Thomas Jefferson to John Jordan, 5 August 1811
To John Jordan
Monticello Aug. 5. 1811.
Sir
Mr Ogilvie, to whom the inclosed letter is addressed, was about the latter end of May at Columbia S.C. on his way to Lexington in Kentucky. presuming him to be still there I have so addressed the Letter. should he not be there, will you be so good as to superscribe the proper address, & forward it by post. if in that country, I presume his position known to you, because being engaged in giving lectures in public which deservedly draw great attention from the public, the newspapers generally announce where he is. excuse the trouble thus proposed to you by a stranger and accept the assurances of my respect
Th: Jefferson
PoC (MoSHi: TJC-BC); at foot of text: “Mr Jordan”; endorsed by TJ as a letter to “Jordan postmaster Frankfort” and so recorded (under 4 Aug. 1811) in SJL. Enclosure: TJ to James Ogilvie, 4 Aug. 1811.
John Jordan (d. 1813), a merchant born in Great Britain, was the postmaster of Lexington, Kentucky, 1802–13. He also served on the town’s board of trustees, sat on the board of directors of the Kentucky Insurance Company, and in 1805 was a manager of the Indiana Canal Company. With his brother William, Jordan gave Aaron Burr promissory notes for $2,000 in 1806, and that same year he testified at Burr’s trial in Kentucky (Charles R. Staples, The History of Pioneer Lexington [Kentucky] 1779–1806 [1939]; Mary-Jo Kline and others, eds., Political Correspondence and Public Papers of Aaron Burr [1983], 2:955–6; Lexington Kentucky Gazette, 14 Sept. 1813).