Lot 209

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Lot 209
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Elbridge Gerry Poem and One by His Wife 1786
Elbridge Gerry Poem and One by His Wife 1786
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Description:

Poems by Declaration-Signer Elbridge Gerry and His Wife

This pair of poems were written by Founding Father Elbridge Gerry and his wife Ann Thompson Gerry. Though undated, his poem has a note reading "Addressed to my Mother before marriage by my Father," placing its date around 1786. The other has an endorsement reading "addressed to my Father during his absence by my Mother," indicating a date between the 1780s and Elbridge Gerry's death in 1814.

ELBRIDGE GERRY, Manuscript Document, Poem "A Receipt to Form a Wife," ca. 1786. 2 pp., 7.375" x 12.25". General toning and some staining; expected folds with one tear on fold; small loss at top left, not affecting text; very good.
With: Ann Thompson Gerry, Manuscript Document, Poem "Address'd to My Friend." 1 p., 7.25" x 8.5". Small tear on fold; general toning; very good.

Complete Transcript
A Receipt to Form a Wife
Take of Whites Beauty and her Grace
Enough to form a Pretty Face
To wich Comes wise Wheates mean and air
Both requisites to form the Fair
McEvers' dignity I'd here Combined
with Lovely Hourtrights Placid mind
A Little too of Shores good nature
Should beam in every Lovely feature
Retain as much of Maristons art
as will Scarcely keep a Heart
A little dash of Amys spirit
I do aver she should impart
For she that meek and Party Passive
Than her — [I'd?] soon would an ass have
Pray take of Ludlows prudish way
As much as would employ one day
with it I'd shape Miss Wickhams rence
To mix with Mercers impudence
To Envy now I'll Look to L_ttes
Tis allways ready on the spot
Let Pleaseing Millers affability
Be join'd with B__ys volubility
To temper wich add Bosticks Silence
For else his tongue you'll hear a mile hence
I ask Nancys wit—you'll say tis teaseing
What then—tis keen, tis pure, tis pleasing
Eliza's virtues next you'll Crumble
Into this heategenous jumble
At heart his Ease will be expended
To Give a Grace to Each engredien
For Musick now I pitch on Eccles
It will Ease the Matrimonal shackles
A Wife like this would just my fancy
I think them centered in ———

Address'd to my friend
Should misfortune on your prospect lower,
Should sorrow cast her mantle o'er your head,
Should friends forsake you in your hapless hour,
Should sickness stretch you on a painful bed;

Oh! then remember that you have a friend,
A friend, whose heart as yet you do not know
Who'd gaurd your int'rests, and your fame defend,
Who'd place herself twixt you and every wo.

Then try her friendship prove it is sincere
Rest on her efforts, on her aid rely,
No service you could ask she'd think severe—
She lives to love—to serve you she would die.

And when deaths sweet oblivion shades her eyes,
When in the silent grave her sorrows rest,
Then then perhaps, her past regard you'll prize
Oh! Then, you'll shrine her image in your breast.

Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814) was born in Massachusetts into a merchant family and graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in 1762 and a master's degree in 1765. He then joined his father's merchant business. An early advocate of the American Patriot cause, he won election to the General Court of Massachusetts Bay in 1772. He helped supply the Continental Army with supplies and worked with contacts in France and Spain to acquire additional supplies Gerry served in the Second Continental Congress from 1776 to 1780 and again from 1783 to 1785 and signed the Declaration of Independence. In 1786, he married Ann Thompson (1763-1849), the much younger daughter of a wealthy New York merchant, and they had ten children between 1787 and 1801. After the war, he sold his mercantile interests and began investing in land, including lands in Massachusetts and shares in the Ohio Company. Gerry was a delegate from Massachusetts to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. He opposed slavery and the three-fifths compromise in the Convention and was one of only three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution because it lacked a Bill of Rights. He represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives in the First and Second Congresses (1789-1793). He supported Alexander Hamilton's plans on public credit. Gerry served as one of three commissioners President John Adams sent to France to ease tensions, but the mission led to the XYZ Affair, which itself led to the Quasi-War of 1798-1800. Formerly a moderate Federalist, Gerry joined the Democratic-Republicans in early 1800, and unsuccessfully stood for election as governor of Massachusetts for several years. He finally won election as governor in 1810 and served two terms until 1812. Gerry's reputation became tarnished when he signed a bill that redistricted electoral boundaries to favor the Democratic-Republicans, which coined the term gerrymandering. Defeated for reelection in 1812, Gerry asked President James Madison for a federal position, and the party caucus chose him as Madison's running mate in 1812. Madison narrowly won reelection, and Gerry became vice president in March 1813. He supported the Madison administration in the War of 1812 and suggested the arrest of the printers of some Federalist newspapers. He died in November 1814 in Washington.

Ann Thompson Gerry (1763-1849) was born in New York City, as the daughter of wealthy Irish merchant James Thompson and his wife. She was educated in Dublin, Ireland, and in the mid-1780s returned to New York, where some called her "the most beautiful woman in the United States." She married Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814) of Massachusetts, a member of the Second Continental Congress, on January 12, 1786, at New York's Trinity Church. She had ten children between 1787 and 1801, and her husband was frequently concerned about her health. From 1813 to 1814, she was the second lady of the United States, when her husband was Vice President under President James Madison. At his death, her husband left her with an estate rich in land but poor in cash. Over the next three and a half decades, she lived with and was supported by some of her children. She died in New Haven, Connecticut.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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