William B. Giles to Thomas Jefferson, 4 May 1823
From William B. Giles
Wigwam May 4. 1823
My Dear Sir.
This letter will probably be presented to you by my son, Mr Thomas T. Giles; whom, with some of his college companions, I beg leave to introduce to your acquaintance.—These young Gentlemen, propose to make a rambling visit to your university on foot; and they cannot reconcile it to their feelings, to pass so near to your residence, as the university, without presenting their respects to you, Sir, in person.—
After having been visited with afflictions and sufferings, almost intollerable, and unexampled, for more than seven years, it affords me real pleasure, to be favored with an opportunity of offering you my heartfelt congratulations, upon the signal favors, you have received during the same time, at the hands of a merciful God; and of once more, tendering to you, Sir, assurances of my high considerations, and sincere personal regards &c
Wm B. Giles
RC (NNPM); endorsed by TJ as received 9 May 1823 and so recorded (with TJ’s bracketed notation: “by his son”) in SJL. RC (DLC); address cover only; with Dft of TJ to Thomas Cooper, 11 Dec. 1823, on verso; addressed: “Thomas Jefferson Esquire Monticello” to be “Presented by Mr T. T. Giles.”
Thomas Tabb Giles (1803–83), attorney, was the son of William B. Giles, of Amelia County. He attended Hampden-Sydney College, 1820–24, and studied law at Harvard University, 1825–26. Giles afterwards lived in Amelia County and practiced law. He ran unsuccessfully as a Whig candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates in 1836 and was active in Amelia’s Democratic Republican party late in the 1840s. Giles served on the executive committee of the Virginia Historical Society for many years starting in 1847. He had a law office in Richmond by 1848 and continued to practice there until at least 1874. In 1860 Giles owned real estate worth $5,000 and personal property valued at $15,000, including one slave. He died in Richmond (Alfred J. Morrison, College of Hampden Sidney Dictionary of Biography, 1776–1825 [(1921)], 246; Quinquennial Catalogue of the Law School of Harvard University, 1817–1924 [1925], 5, 112; Walter A. Watson, Notes on Southside Virginia, in Bulletin of the Virginia State Library 15 [Sept. 1925]: 19; Richmond Enquirer, 5 Apr. 1836, 11 Aug., 6 Oct. 1848; Southern Literary Messenger 14 [1848]: 57; 39 [1931]: 306, 316–23; DNA: RG 29, CS, Richmond, 1860, 1860 slave schedules; Sheriff & Chataigne’s Richmond City Directory [1874], 99; Richmond Daily Dispatch, 19 Jan. 1883).
Index Entries
- Giles, Thomas Tabb; identified search
- Giles, Thomas Tabb; introduced to TJ search
- Giles, Thomas Tabb; visits Monticello search
- Giles, William Branch; health of search
- Giles, William Branch; introduces son to TJ search
- Giles, William Branch; letter from search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Correspondence; letters of introduction to search
- Monticello (TJ’s Albemarle Co. estate); Visitors to; Giles, Thomas Tabb search
- Virginia, University of; Construction and Grounds; visitors to search