N. & J. & R. van Staphorst was a powerful Dutch banking house. The brothers Nicolaas and Jacob van Staphorst were the founding partners. Their firm was part of a consortium of Dutch investors collectively known as Willink, van Staphorst & Hubbard, which issued major loans to the United States beginning in 1782. While serving as minister to France and secretary of state, TJ dealt with the van Staphorst partnership in an official capacity as a representative of the American government, and he also employed it for his private accounts. In 1801 Roelof van Staphorst, a nephew of Nicolaas and Jacob, joined the firm, but he retired the following year. From 1802 forward the house retained the van Staphorst name, but no family members were actively involved. The firm was dissolved in 1824 (Lyman H. Butterfield and others, eds., Diary and Autobiography of John Adams [1961], 2:444–5; Robert J. Taylor, Richard Alan Ryerson, C. James Taylor, and others, eds., Papers of John Adams [1977– ], 13:18–9; PTJ description begins Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, and others, eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 1950– , 38 vols. description ends ; MB description begins James A. Bear Jr. and Lucia C. Stanton, eds., Jefferson’s Memorandum Books: Accounts, with Legal Records and Miscellany, 1767–1826, 1997, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series description ends , esp. 1:681, 2:945–6, 1406; Pieter J. van Winter, American Finance and Dutch Investment, 1780–1805: With an Epilogue to 1840 [1977], 2:662, 684, 772, 811).

On 7 Feb. 1799 and 11 Apr. 1800 TJ recorded interest payments to the van Staphorst agent in New York, danl ludlow & co (MB description begins James A. Bear Jr. and Lucia C. Stanton, eds., Jefferson’s Memorandum Books: Accounts, with Legal Records and Miscellany, 1767–1826, 1997, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series description ends , 2:997, 1016). e.e.: “errors excepted.”