James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 19 October 1805
From James Madison
Philada. Ocr. 19, 1805
Dear Sir
Doctor Park of this city is setting out with his daughter, on a trip Southwards and proposes to be in Washington before he returns. He is an old acquaintance in the family of Mrs. Madison, and is truly an amicable & respectable man. That he may present his respects with the greater facility I have asked him to accept a few lines making him known to you.
With sentiments of respectful attachment I am Your mo: Obedt. hble servt
James Madison
RC (NjP); at foot of text, in Dolley Madison’s hand: “To Thomas Jefferson Esqr.”; endorsed by TJ (torn); recorded in SJL as received 30 Oct.
Doctor Park: physician Thomas Parke was a member of the American Philosophical Society and in 1778 became a director of the Library Company of Philadelphia, with which Dolley Madison’s first husband also had an affiliation. Parke’s wife, Rachel Pemberton Parke, died in 1786. On the trip in 1805 he was accompanied by his daughter, Hannah (David B. Mattern and Holly C. Shulman, eds., The Selected Letters of Dolley Payne Madison [Charlottesville, 2003], 67, 409, 433; “At the Instance of Benjamin Franklin”: A Brief History of the Library Company of Philadelphia [Philadelphia, 2015], 31, 36, 116; J. Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope, History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with Genealogical and Biographical Sketches [Philadelphia, 1881], 673).