Reuben B. Hicks to Thomas Jefferson, 10 August 1821
From Reuben B. Hicks
Darvills 10 Augt 1821
Sir
Having a nephew now prepared for College and wishing him to graduate at the Central College of Virginia unless he would loose too much time in waiting for the operations of that institution, I deem it expedient to request of you information respecting when you suppose it will be ready for the reception of students—My particular desire to have my own children and those under my care educated in their native State is the only apology I have to offer as a stranger for troubleing you on this occasion
R B Hicks
RC (MHi); endorsed by TJ as received 18 Aug. 1821 and so recorded in SJL. RC (MHi); address cover only; with PoC of TJ to George Runnels, 3 Nov. 1822, on verso; addressed: “Hon. Thomas Jefferson Charlottesville Va.”; franked; postmarked Darvills, 10 Aug. 1821.
Reuben Booth Hicks (ca. 1787–1850), planter, was the postmaster at Darvills in Dinwiddie County from 1820 to 1822. In 1828 he was proposed as a commissioner of elections for Brunswick County on behalf of Virginia’s Anti-Jackson Committee. Hicks later served as a school commissioner for that county. He died of cholera in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, while returning from his plantation in Florida where he spent winters. Hicks owned fifty-eight slaves in 1830, thirty-four a decade later, and at least five at the time of his death (National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Lineage Book 17 [1904]: 350; , 52; Henry H. Worthington to Hicks, 5 July 1826 [ViU]; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, 9 Sept. 1828; DNA: RG 29, CS, Brunswick Co., 1830, 1840; Washington United States Telegraph, 16 Sept. 1835; Articles of Agreement between Hicks and Robert S. Hardaway, 5 Dec. 1848 [Columbus Museum, Georgia]; Richmond Enquirer, 7 Aug. 1849; Governor’s Message and Annual Reports of the Public Officers of the State … of Virginia [1851], 45; Richmond Whig and Public Advertiser, 7 May 1850; Brunswick Co. Will Book, 15:320–2; 545–7).