To Thomas Jefferson from John Barnes, 3 June 1805
From John Barnes
Geo: Town, 3d. June, 1805.
Sir
It appears from Mr Cheethams letter 15th: Ulto. that Mr. Richards—to whom, on the 20th May 1804, I wrote, requesting of him to pay Mr Cheetham $19. & Mr Erwin $8. is $27, which from his letter 26th: same Month—herewith inclosed (with Mr Cheethams to the President) I presumed to suppose, was paid—Credited his a/c and of course JB. debited the Presidents a/c therefor—
Mr Radcliffe—as was then expected—did not see Mr Richards—nor have I since recd—from himself a line of advice, relative to this a/c
Colo. Colfax when here this Spring—was presented with Mr Richards a/c which—included this paymt. still unnoticed as Supposing them paid—
my late remittance to Mr Richards,
$33.80 … to pay Mr Cheetham 25.80,
and Mr Erwin … 8 … was recd by Mr Richards Clerk, and paid to those Gentn. as ⅌ recpt. which will be handed the President—to Morrow—in his May. a/c for this omission—of Mr Richards. I shall in Course of a post or two, write my friend Mr Ludlow—who will pay Mr Cheetham as well Mr Erwin the Amount of said omitted a/c.
I am Sir, most respectfully your very Obed. Servant
John Barnes.
RC (ViU: Edgehill-Randolph Papers); ellipses in original; at foot of text: “The President, UStates”; endorsed by TJ: “Cheetham’s 19. D.” Enclosure: James Cheetham to TJ, 15 May. Other enclosure not found, but see below.
Colfax: probably William Colfax of New Jersey, who had been an officer in the American Revolution. During the late 1790s, he and Alexander Richards worked together as supply contractors and they continued to have business connections through at least 1805 (, 22:584n; , 24:428; New York (State) and George Caines, New-York Term Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of that State, 3 vols. [New York, 1813-14], 3:98).
Richards’s nephew, Charles W. Goodrich, wrote to Barnes on 18 May acknowledging the remittance sent to Richards and including under his signature two receipts of payment, written in Goodrich’s hand and dated 18 May, one for $25.80, signed by Cheetham, and the other for $8, signed by Peter Irving (RC in MHi; calculations on verso in Barnes’s hand, endorsed by TJ: “Newspapers. Cheetham. Irvine 1805”; see also Cheetham to TJ, 15 May, and Notes on Personal Finance, 4 May [second document]).