Thomas Jefferson to William B. Giles, 11 September 1823

To William B. Giles

Monto Sep. 11. 23.

Dear Sir

Your favor of Sep. 6. is this moment recd. I take for granted that very soon after it’s date you recd mine of Aug. 29. which wd1 explain to you why Th: J. Randolph, having committed the business to mr Norb. Nichs declined meddling with it; & that on my part not a moment had been lost. the notice for taking my deposn was for the 28th and on the 29th I forwarded it to your address at the Wigwam near Amelia C.H.2 not knowing your post office & believing you not far from the C.H. I gave it that direction. on the outside of your last letter I see a postmark in this form

unstillton. Amelia Va. but uncertain what the first letter is and the word, being uncommon, & nothing like it in my3 post book (of 1822)4 under the letters T. J. or O, the most resembling it5 I must again direct this to the C.H. my deposn was inclosed by the Commrs to the clerk of Amelia and the letter sealed, was inclosed in mine to you. I also inclosed you separate copies of the interrogatories & my answers. I suppose so certainly that you recieved the packet that I shd not have troubled you with this reply to your last6 but that you particularly desire me to acknolege it. ever & affectly yours

Th:J.

Dft (DLC); on verso of reused address cover of Bernard Peyton to TJ, 21 July 1823; endorsed by TJ as a letter to “Giles Wm B.”

norb. nichs: Philip Norborne Nicholas. The commrs were, presumably, representatives of Wilson Cary Nicholas’s estate (see Giles to TJ, 29 July 1823).

1. TJ here canceled “shew.”

2. TJ here canceled “perhaps this.”

3. Text from “and the word” to this point interlined in place of “and finding no such name in the.”

4. Parenthetical phrase interlined.

5. Reworked from “T. or J.”

6. Preceding three words interlined.

Index Entries

Amelia County, Va.; courthouse in search
Amelia County, Va.; post offices in search
Amelia County Court, Va. search
Giles, William Branch; endorses note for W. C. Nicholas search
Giles, William Branch; letters to search
Nicholas, Philip Norborne; and W. C. Nicholas’s debts search
Nicholas, Wilson Cary (1761–1820); estate of search
Post Office, U.S.; Table of Post Offices in the United States search
Randolph, Thomas Jefferson (1792–1875) (TJ’s grandson; Jane Hollins Nicholas Randolph’s husband); and W. C. Nicholas’s estate search
Table of Post Offices in the United States search

You Are Looking At

Source Project: Jefferson Papers
Title: Thomas Jefferson to William B. Giles, 11 September 1823
Author: Jefferson, Thomas
Recipient: Giles, William Branch
Date: 11 September 1823

Reference

Cite as: “Thomas Jefferson to William B. Giles, 11 September 1823,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-20-02-0150. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, vol. 20, 1 July 1823 to 31 March 1824, ed. J. Jefferson Looney et al. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2023, p. 147.]

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