Patrick Henry to Thomas Read

Letter

Patrick Henry's Red Hill

Name/Title

Patrick Henry to Thomas Read

Entry/Object ID

2023.31

Description

Iron gall ink on laid paper. Letter from Patrick Henry to Colonel Thomas Read. Probably written at Red Hill in May 1799. Includes an additional later inscription by High Blair Grigsby on address page.

Collection

Patrick & Dorothea Henry Collection

Transcription

D[ea]r Sir, Your last favor I recd. [received] & agree to the terms you mention, viz. to pay you 6/per acre for your Land as patented, deducting then from what I have a legal prior Right to - I claim 103 acres under Eckeholls's - Patent which I send Colo. Watkins to put in to your Hands. & I wish some body could see the old lines which remain in or by them it appears that the lands called Reade's Entrys do not come within 600 yards of the Campbell Line - Dabbs included all Eckeholls's in yr. Survey, & thereby took some valuable land into yr. patent. As to the Credit I wish Colo. Watkins to settle it for really I am hard run for cash having purchased largely of late, & my sales of Land are on considerable credit - I shall be obliged to you to accept one half - June 1800 - & the other June 1801 - I agree to pay costs of Suit. I am Dr. Sir, Yr. Friend & Servant P. Henry P.S. my Health being much impaired, I will thank you for an answer. [Addressed] To Colo. Thos. Reade Colo. Watkins favor Charlotte [Inventoried in Read's hand] Col Henry Letter – to Thomas Read May 1799 [Inscription] Charlotte County Va: this letter was written by Col. Henry in May 1799 to Col. Read of this County, the Clerk of our Court at that time and many years subsequently. Col. H omitted the date, which Col. Read, who was a man of great accuracy in his private affairs, has supplied. As the great orator died on the 6th of June 1799, this letter is probably the last that he ever wrote. Hugh B. Grigsby February 24, 1847 [Written in Read’s hand] 740 103 637

Language

English

Dimensions

Width

15-1/2 in

Length

9-1/2 in

Provenance

Notes

This letter was written by Patrick Henry to Thomas Read in May 1799, making it one of the last letters Henry ever wrote. It discusses the purchase of 103 acres of Read's land by Henry, who promises to pay for half of the total price in June 1800 and the other half to June 1801. Henry alludes to his significant debt caused by his purchasing large amounts of land "on considerable credit." A second letter to Read in the PHMF collection (2021.14), dated May 10, 1799, refers to this same land transaction between Henry and Read. This letter, although its date is not specified, is believed to have been sent before the May 10 letter. The recipient is Col. Thomas Read (1742-1817) who worked and lived in Charlotte Court House, VA, near the location to which this letter was sent. Like Henry, Read served actively during the Founding period as a Virginia Burgess, a representative to 1776 and 1777 state conventions, and a member of the 1788 Constitutional Convention. The inscription at the top left of the letter was written by Hugh Blair Gigsby, a lawyer, politician, and historian, on February 24, 1847. Grigsby served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates for Norfolk Borough from 1828 to 1830. In 1840, Grigsby married Mary Venable Carrington (1813-1894), the daughter of Colonel Clement Carrington (-1847) of "Edgehill" plantation in Charlotte County, Virginia. Mary Carrington's father had been a patriot in the American Revolutionary War before representing Charlotte County in the House of Delegates in 1789. Grigsby, a descendant of the College of William & Mary's first colonial President John Blair, served as the College's 16th Chancellor from 1871-1881. Passionate about books and classical art, it's likely Gigsby included this letter from Patrick Henry in his large collection. Dr. Jack Schaffer (1946-), a fifth-great-grandson of Patrick Henry, received this letter as a gift from his mother, Dorothy Jean Timm Schaffer (1920-2012), a fourth-great-granddaughter of Henry. Dorothy Schaffer purchased this letter from a historical documents seller at an unknown date. Dr. Schaffer, a member of the PHMF board of directors at the time of donation, gave this letter to PHMF on June 8, 2023.