# John Pernier to Thomas Jefferson, 10 February 1810 CITATION: “John Pernier to Thomas Jefferson, 10 February 1810,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-02-02-0171. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson , Retirement Series, vol. 2, 16 November 1809 to 11 August 1810 , ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005, pp. 208–209.] URL (original): https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-02-02-0171 URL (fetched, Wayback Machine capture): https://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-02-02-0171 DATE FETCHED: 2026-09-14 TRANSCRIPTION: scholarly edition text (Princeton, Papers of Thomas Jefferson / Madison Papers, as published on Founders Online); text below is verbatim from the fetched page, including the editors' source note and footnotes. Superscripts are flattened by the HTML-to-text conversion (e.g. 'Oct r' = Oct^r, '11 th' = 11^th). NOTE: Letter from Lewis's servant John Pernier himself, written from Washington, about his unpaid wages. ---- VERBATIM TEXT (Founders Online page) ---- John Pernier to Thomas Jefferson, 10 February 1810 From John Pernier Washington City 10 th February 1810 Sir It is with deference I take the liberty of stating to you my distressed situation, ever since I had the pleasure of seeing you, in consequence of indisposition and being without employ— The misfortunes attending me at this time, has been produced in a great measure by the Melancholy death of Governor Lewis; in whose service I had been in, for a length of time, with but little remuniration; my case is truly hard, as on application to the General Government for redress, I was refused; under an impression that my Contract with the Governor was of a private nature; therefore did not obtain any settlement—I am sorry to trouble you, but from your knowledge of me flatter myself, you will use your influence with his Representatives to obtain me justice— The following is a statement of my account with the Estate of Governor Lewis for your perusal— The Estate of Governor Lewis To John Pearny D r For my services as an attendant on the late Governor Lewis while exploring Louisiana from the 1 st July 1807 to 1 st December 1809 the day I arrived at the Seat of Government 29 M os @ 10 Drs $290 For two Suits of Cloths of superfine Cloth ⅌ verbal agreement 85 Supra C r $375 By 6 Months pay Received of Governor Lewis 60 By 1 public Horse sold by me 43.50 103.50 Bal ce due $271.50 You will please to observe from the above statement that a balance remains due to me of $271.50 which at this time; could I be, in the receipt of the same it would ameliorate my distresses—I have therefore to solicit you in your goodness to endeavor to have a speedy settlement made in order that I may be enabled to pay my just debts & resqued from prison which inevitably must be the case should I not succeed—Your kind attention to the foregoing Requests will confer many obligations on your— Obliged & very Humble servant. John Pearny RC ( DLC ); in an unidentified hand, signed by Pernier; on one folio sheet; endorsed by TJ as received 18 Feb. 1810 and so recorded in SJL . Enclosed in TJ to William D. Meriwether, 21 Aug. 1810 . John Pernier (Pearny) (d. 1810), a free mulatto, worked for TJ at the presidential mansion from 1804 until he left Washington in 1807 as personal servant to Meriwether Lewis. He witnessed Lewis’s death in October 1809, with one contemporary blaming the suicide on Pernier’s negligence and some later writers alleging that he murdered Lewis. Pernier subsequently visited TJ in Albemarle County and on 26 Nov. 1809 received $10 from the ex-president to assist him in his return to the capital. After his arrival there he lodged with another of TJ’s former servants, John Christoph Süverman. Impoverished and in poor health, Pernier died of a laudanum overdose on 29 Apr. 1810 ( MB description begins James A. Bear Jr. and Lucia C. Stanton, eds., Jefferson’s Memorandum Books: Accounts, with Legal Records and Miscellany, 1767–1826 , 1997, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson , Second Series description ends , 2:1137, 1250; Donald Jackson, “On the Death of Meriwether Lewis’s Servant,” WMQ description begins William and Mary Quarterly , 1892– description ends , 3d ser., 21 [1964]: 445–8; Gilbert C. Russell to TJ, 31 Jan. 1810 ; Süverman to TJ, 5 May 1810 ). A copy of Pernier’s statement of my account , described as an account with the United States rather than Lewis but otherwise nearly identical, was enclosed in Süverman to TJ, 8 Aug. 1810 . Index Entries Lewis, Meriwether; death of search Lewis, Meriwether; J. Pernier’s claim against estate of search Lewis, Meriwether; personal belongings of search Pernier (Purney), John; account with M. Lewis search Pernier (Purney), John; and M. Lewis’s death search Pernier (Purney), John; identified search Pernier (Purney), John; letters from search Pernier (Purney), John; travel expenses paid search suicide; and M. Lewis search Permanent Link What’s this? https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-02-02-0171 Note: The annotations to this document, and any other modern editorial content, are copyright © Princeton University Press. All rights reserved. Back to top You Are Looking At Source Project Jefferson Papers Title John Pernier to Thomas Jefferson, 10 February 1810 Author Pernier, John Recipient Jefferson, Thomas Date 10 February 1810 Reference Cite as “John Pernier to Thomas Jefferson, 10 February 1810,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-02-02-0171. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson , Retirement Series, vol. 2, 16 November 1809 to 11 August 1810 , ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005, pp. 208–209.]