Thomas Jefferson Papers

To Thomas Jefferson from Obadiah Jones, 20 May 1805

From Obadiah Jones

Lexington (Geo.) 20th. May 1805.

Respected Sir,

I lately received official information of my appointment as Judge of the Mississippi Territory. With due acknowledgments to those who conferred the honor on me, it is with regret I have to inform you that circumstances forbid my acceptance.

I am, Sir, with sentiments of highest esteem, Your obedient, humble Servt.

Obadiah Jones

RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR); at foot of text: “His excellency, Thomas Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ as a letter of 22 May received 14 July and “declines judge Misipi” and so recorded in SJL.

TJ had nominated Obadiah Jones (d. 1825) of Georgia for a judgeship in Mississippi Territory in March. Jones received judicial appointments for Illinois Territory in 1809 and Mississippi Territory in 1810 and became receiver of the land office at Huntsville, Alabama, in 1820 (JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States … to the Termination of the Nineteenth Congress, Washington, D.C., 1828, 3 vols. description ends , 2:119, 139-40; 3:178, 205-6; Madison, Papers, Pres. Ser. description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, J. C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, Chicago and Charlottesville, 1962- , 43 vols.; Sec. of State Ser., 1986- , 12 vols.; Pres. Ser., 1984-2020, 11 vols.; Ret. Ser., 2009- , 3 vols. description ends , 1:13-14, 22; 2:257-8, 266; Terr. Papers description begins Clarence E. Carter and John Porter Bloom, eds., The Territorial Papers of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1934-75, 28 vols. description ends , 5:701-2; Salem Gazette, 5 July 1825; TJ to the Senate, 2 Mch. 1805).

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    Jefferson Papers
    Title
    To Thomas Jefferson from Obadiah Jones, 20 May 1805
    Author
    Jones, Obadiah
    Recipient
    Jefferson, Thomas
    Date
    20 May 1805

    Reference

    Cite as
    “To Thomas Jefferson from Obadiah Jones, 20 May 1805,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-46-02-0419. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 46, 9 March to 5 July 1805, ed. James P. McClure et al. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2022, p. 408.]