Statement of Account with Alexander Gordon, 1 July 1805
Statement of Account with Alexander Gordon
Mr Thomas Jefferson to Alx Gordon | Dr. | ||||||
1805 | |||||||
July 3. | 3 | Dayes Board for servt @ 4/6 | .13. | 6 | |||
. | 3 | Dayes & nights—Hay for horse | .9. | ||||
. | 12 | Gallons Grain @ 1/ | .12. | ||||
. | 1 | Bridle 6/ | .6. | ||||
£2 | .0. | 6 |
Please pay the above to Mr. Joseph Wheaton—
Alexr. Gordon
RC (MHi); in Gordon’s hand; TJ wrote “6.75” alongside the total; on verso in a clerk’s hand: “Mr Thomas Jefferson To Alexander Gordon”; receipt by Joseph Wheaton on verso for payment on 24 Mch. 1806.
Alexander Gordon operated a tavern in Woodbridge, Virginia, near the Occoquan River toll bridge. In August 1805, he relocated to Occoquan Mills in order to accommodate those traveling by way of Nathaniel Ellicott’s new road. Gordon was innkeeper at Alexandria’s Washington Tavern in 1808 (John Davis, Travels of Four Years and a Half in the United States of America; During 1798, 1799, 1800, 1801, and 1802 [New York, 1909], 251; Alexandria Daily Advertiser, 30 Aug. 1805, 11 Apr. 1808, 28 Aug. 1811).
Please pay: on 25 Mch. 1806, TJ recorded paying Wheaton for “Alexr. Gordon at Occoquan Jack’s board 6.75.” According to his financial memoranda, TJ stayed at Gordon’s tavern on 15 July 1805 en route to Monticello. If his enslaved servant Jack was at Gordon’s tavern awaiting his arrival, Jack’s stay likely began on 13 July and not 3 July as stated in the statement printed above (, 2:1160, 1176).