 | Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
Notes
Chapter 8
549. TJ to James Madison, 6 January 1823, DLC:TJ; see also Ford, Writings of Thomas
Jefferson, 12:274.
550. Madison to TJ, 15 January, DLC:JM; see also Letters of James Madison, 3:291-94, and
Hunt, Writings of James Madison, 9:113-18.
551. TJ to Cabell, 13 January 1823, ViU:JCC; see also Cabell, Early History of the
University of Virginia, 266-68.
557. Neilson to Cocke, 22 February 1823, ViU:JHC. Neilson also said that Thorn actually
did not make the bricks for Pavilions II and IV; he informed Cocke to look at Pavilion II,
Hotel C, and the Proctor's house for samples of Thorn's brickmaking work (see appendix K).
561. Dinsmore & Perry, Contract for Carpentry Work for the Rotunda, 11 March,
Brockenbrough to TJ, 11 March, and TJ to Brockenbrough, 12 March 1823, all in ViU:PP;
see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at the University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 24-25.
Brockenbrough wrote Cocke requesting to hire his "hands" by the year to help in molding
bricks. See Brockenbrough to Cocke, 13 March, 7, 13 April, in ViU:JHC, and Cocke to
Brockenbrough, 14 April 1823, in ViU:PP. James Harris and Robert McCullock, who
separately and together operated sawmills in the area, previously had offered to furnish
lumber for the Rotunda. See their letter to TJ, 16 December 1821, in ViU:TJ, and DNA:
Records of the Bureau of Census, Manufactures of Fredericksville Parish, Albemarle
County, 1820.
562. TJ to the Board of Visitors, 12 March 1823 (addressed to John Hartwell Cocke)
ViU:JHC; see also Cabell, Early History of the University of Virginia, 278-79, and O'Neal,
Jefferson's Buildings at the University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 25-26. Jefferson's praise for
the two brickworkers can be seen in the letter of recommendation that he wrote for Abia B.
Thorn on 25 September 1824 (see appendix P). Thorn, TJ said, "has done much of the
brickwork of the University of Virginia, and besides some of the other buildings of the best
workmanship himself and partner executed the walls of the principal edifice the Rotunda,
than which I believe more beautiful and faithful work has never been done in any country.
he is moreover sober, industrious perfectly correct in his habits and conduct of entire probity
& worth, and as such I recommend him for any employ he may sollicit" (DLC:TJ). On the
same day TJ wrote a recommendation for Joseph Antrim, who did "the whole plaistering of
all the buildings of the University of Virginia, which he has executed with fidelity and a skill
of the first order. he is moreover of perfectly correct habits and conduct, sober, industrious,
faithful, and worthy of any degree of trust which may be reposed in him" (ViU:TJ).
563. Cabell to TJ, 24 March 1823, ViU:TJ; see also Cabell, Early History of the University
of Virginia, 280-82.
565. Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, 7 April 1823,
PPAmP:UVA Minutes.
567. Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, 7 April 1823,
PPAmP:UVA Minutes.
568. See TJ to Cabell, 4 February 1823, in ViU:TJ. Jefferson was surprised that Oldham's
"self-respect would have permitted him to have attacked an adversary from behind the mask
of an anonymous information," and he defended Brockenbrough's conduct as bearing "the
stamp of the most perfect integrity and diligence."
571. See Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, 7 April, in
PPAmP:UVA Minutes, TJ to Brockenbrough, 16 April, and TJ to Cocke, 22 April 1823, in
DLC:TJ.
572. Many of the letters and other documents surrounding the disagreement can be found in
Oldham v UVA, Staunton Chancery Court Records, and Oldham vs University of Virginia,
ViU:UVA Chronological File; see especially Oldham's Memorial to the Rector and Board of
Visitors, and Oldham's Lawsuit Against the University of Virginia, both 20 November 1823.
For a thorough examination of the background and eventual settlement of the dispute, see
my "'To Exercise a Sound Discretion': The University of Virginia and Its First Lawsuit," at
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/grizzard/Archive/lawsuit/home.html (1996).
