Thomas Jefferson Papers

Robert H. Rose to Thomas Jefferson, 21 January 1821

From Robert H. Rose

Silver Lake, Pa Jan 21. 1821.

Sir,

I do myself the honour of sending you the enclosed Address, hastily composed and delivered at the Organisation of an Agricultural Society, in a new County. You have furnished the author with a theme for his eulogium; and have exhibited to Statesmen an example worthy of their imitation, and greatly to the honour of Agriculture.

I am, Sir with great respect

Your obedt & humble servt

Robt H Rose

RC (MHi); addressed: “Thos. Jefferson Esq late Prest of the U.S. Monticello Virginia”; franked; endorsed by TJ as received 8 Feb. 1821 and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: Rose, An Address delivered before the Agricultural Society of Susquehanna County, At its Organization, December 6, 1820 (Montrose, Pa., 1820; reprinted in Baltimore American Farmer 3 [1821]: 101–4), emphasizing the importance of scientific knowledge in successful agriculture; encouraging farmers to maintain attractive homes and gardens; advising against the indiscriminate clearing of timber; urging farmers to procure the best agricultural implements, seeds, and livestock; recommending that more attention be paid to plowing and manuring farmland; touting the benefits of domestic manufacturing; and expressing the hope that the Pennsylvania legislature will support internal improvements.

Robert Hutchinson Rose (1776–1842), land developer, was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and spent the winters of his youth in Philadelphia. He received a medical education, though he apparently did not practice in that field. Rose served as agent of the Susquehannah Company, 1803–04. Around that time he reportedly also visited Italy. Rose wrote several poems that appeared in the Port Folio between 1802 and 1805, and he later published a volume of poetry, Sketches in Verse (Philadelphia, 1810). In 1809 he bought a large tract of about one hundred thousand acres in Pennsylvania in a section of Luzerne County that became Susquehanna County the next year. Rose’s property included the township of Silver Lake. He encouraged the settlement and development of the area thereafter and served as the town’s postmaster from 1810 until his death at his home in Silver Lake. In 1817 Rose was elected president of the newly established Silver Lake Bank, and in 1820 he became the president of the Agricultural Society of Susquehanna (Emily C. Blackman, History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania [1873], 445–51, 457–9, 544–5; Rhamanthus M. Stocker, Centennial History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania [1887], esp. 28, 196, 500–1, 505; NBiSU: Rose Family Papers; Julian P. Boyd and Robert J. Taylor, eds., The Susquehannah Company Papers [1930–71], vol. 11; Randolph C. Randall, “Authors of the Port Folio Revealed by the Hall Files,” American Literature 11 [1940]: 406–7; Lancaster Journal, 27 Jan. 1817; Philadelphia North American and Daily Advertiser, 25 Mar. 1842).

On this day Rose also sent a copy of the enclosure to James Madison (Madison, Papers, Retirement Ser., 2:250).

Index Entries

  • Agricultural Society of Susquehanna search
  • agriculture; Agricultural Society of Susquehanna search
  • agriculture; and fertilization search
  • agriculture; and manufacturing interests search
  • agriculture; implements of search
  • An Address delivered before the Agricultural Society of Susquehanna County, At its Organization, December 6, 1820 (R. H. Rose) search
  • Jefferson, Thomas; Books & Library; works sent to search
  • Madison, James (1751–1836); works sent to search
  • manufacturing; encouragement of in U.S. search
  • Pennsylvania; and internal improvements search
  • Pennsylvania; legislature of search
  • Rose, Robert Hutchinson; An Address delivered before the Agricultural Society of Susquehanna County, At its Organization, December 6, 1820 search
  • Rose, Robert Hutchinson; identified search
  • Rose, Robert Hutchinson; letter from search