$575.00 CAD
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Payment by Captain Lediard Seymour for three days work by a man and some 'Negroes' on his Schooner Americanus. Seymour corresponded with President Thomas Jefferson (see sample below).
The Seymours were a very prominent Connecticut family.
On back ‘Labor bill $26.50’
Some paper creases.
4” x 8”
To Thomas Jefferson from Ledyard Seymour, 1 November 1801
From Ledyard Seymour
Havana November 1st. 1801.
Honord Sir;
With sentiments of Respect, and esteem, I humbly hasten to the dwelling of the first Magistrate, of the Republick of America, for by this name, have I been taught, to Address, that part of the Western world, over which he presides…
…Arriving the 8th September; I departed the 25th. inst. from this apostate land of Law, reason and justice, together with William Stoddert Bond of Baltimore, Captain of the Schooner Americanus, with a Cargo, bona fide American property, and the 1st of October was suffered to come within the firm protection of the Moro Castle at the entrance of the port of the Havana—here Sir have I since remained rendering to my fellow Citizens, such assistance as the laws and usages of an allied nation allow, cultivating with my best wishes the friendship of the inhabitants of this place, nor can I belive better laws; more wholesome institutions; or more refined honor; could have existed, since the days of Ferdinand and Isabella—. I sometimes think this a Godly City; trifling breaches of eather Civil or Military laws; little quarrelling; or disturbance; and but few dark Assasinations;…
Ledyard (Lediard) Seymour (1771–1848) was a native of Hartford, Connecticut. After graduating from Yale College in 1792, he entered the mercantile business in New York with the support of his wife’s family. Losses to British spoliations forced him into bankruptcy by 1797. He removed to Havana in 1800, where he remained for three years before returning to Hartford. In 1805, he wrote TJ seeking a post in “any one of the Spanish Colonies,” but did not receive an appointment
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-35-02-0454
