Richard Dobson to Thomas Jefferson, 7 November 1805
From Richard Dobson
Alexandria 7th November 1805
Dear Sir
Your courtesy I have experienced so frequently both as it respects & regards an Invitation to Monticello and to Washington both of which very extended courtesies, it has been my misfortune to have been disenabled to accept of from transient & trivial Incidents—
The blooming regret which such a recollection inspires is reasonably radiated by the fond & respectful hope that the gratification will be ere long Indulged me; I am waiting for the arrival of your nephew Mr John Bolling to render it complete, though it woud be perfectly so independent of that event did I not much fear I shoud interfere with those important and dignified agencies which it has been Your blessed province through the independent virtuous & enlightend suffrage of a free people to exercise & whose zeal as so evidently pourtrayed in Your reelection particularly after an onset of [Sage] scrutinizing decision amply evince the confidence they reposed the above remarks appear desultory & extraneous but I will not permit them to digress so far as to [hint] my feeble opinion how relevant the choice has been.
I am much in want of money & shou’d be very happy & much obliged In the favour of any Sum which You can allott to me. I am a resident of Alexandria
I remain with sentiments often previously expressed, both of respectful regard & esteem
Your friend Obedient & obliged Servant
Richard Dobson
RC (DLC); portions illegible; addressed: “His Excellency Thomas Jefferson President of the United States Washington”; franked; postmarked 8 Nov.; endorsed by TJ as received 9 Nov. and so recorded in SJL.
nephew Mr John Bolling: the son of TJ’s sister Mary Jefferson Bolling (Vol. 20:157n).
favour of any Sum: in October Dobson, “being very much in want of money,” advertised for sale a one-acre lot in Fredericksburg and 200 acres in Goochland County, as well as moiety title to lands in Chesterfield and Henrico counties on short or long credit, discounted notes, or cash. He had acquired properties in Virginia in the mid-1790s when he acted as agent for his father, John Dobson, a partner of a Liverpool trading firm, in the collection of prerevolutionary debts from Virginia planters. TJ and Richard Dobson corresponded in that period concerning settlement of a bill of exchange that Farell & Jones, the Bristol brokers of shipments to TJ’s father-in-law, John Wayles, had assigned to the senior Dobson’s firm, which TJ finally paid off in 1796. Most of the letters exchanged by TJ and Dobson have not survived (Alexandria Daily Advertiser, 26 Oct.; , 14:204-5; 16:68-9, 154-5; Vol. 24:788–9; Vol. 25:549–50; Vol. 26:789; Vol. 27:300; Vol. 28:289n; Vol. 29:97n).