Nicholas Johnson to Thomas Jefferson, 15 November 1822
From Nicholas Johnson
Union County, Indiana, 15th of the 11th mo 1822.
My Friend
In consequence of our Small acquaintance, I have take[n] the liberty of addressing thee on the subject of appointments[.]
By an act of congress, passed Last session, An additional Land office will be established with in this State, and of course a Register and Receiver, will be appointed to manage the same; I am told, that many applicants are already1 attached to the list, and that my friend Col Thomas Brown is one; he is a man well acquainted with Public Business, hath occupyed a variety of honorable stations under the executive of this State, both civil and military, has been for Three years past engaged in the public surveys under Genl Tiffin of Chillicothe, And he now informs me that his health is so much impaired by hard [. . .] in the woods that he has been under the neces[sity of re]signing his office as deputy surveyor, and [. . .] his friends for a little more sunshine. I presume that no man in this state will produce a more substantial recommendation to the proper department, And if thy feelings could be inlisted on this occasion, I have no doubt but that his appointment (to one or the other of Sd offices) will be secured; to the great satisfaction of his numerius friends, and I do beleive to the great promotion of the public good
| Nicholas Johnson |
| formerly of Bedford County V,a, |
I have lived a nigh neighbour to Thos Brown for near two years.
N. Johnson
If the above may have any weight please to2 use thy influence
N.J.
RC (MoSHi: TJC-BC); edge trimmed; torn at seal; adjacent to first signature: “His Eccellency Thos Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ as received 12 Jan. 1823 and so recorded in SJL.
Nicholas Johnson (ca. 1761–1844), farmer, lived in Bedford County until at least 1820 and was associated with the Society of Friends. He arranged to free two slaves in 1801 and owned none by 1810. By 1822 Johnson was living in Union County, Indiana, where he remained until his death (Commemorative Biographical Record of Prominent and Representative Men of Indianapolis and Vicinity [1908], 30; Bedford Co. Deed Book, 11:306; , 6:244, 308, 322–3; DNA: RG 29, CS, Bedford Co., 1810, 1820, Ind., Union Co., 1830, 1840).
Thomas Brown (1780–1840), surveyor, was a native of South Carolina. He moved in 1806 to Indiana, where he was a local judge and surveyor (Biographical and Historical Record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana [1887], 681; Leander J. Monks, Logan Esarey, and Ernest V. Shockley, eds., Courts and Lawyers of Indiana [1916], 2:680, 681, 684, 685; Rollo B. Oglesbee and Albert Hale, History of Michigan City Indiana [1906], 67; DNA: RG 29, CS, Ind., Union Co., 1820, 1830).
An 8 May 1822 act established an additional land office at Fort Wayne, Indiana. The following winter Samuel C. Vance was appointed register and Joseph Holman became the receiver (, 3:701–2; , 3:335, 336, 338 [26, 28 Feb. 1823]).
1. Manuscript: “alraady.”
2. Preceding two words interlined.
Index Entries
- Brown, Thomas (1780–1840); identified search
- Brown, Thomas (1780–1840); recommended by N. Johnson search
- Congress, U.S.; and appointments search
- Holman, Joseph; as land office receiver search
- Indiana; land offices in search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Correspondence; letters of application and recommendation to search
- Johnson, Nicholas; identified search
- Johnson, Nicholas; letter from search
- Johnson, Nicholas; recommends T. Brown search
- patronage; letters of application and recommendation to TJ search
- Tiffin, Edward; as surveyor general of Northwest Territory search
- Vance, Samuel C.; as land office register search