Thomas Jefferson Papers
Note: this document has content that may require expanded/print view for best results (icons above right)

Andrew Smith to Thomas Jefferson, 18 June 1819

From Andrew Smith

Richmond 18th June 1819

Sir

I beg leave to inform you that the firm of Smith & Riddle no longer exists—the Copartnership was dissolved on the 10th Ulto, on which day your favor of the 6th was Received—The Glass then ordered, has this morning arrived, and I have just seen it delivered to Mr Peyton, with the proper addresses on each Box—all in perfect order—Mr Peyton says he expects a conveyance in a day or two. a Bill of this glass shall be annexed—Amount $68–78—

Henceforth the Agency for the Glass Manufactory will be conducted in my Individual Name—any future orders so addressed will receive the prompt attention of

Your Mo Obt Servt

Andw Smith

Thos Jefferson Esqr To Andrew Smith Dr
TJ
M
} 1 Box. 10 Lights 24 × 18. best Boston Crown Glass @ 2$– 20–
1 Do 50 Do 12 × 12    Do    ″ 30– 15 35
TJ
 L
} 1 Do 25 Do 12 × 12    Do    ″ 30–  7.50
1 Do 50 Do 18 × 12    Do    ″ 52– 26. 33 50
Cash paid Wharfage & Drayage 28
$ 68 78

RC (MHi); endorsed by TJ as received 24 June 1819 and so recorded in SJL. RC (MHi); address cover only; with PoC of TJ to George Alexander Otis, 25 Dec. 1820, on recto and verso; addressed: “Thomas Jefferson Esqr Monticella Virginia”; franked; postmarked Richmond, 18 June.

Andrew Smith (ca. 1769–1854), merchant and clerk, was a native of Glasgow, Scotland. By 1808 he was engaged in the mercantile business in Georgetown, D.C. Smith moved by 1814 to Richmond, where he was the Virginia agent of the Boston Glass Manufactory. He partnered with Joseph Riddle in the mercantile firm of Smith & Riddle from 1815 until 1819. Smith sold TJ glass in 1819 and cement in 1821. He was operating as a merchant in New York City in 1825, but he met with little success and moved by 1828 to Washington, D.C., to seek a federal clerkship. Appointed a clerk in the Treasury Department the following year, Smith held the position for two decades. He died in Glasgow (Washington Federalist, 21 Apr. 1808; Richmond Enquirer, 23 Apr. 1814; TJ to Smith & Riddle, 9 Feb. 1817; 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 , 2:1369; Smith to TJ, 31 July 1821; Longworth’s New York Directory description begins Longworth’s American Almanac, New-York Register, and City Directory, New York, 1796–1842 (title varies; cited by year of publication) description ends [1825]: 387; [1826]: 436; DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1825–29; Washington Daily National Journal, 19 June 1829; Register of all Officers and Agents, civil, military, and naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1849 [1849], 23; DNA: RG 29, CS, Washington, D.C., 1850; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, 30 May 1854).

Among TJ’s papers is the Boston Glass Manufactory’s list of “PRICES CURRENT of boston and chelmsford window glass,” dated Boston, 1 Oct. 1817, giving the wholesale and retail prices for various sizes of glass; stating that orders under $100 are to be paid in cash, with credit extended to larger purchases; noting that “Any quantity less than a box is considered retail;—a box contains 50 feet of 7 by 5 to 10 by 8 glass; and 50 lights, or feet, of any size over 10 by 8”; and advising that orders be sent to “The Superintendant of Boston Glass Manufactory” (broadside in DLC; endorsed by TJ: “Glass. window. Boston prices”; additional notation in an unidentified hand: “Price Current of Boston Glass. deliverable in Richmond”). With the exception of glass sized 24 × 18, which is not on the list, the wholesale prices match those charged to TJ in the above letter.

Index Entries

  • Boston, Mass.; glass from search
  • Boston Glass Manufactory search
  • building materials; window glass search
  • glass, window; Boston search
  • glass, window; for Monticello search
  • glass, window; for Poplar Forest search
  • glass, window; sent to TJ search
  • Monticello (TJ’s Albemarle Co. estate); glass for search
  • Peyton, Bernard; forwards goods for TJ search
  • Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); glass for search
  • Smith, Andrew; and glass for TJ search
  • Smith, Andrew; and Smith & Riddle search
  • Smith, Andrew; identified search
  • Smith, Andrew; letters from search
  • Smith & Riddle (Richmond firm); and glass for TJ search
  • Smith & Riddle (Richmond firm); insolvency of search