# Thomas Jefferson to William D. Meriwether, 21 August 1810

CITATION: “Thomas Jefferson to William D. Meriwether, 21 August 1810,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-03-02-0020. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson , Retirement Series, vol. 3, 12 August 1810 to 17 June 1811 , ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006, p. 49.]
URL (original): https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-03-02-0020
URL (fetched, Wayback Machine capture): https://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-03-02-0020
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: Encloses Pernier's letter of 10 Feb. 1810 and Süverman's of 5 May 1810; contains Jefferson's remark that Pernier 'lately followed his master's example'.

---- VERBATIM TEXT (Founders Online page) ----

Thomas Jefferson to William D. Meriwether, 21 August 1810 
 To William D. Meriwether 
 Monticello Aug. 21. 10 
 Dear Sir 
 I send the inclosed letters to you as one of the executors of our late friend Governor Lewis. you probably know the fate of Poor Pierney his servant who lately followed his master’s example. the 1 st letter is from him stating his account. the 2 d & 3 d are from Christopher Suverman with whom he boarded till his death. Suverman was a servant of mine, a very honest man. he has since become blind, and gets his living by keeping a few groceries which he buys & sells from hand to mouth. he is miserably poor; and as his claim (for the expences of his sickness and funeral) is by law privileged to take place before all others, it will be perfectly safe to pay them to him without enquiring for an administrator. whether he or who else administers I do not know; but I can assure you that if Gov r Lewis was indebted to Pierney, no paiment can be made from his estate to a greater or more worthy object of charity than Suverman. I salute you with affectionate esteem 
 Th:
 Jefferson 
 PoC ( DLC ); at foot of text: “Cap t Meriwether”; endorsed by TJ. Enclosures: (1) John Pernier to TJ, 10 Feb. 1810 . (2) John Christoph Süverman to TJ, 5 May , 8 Aug. 1810 . 
Index Entries 
Lewis, Meriwether; J. Pernier’s claim against estate of search 
Meriwether, William Douglas; as M. Lewis’s executor search 
Meriwether, William Douglas; letters to search 
Pernier (Purney), John; account with M. Lewis search 
Süverman, John Christoph; and J. Pernier search 
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You Are Looking At Source Project Jefferson Papers Title Thomas Jefferson to William D. Meriwether, 21 August 1810 Author Jefferson, Thomas Recipient Meriwether, William D. Date 21 August 1810 
Reference Cite as “Thomas Jefferson to William D. Meriwether, 21 August 1810,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-03-02-0020. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson , Retirement Series, vol. 3, 12 August 1810 to 17 June 1811 , ed. J. Jefferson Looney. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006, p. 49.] 
More between these correspondents 
 Preceding From Meriwether to Jefferson [14 March 1810] Next From Meriwether to Jefferson [19 March 1812] All All correspondence between Meriwether and Jefferson