Thomas Jefferson to William Gough, 29 December [1821]
To William Gough
Dec. 29. wrote to desire him to allow the negroes 2000 ℔ pork and add what is over to the 10 hogs put by for me, as I shall have 6. carpenters there from Apr. thro’ good part of summer
FC (MHi); abstract in TJ’s hand on a half sheet; partially dated; at head of text: “Gough.” Recorded in SJL as a letter of 29 Dec. 1821.
William Gough (1781–1863), farmer, was a native of Virginia. He worked as an overseer at Poplar Forest, 1821–23. In December 1822 Billy, one of TJ’s enslaved laborers, was convicted of stabbing Gough with the intent to maim and kill. Two others were tried and acquitted. Gough survived and served as one of three appraisers of TJ’s Campbell County estate late in 1826. He owned twenty-one slaves in Campbell County in 1830 and thirty-four in 1860, when his real estate and personal property were valued at $12,000 and $60,000, respectively (Joel Yancey to TJ, 22 Dec. 1821; , 2:1386, 1394; Elizabeth Trist to Nicholas P. Trist, 28 Nov., 23 Dec. 1822 [both in DLC: NPT]; Bedford Co. Order Book, 18:318–9; TJ to Gough, 21 Apr. 1823; Albemarle Co. Will Book, 9:1–2; DNA: RG 29, CS, Campbell Co., 1830–60, 1860 slave schedules; Campbell Co. Will Book, 13:139–41, 145–6; gravestone inscription in Gough family cemetery, Campbell Co.).
Index Entries
- food; pork search
- Gough, William; as Poplar Forest overseer search
- Gough, William; identified search
- Gough, William; letters to search
- pigs; at Poplar Forest search
- Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); hogs at search
- Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); provisions for carpenters at search
- Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); slaves at search
- pork; for slaves search
- slaves; pork for search