Eyriès Frères & Compagnie to Thomas Jefferson, 2 April 1821
From Eyriès Frères & Compagnie
Havre 2 avril 1821.
Monsieur
nous avons l’honneur de Vous donner avis que nous avons embarqué Sur Le navire americain Cadmus Cape Witklok une petite Caisse de graines, qui vous est adressée par messieurs les administrateurs Directeurs du jardin du Roi a Paris1
nous avons mis cette caisse ainsi que d’autres pour plusieurs personnes des Etats unis, a L’adresse de Monsieur Hosack Directeur du jardin de Botanique de l’Etat de New-york
Correspondants En Ce port, de messieurs les administrateurs du museum & du jardin du Roi, nous prenons La liberté de vous offrir nos Services, pour vos relations avec Cette administration, ou pour toute autre chose qui pourrait vous interesser en france.
nous avons l’honneur d’etre, avec La plus parfaite Consideration,
Eyries freres & Cie
Editors’ Translation
Havre 2 April 1821.
Sir
We have the honor of informing you that on the American ship Cadmus, Captain Whitlock, we have shipped a small box of seeds, which is sent to you by the managing directors of the Jardin du Roi in Paris
We have sent this box, as well as some others intended for several people in the United States, to the address of Mr. Hosack, director of the botanical garden of the state of New York
As agents in this port for the administrators of the royal museum and garden, we take the liberty of offering you our services for your communications with this administration, or for anything else that might interest you in France.
We have the honor to be, with the most perfect consideration,
Eyriès Frères & Compagnie
RC (MHi); in an unidentified hand; at head of text: “à L’Honorable monsieur Thomas jefferson à montaillo”; endorsed by TJ as a letter from “Esyrier freres et co.” received 3 June 1821 and so recorded in SJL. Translation by Dr. Genevieve Moene.
Eyriès Frères & Compagnie was a mercantile firm in Le Havre the partners of which were Prosper Alexandre Eyriès (1773–1853) and his brother Alexandre Joseph Eyriès (1778–1862). It was active between at least 1815 and 1831 (Hervé Chabannes, “Les Passeurs de la Mémoire havraise: Histoire, mémoire et identité au Havre du XVIe au XIXe siècle” [Ph.D. diss., Université du Havre, 2013]; Jean de La Tynna, Almanach du Commerce de Paris [1815]: 817, 818; Correspondance Inédite de Victor Jacquemont avec sa famille et ses amis, 1824–1832 [1867], 2:143, 156).
The jardin du roi a paris was the Muséum Royal d’Histoire Naturelle. The ship Cadmus reached New York City from Le Havre on 26 May 1821 (New-York Evening Post, 26 May 1821).
Eyriès Frères & Compagnie sent James Madison a similar letter on this date (Madison, Papers, Retirement Ser., 2:292–3).
1. Recto ends here with notation: “T.S.V.P.” (“Tournez S’il Vous Plait”) (“Please Turn Over”).
Index Entries
- Cadmus (ship) search
- Elgin Botanic Garden (New York City) search
- Eyriès Frères & Compagnie (Le Havre firm); and seeds for TJ search
- Eyriès Frères & Compagnie (Le Havre firm); identified search
- Eyriès Frères & Compagnie (Le Havre firm); letter from search
- French language; letters in, from; Eyriès Frères & Compagnie search
- Hosack, David; and Elgin Botanic Garden search
- Madison, James (1751–1836); and seeds search
- Muséum Royal d’Histoire Naturelle; and seeds for TJ search
- seeds; sent to TJ search
- Whitlock, Sidney B. (ship captain) search