577. TJ to Brockenbrough, 22 April 1823, ViU:PP; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at
the University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 26. Jefferson's original drawing of the Rotunda's
main exterior entablature apparently has not survived. See Lasala, "Thomas Jefferson's
Designs for the University of Virginia, #17-13.
578. See John Neilson to TJ, 5 May, in ViU:TJ, and TJ to Brockenbrough, 16 June 1823, in
ViU:PP; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at the University of Virginia: The Rotunda,
26, and Lasala, "Thomas Jefferson's Designs for the University of Virginia," #00-21,
#17-05, and #17-06.
579. TJ to Cabell, 4 July 1823, ViU:TJ. University contractor John M. Perry was ill during
this time, so much so that he sent his son Lilbourn to collect $500 from Brockenbrough. "I
am afraid to turn out in such damp weather," Perry wrote the proctor, "as I have taken a
good deal of medison latterly--is the reason I Send Lilbourn" (ViU:PP). A receipt attached to
Perry's letter indicates that on the following day Brockenbrough drew a draft on the
university bursar for the money "on acct. of Brickwork on privies & Garden Walls." Perry's
illness notwithstanding, this damp weather was a godsend to the area, for "after a most
afflicting drought in the spring continuing till late in June," Jefferson wrote his former
overseer Edmund Bacon on 10 August, "we have had seasonable weather & have made a
midling crop of wheat, and shall have average crops of corn & tobo. if the fall is favorable.
our University goes on well" (TJ to Edmund Bacon, 10 August 1823, MHi:TJ).
580. Peyton to Brockenbrough, 7 July 1823, ViU:PP. The 16 capitals and 2 half-capitals for
Pavilions II, III, IV, V, VI, and VIII. cost $3,214.04. According to Brockenbrough's
calculations, transportation, custom duties, premiums, commissions, and etc., accounted for
fully one-third of the charges. See Brockenbrough's Memorandum on Cost of Marble
Capitals, 3 July to 26 August, in ViU:PP, and TJ's Memorandum on Cost of Marble Capitals,
ca 4 July 1823, in ViU:TJ.
581. Actually, it was nearly three months before Jefferson wrote to order the stone from
Appleton. See TJ to Appleton, 8 October 1823, in ViU:TJ.
584. See TJ to Brockenbrough, 5 May 1826, in ViU:PP, and John Hartwell Cocke and
Alexander Garrett, Demands of the Resources of the University, 31 May 1826, in DLC:TJ.
585. See TJ to E. S. Davis, 27 August, in ViU:TJ, and Peyton to Brockenbrough, 8
September 1823, ViU:PP. Lyman Peck traveled to Richmond for the proctor to help arrange
the transportation of the stones to Scott's Landing and to the university. See
Brockenbrough's Memorandum on Cost of Marble Capitals, 3 July to 26 August 1823, in
ViU:PP.
586. Brockenbrough to TJ, 20 September 1823, ViU:PP; see also O'Neal, "Michele and
Giacomo Raggi at the University of Virginia," Magazine of Albemarle County History,
18:29.
587. TJ to Appleton, 8 October 1823, ViU:TJ; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at the
University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 28-29.
588. TJ to Trumbull, 15 July 1823, privately owned (1992); see Sotheby's Auction
Catalog (16 December 1992, no. 73).
589. TJ apparently wanted to discuss setting the gymnasia under the Rotunda's terraces for
cover. See Martha Jefferson Randolph to Nicholas P. W. Trist, 4 April 1824, in NcU:Trist
Papers (discussed below).
