Thomas Cox to Thomas Jefferson, 2 May 1823
From Thomas Cox
Plymouth 2nd May 1823—
Respected Sir
Through the request of our friend Colo H G Burton of Halifax I have had the pleasure of furnishing you with Scuppernong Wine for the last two or three years—My exertions to procure Wine of the best quality, have come short of my wishes in all instances—Believing however that our last season has furnished better fruit and as a necessary consequence better Wine than any of the two preceeding years I have taken the liberty of sending a Cask containing 20 Bottles which I must solicit you to make trial of—The Cask is addressed to my friend and correspondent Bernard Peyton Esquire who I am assurd will take pleasure in seeing it in a train to reach you—Colo Burton remarked in a conversation last week that you had had it in contemplation to furnish me with the outlines of the French manner of providing Wines (the result of your observations and enquiries in France)—for the purpose of having some manefacturd for your use—It will give me great pleasure to attend to any such request next season which commences in September—
Thomas Cox
RC (MHi); endorsed by TJ as received 27 May 1823 and so recorded (with bracketed notation: “N.C.”) in SJL. RC (DLC); address cover only; with FC of TJ to Samuel Williams, 22 Nov. 1823, on verso; addressed by Cox: “Thomas Jefferson Esquire,” with “Monticello Charlottesville” added in Bernard Peyton’s hand; stamp canceled; franked; postmarked Richmond, 13 May; with signed note by Peyton on address cover: “forwarded by your Obd: Sevt:.”
Thomas Cox (d. 1836), merchant and public official, was born in Chowan County, North Carolina. He moved to Washington County by 1820, where he was a commission merchant and traded extensively with the West Indies. Cox represented Washington County in the North Carolina Senate in 1823, and in 1827 he was a Plymouth delegate to a conference to promote navigational improvements at Ocracoke. He moved permanently by 1829 to Halifax County, North Carolina, where he owned 104 slaves the following year (Samuel A. Ashe, ed., Biographical History of North Carolina [1905–17], 1:226–7; Nc-Ar: Cox Letter Book; Journals of the Senate and House of Commons, of the General Assembly of the State of North-Carolina, At its Session in 1823 [Raleigh, 1824], 81; New Bern Carolina Sentinel, 8 Dec. 1827; Raleigh Star, and North Carolina State Gazette, 29 Jan. 1829; DNA: RG 29, CS, N.C., Washington Co., 1820, Halifax Co., 1830; Raleigh North Carolina Standard, 3 Mar. 1836; Halifax Co. Will Book, 4:127).
Index Entries
- Burton, Hutchins Gordon; and scuppernong wine search
- Cox, Thomas; and scuppernong wine search
- Cox, Thomas; identified search
- Cox, Thomas; letter from search
- France; wines from search
- North Carolina; wine from search
- Peyton, Bernard; and wine for TJ search
- scuppernong (wine) search
- wine; French search
- wine; production of search
- wine; scuppernong search
- wine; sent to TJ search