To James Madison from Eliza Jennet Dorcas Johnson, 3 September 1806
From Eliza Jennet Dorcas Johnson
Washington Septr 3d 18006 [sic]
Will you my Dear Sir pardon the liberty I take in addressing you on a subject which is extremely interesting to me? The climate of Norfolk has as I was apprehensive proved injurious to my Brothers health and I am going (fearfully though I must own) to solicit, that if you have any place in your disposal that is vacant your Bestowing it on my Brother should unfortunately no place present itself in your Department allow me to reques⟨t⟩ you will assist him in his endeavors to obtain a situation in some other of the offices. Your patronage my Dear Sir will effectually secure one and his family will ever feel grateful for his establishment in Washington. The friendship you have ever distinguished me with has encouraged me to solicit your influence and instrumentality in the present application. Any situation that could preserve to my Brother some independency of action and procure him a competent support is the extent of his wishes and what he will acknowledge with gratitude. The situation of my Brother unknown & unpatronised has rendered him diffident of prefering a request of this Nature nor would I now have made it But from the consideration that he was losing every chance of promoting his interest through a scrupulous regard to delicacy. His situation in Norfolk precludes all idea of promotion in fact is so little lucrative that an establishment at Washington cannot fail of Being More Beneficial. It has Been suggested to me By a Gentleman from New Orleans that a Situation there might Be obtained through the assistance or recommendation of any Friend who would interest themselves in his Behalf. Should he not succeed in gaining a situation at Washington it is his intention if he can enter into any Place to go on But I wish much Before he goes to know on whom depends an application whether the President or Govr of Louisiana should it Be the former would You so far interest yourself in his favor as to sanction any application By your Patronage? If to the latter allow me to ask letters of recommendation and to any other leading persons you may deem adviseable. I will now My Dear Sir only add that I have perhaps increased the number who are continually teasing you. But my excuse must Be the situation of my Brother. I shall ever feel myself grateful if you will recommend him strenuously as you cannot form an estimate of how valuable his society would Be to his family. It will only increase the sentiments I entertain for Your family. With the Best Wishes for your health and happiness I remain yrs truly
Ela. J Johnson1
RC (DLC). Docketed “C. Johnson” by Wagner; attributed to “Johnson C J” in the Index to the James Madison Papers. Correspondent identified here based on her signature, internal evidence, and evidence in n. 1.
1. Eliza Jennet Dorcas Johnson Pope (d. 1818) was the sister of Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams and sister-in-law of John Quincy Adams. Born in London, she moved to Washington, D.C., with her family in 1797. There they suffered financial hardship, particularly after the 1802 death of her father, Joshua Johnson. Eliza and her sisters nevertheless became Washington belles, and in 1810 she married John Pope, senator from Kentucky, in a “splendid wedding … at which the President and his Lady assisted.” Her only brother, Thomas Baker Johnson (1779–1843), attended Harvard from 1796 to 1798 and left without graduating to read law in Annapolis. Evidently suffering from chronic poor health, he worked in Washington, Boston, and Charleston, and by early 1806 was in Norfolk. Two years later he moved to New Orleans, where he took a position as a bank clerk. He attributed to JM’s patronage his introduction to Louisiana Territory governor William C. C. Claiborne, as well as his 1810 appointment as postmaster of New Orleans, recalling the “personal friendship” that JM and Dolley Madison had “uniformly” bestowed upon his family. Johnson served as postmaster until 1824, when he resigned owing to severe illness (A Traveled First Lady: Writings of Louisa Catherine Adams, ed. Margaret A. Hogan and C. James Taylor [Cambridge, Mass., 2014], 4–5; Diary and Autobiographical Writings of Louisa Catherine Adams, ed. Judith S. Graham, Beth Luey, Margaret A. Hogan, and C. James Taylor [2 vols.; Cambridge, Mass., 2013], 1:30 n. 43, 159, 160 n. 135, 196 and n. 206, 209–11, 225, 239 n. 267, 264, 320 and n. 404, 2:461 n. 2, 655 n. 1; Margery M. Heffron, Louisa Catherine: The Other Mrs. Adams, ed. David L. Michelmore [New Haven, 2014], 328, 337; Abigail Smith Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 15 Feb. 1806, MHi: Adams Papers [microfilm ed.], reel 138; Thomas Boyleston Adams to John Quincy Adams, 27 Mar. 1810, ibid., reel 143; Thomas B. Johnson to JM, 3 Apr. 1809 [DLC] and 11 Feb. 1810, 2:227; Catherine Johnson to JM, 1 May 1809, 1:151–52 and n. 1).