemarle County. He and his wife, Martha Eppes Woodson, moved to Kentucky in 1804 and ultimately resided in Jessamine County (Edgar Woods, Albemarle County in Virginia [Charlottesville, 1901], 357, 391; , 1st ser., 10 [1901-2], 47-8, 188; G. Glenn Clift, comp., Kentucky Obituaries, 1787-1854 [Baltimore, 1977], 113).