592. See TJ's two short epistles to Brockenbrough about details of the Rotunda, 10, 11
August 1823, in ViU:PP; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at the University of Virginia:
The Rotunda, 27. On 10 August Jefferson wrote to Edmund Bacon, Monticello's former
manager who had departed for Kentucky several months earlier: "we had here from the time
of your departure the finest weather possible, and were every day remarking how lucky you
were in your weather. our family is all well and has been generally so, except myself. with
me it has been a year of bad accidents. in Nov. I broke my arm & dislocated my wrist, and
have still very little use of that hand. as soon as I was able to ride I got a fall from my horse.
next after that he fell with me into the river in water to his belly, and being alone I was near
drowning. lately I have had a fever of 3. weeks, from which I am recovered but still weak.
the milldam I was building when you left us was soon after swept away by a fresh, leaving
not a particle of timber, and I am just now going about another. this is my history since your
departure. . . . our University goes on well" (MHi:TJ). On 13 August TJ drafted a letter of
recommendation for Richard Ware: "The bearer mr Richd. Ware Carpenter & House-joiner
has been an Undertaker of the Carpentry & Housejoinery of some of the best buildings at
the University. he has executed his work faithfully, skilfully and to our entire satisfaction.
his conduct while here has been entirely correct, and I can recommend him to employment
as an honest man and excellent workman" (DLC:TJ).
593. Neilson to Cocke, 23 August 1823, ViU:JHC. Neilson's letter contained specifications
for the Fork Union Meeting House built later this year. See the miscellaneous material
concerning the meeting house located in the end of the year material for 1823 in ViU:JHC,
including Cocke's Meeting House Memorandum, 12 July 1823, William Galt to Cocke, 13
August 1823, A Bill of Prices for a Church, 1823, and Bill of Timbers for a Church, 1823.
596. Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, 6 October 1823,
PPAmP:UVA Minutes; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings at the University of Virginia:
The Rotunda, 28. Cocke and Cabell planned to meet in Charlottesville before the meeting on
4 October to "examine & settle the Accounts of the Proctor & the Bursar" following Cabell's
short visit to White Sulphur Springs in the second half of September (Cabell to Cocke, 9, 16
September 1823, privately owned [1995]).
597. For Raggi's contract to furnish marble, see TJ to Brockenbrough, 2, 17 September,
and Raggi and Brockenbrough, Agreement, 8 September 1823, in ViU:PP; see also O'Neal,
"Michele and Giacomo Raggi at the University of Virginia," Magazine of Albemarle County
History, 18:27-30. Thomas Appleton wrote Jefferson the following June to inform him that
in making the contract, Raggi "was in error, from the expence of excavation, to the last
polish of the marble, and without counting his own labour, he must Still be a loser by the
contract . . . Postscriptum . . . I have learnt from my Sculptor at Carrara, of a Distressing
misfortune which has befallen Giacomo Raggi, who fell from his chair while asleep after
Supper, & has broken the left clavicle which will probably prevent him the use of his arms
for 3 months. The bases were in full progress, & are now Directed by my
Sculptor.--notwithstanding they are Deprived of his labour" (Appleton to TJ, 10-25 June
1824, DLC:TJ).
598. See TJ to Appleton, 8 October 1823, in ViU:TJ; see also O'Neal, Jefferson's Buildings
at the University of Virginia: The Rotunda, 28-29.
600. See TJ to Appleton, 17 May 1824, in ViU:TJ; see also ibid., 30-31. On 7 June the
proctor wrote to Philip Sturtevant to ask how much he would charge to carve from wood the
composite capitals for the interior of the Rotunda's dome room. Ten days later Sturtevant
sent an answer from Richmond, saying that he would "Carve the Composit Capitals in
Cluding the Neck Moulding in Every respect Out of the Best Timber and in the Best Manner
after the Plan of Palladio in his first Book Plate xxx for 75 Seventy five Cents Per inch
Measured By Girting the Collum or Capital at the Neck[.] I Realy am So anxsious to Cut
them that I must Beg of you Not to dispose of the work with out Leting Me Know and I
must Honestly Say that I Could furnice them Something Lower Rather than Miss of the Job
But thay are So Extremly Low that I Think you will Not Hesitate to Give me the work"
(Sturtevant to Brockenbrough, 17 June 1824, ViU:PP; see also appendix K). Brockenbrough
calculated a column of figures totaling $1,290 on the coversheet of Sturtevant's letter,
apparently indicating his estimate of the amount that Sturtevant's labor for carving all the
capitals would cost the university.
| Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 | |