Thomas Jefferson to Isaac A. Coles, 20 September 1805
To Isaac A. Coles
Monticello Sep. 20. 05.
Dear Sir
I recieved last night by an express from mr Burwell a letter & information that he has had a severe spell of illness, is now barely mending, but that it is not likely he will be sufficiently strong to take the journey to Washington perhaps till his services will be required at Richmond. consequently it is not likely he can resume his station with me until the close of the session of the Virginia assembly. under these circumstances my first wish is that it may be agreeable to you to go and pass the autumn & winter at Washington. altho’ the emoluments are not inviting, the duties are not laborious, and the scene neither unpleasant nor uninstructive. I shall set out myself on the 29th. but could leave to your convenience to go on then or whenever after it shall be convenient, supposing it would not be long. the stage will afford you a weekly conveiance. I will ask the favor of a line from you before my departure. Genl. Dearborne’s indisposition prevented our waiting on Colo. Coles the other day. he leaves us by the stage of to-day. Accept affectionate salutations and assurances of great esteem & respect.
Th: Jefferson
PoC (DLC); at foot of text: “Isaac Coles esq.”; endorsed by TJ.
Isaac A. Coles (1780-1841) had temporarily filled in for William A. Burwell in December 1804 and permanently took over as TJ’s personal secretary shortly after the date of this letter. A classmate of Burwell, Coles graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1798. He was the nephew of former congressman Isaac Coles and the son of John Coles, from whom he would inherit the Enniscorthy estate in Albemarle County. After the conclusion of TJ’s second term as president in 1809, Coles remained in the White House as Madison’s personal secretary until November 1809. He was a U.S. Army officer in the War of 1812 and at the time of his death represented Albemarle County in the Virginia House of Delegates. He and TJ maintained a correspondence long after his service as secretary (William B. Coles, The Coles Family of Virginia [New York, 1931], 93-4; William Runge, “Isaac A. Coles,” Magazine of Albemarle County History, 14 [1955], 49-60; , 1:49n, 351n; , 1:53–4n; Vol. 43:397–8n; Vol. 45:127).