Lot 150

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Lot 150
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Great Jefferson Letter to His Cousin on Plantation Business
Great Jefferson Letter to His Cousin on Plantation Business
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Description:

Great Jefferson Letter to His Cousin on Plantation Business

“I am very sensible of your kindness in having gone beyond my draughts, which I by no means intended.”

THOMAS JEFFERSON, Autograph Letter Signed, to George Jefferson, April 15, 1811, Monticello. 1 p., 7.5ʺ x 9.5ʺ. Flattened mail folds and lightly toned throughout; small amount of paper loss at the right edge, repaired on verso with tape. We believe the letter to be executed with one of Jefferson’s greatest inventions, the polygraph. This machine attached an additional pen at a prescribed distance, to the pen that Jefferson would be writing with which penned an identical letter on an additional sheet of paper, saving the time to make a copy for his records. (Please see the attached photo of a period polygraph included just for reference.) Essentially written by Jefferson because his exact hand movements made the impression on the paper. This fact is virtually indecipherable and looks exactly the same as if it were not done by this method. These are very, very scarce and we have only seen 2 or 3 on the market in the last 40+ years. The word “Jefferson” appears on the front of the letter as the recipient and on the back as “Jefferson George” executed in hand to paper indicating this was a filed letter and the only indication that this is likely done on the polygraph. It affords two additional partial signatures. Matted to a completed size of 12.75" x 19.5" x .75."

In this letter, former President Thomas Jefferson thanks his cousin and agent George Jefferson of Richmond for aiding him in his current problems with debt. The “former sum” Jefferson mentions in the first sentence was a debt of $5,800 he owed to the Bank of Virginia. He assures his cousin that Burgess Griffin, his overseer at his Poplar Forest plantation in Bedford County, had delivered 24 hogsheads of tobacco and would soon deliver another 6. Samuel J. Harrison (1771-1846) was a prominent tobacco merchant in Lynchburg, Virginia, to whom Thomas Jefferson had sold two tracts of land in 1810. Jefferson’s wheat from Poplar Forest was held up awaiting grinding at George Callaway’s mill, where the mill dam had been washed away. Robert Morris and James Dunnington were partners in a mercantile firm based in Lynchburg, Virginia, from ca. 1803 until Dunnington’s death in 1821.

On April 4, Thomas Jefferson had written to his cousin that he hoped that the first of 280 barrels of flour from Poplar Forest had already arrived in Richmond. In early May, George Jefferson reported that he had received since his last communication 138 barrels of flour, 45 being from Poplar Forest, but he had not sold it yet, as prices were depressed. He planned to “lose no opportunity of disposing of yours at a fair price.” By mid-June, George Jefferson wrote that he had sold 547 barrels of flour and had received 54 additional barrels from Poplar Forest, which he not yet been able to sell because “at present there is no demand whatever: no one will purchase except at a price greatly under the value.”

Complete Transcript:

Monticello Apr. 15, 11.
Dear Sir
I return you the note signed, and filled up with the former sum supposing it best not to change it till the next renewal, by which time mr Harrison’s note for the tobo will be in hand and due. Griffin wrote me on the 5th that he had then delivered 24. Hhds to mr Harrison, and that 6. more were ready & would be opened in a few days, when mr H. would give his note for the whole payable in 60. days. I am very sensible of your kindness in having gone beyond my draughts, which I by no means intended. these were kept within the limits of the funds I then deemed on hand. the debt to Morris & Dunnington was contracted for the Bedford plantation & was to be paid from it’s crop. I had therefore engaged to M. & D. that they should recieve it out of the proceeds of the first of the Bedford flour which should get to market. Griffin writes me he should send off 100. barrels on the 9th inst. and had the promise of the rest for a short day afterwards. this therefore as well as what is going from here will shortly replace your advance to M. & D. in whose favor I had delayed drawing till the Bedford flour should be down, because I wish to shew my thankfulness for your friendly dispositions by not making an abusive use of them. ever affectionately yours
Th: Jefferson
Mr. Jefferson

Historical Background:

Thomas Jefferson inherited a significant amount of debt from his father-in-law, but he also lived beyond his means, spending large sums on constructing and furnishing Monticello and importing expensive French wines. Although Jefferson was rich in land and slaves, he was in debt for much of his life. Farming was not a solution to such long-term debt, as price fluctuations on commodities rendered his farm income inadequate and unreliable. He often relied on the tobacco crop from his Poplar Forest plantation in Bedford County, Virginia, which was sent to market in Richmond.

In addition, the financial panic of 1819 affected him by lowering real estate values and making it harder for his debtors to pay him. He also co-signed for a friend on a loan for $20,000 in 1818. When his friend died, Jefferson was left responsible for the unpaid debt. The year 1822 was particularly trying, as Jefferson put off his creditors again and again.

At the time of his death in 1826, Jefferson was more than $107,000 in debt. Ultimately, Jefferson’s grandson Thomas Jefferson Randolph inherited the debt. In 1827, Jefferson’s 130 slaves, furniture, and crops were sold at auction, and in 1831, Monticello itself, but these sales still did not cover all of Jefferson’s debts. Descendants made the last payment on the principal fifty years after Jefferson’s death.

George Jefferson Jr. (1766-1812) was born in Virginia, the oldest son of Thomas Jefferson’s first cousin George Jefferson (1739-1780), making him the President’s first cousin, once removed. He founded the mercantile firm of George Jefferson & Company in 1797 in Richmond, and the company served as an agent and factor for Thomas Jefferson in Richmond beginning in December of that year. In 1804, George Jefferson joined Patrick Gibson to form the partnership of Gibson & Jefferson. In March 1811, President James Madison nominated Jefferson to serve as U.S. consul in Lisbon, Portugal, but Jefferson did not fill the post until February 1812. He relinquished the position later that same year due to ill health, and died at sea in July on his return trip.

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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