University of Virginia Library

Advertisement for Contractors

Nelson Barksdale in the meantime continued to serve in the capacity as proctor for the
university. On the first day of March an advertisement for house carpenters and joiners
obviously penned by Jefferson began to circulate in Barksdale's name. It specifically
required contractors to submit bids for work at the university based upon Mathew Carey's
1812 Philadelphia Price Book, although undertakers were free to adjust their proposals in
either direction by percentage.[189] Lumber alone was excepted, to be settled at its actual
cost, but the kiln drying of unseasoned boards would be at the contractors' expense.[190] The
advertisement was placed in the local newspaper as well as in several other localities,
including Staunton, Winchester, Richmond, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.[191]

The appearance of the advertisement in the newspapers brought an immediate and
overwhelming response, making the month of March 1819 one of the most important in the
building of the University of Virginia. The worker's proposals that began to trickle into the
university at first apparently were instigated by word of mouth. Several prominent
Lynchburg citizens sent letters to Jefferson in early March recommending plasterer David
White, who was the brother of the deceased Albemarle County resident William White, and
who was presently engaged in plastering a house in Botetourt County for Charles
Johnston.[192] White, described as "well acquainted with stucco & ornamental
plaistering,"[193] had been "closely employed at his profession" in the Lynchburg area for
several years, fulfilling his contracts "with neatness, and dispatch," much to the satisfaction
of his employers until a "great depression here in all kinds of business, have put . . . an
entire stop, to all improvement."[194] White arrived at the university, armed with a fresh
recommendation from Christopher Hudson of Mount Air labeling him "one of the best
workmen in his line" and with his proposal in hand:

             
Three  Coat Plaster  and Lathing  62½  Cents 
Three  Do  Brick Do. Walls  46 
Two  Do.  and Lathing  46 
Two  Do  on Brick Walls  34 
One  Do  and Lathing  34 
One  Do  and Brick Walls  17 
I wish to undertake all the plastering as I see no difficulty in accomplishing
it.[195]  

Judge Archibald Stuart of Staunton sent an interesting letter of introduction to Jefferson for
Dabney Cosby, the brickworker. Besides describing Cosby as a person desirous of
undertaking "a small part of the Brick work . . . say to Make and lay 350,000 bricks," Stuart
also warned of a plot to monopolize the brickwork by some of central Virginia's most
prominent contractors:

I have been advised that separate proposals will be made by Messrs Jordan, Brown,
Hawkins, Darst and perhaps others for parts of the brick work takeing care that such parts
shall include the whole while in fact they are all to be partners in the proposed
undertakeing—If they are successful they will exclude all competition & this monopoly may
eventuate even worse that that of an Individual—Mr. C[osby] assures me he stands
unconnected in the Offer he shall make & I believe it is his object so to demean himself as
to attract the future attention of the Visitors.[196]

No evidence of this alleged conspiracy to monopolize the brickwork at the university has
been identified, however. Cosby made the trip across the Blue Ridge on 14 March when he
interviewed the ex-president in person. He waited until late March to submit his proposal to
make and lay 200,000 to 300,000 bricks for $14 per thousand, "Lime unstacked from
Agusta" and "Sand from Secretarys ford."[197] When meeting with Jefferson, Cosby
mentioned the possibility that his friend Bolinger might be willing to lay the wooden water
pipe for the university. Immediately upon his return to the valley Cosby consulted Bolinger,
who stated his price as "$6. Pr Hd. feet & One Shilling for fiting each Joint. If fited with
Boxes no charge for Joints. Diameter of the bore 2 inches Bonding found also sufficient help
to Lay them down." Bolinger "Prefers pine, to Chesnut," said Cosby, "the latter will split in
Jointing and requires a band. Logs should be cut 18 or 20 feet long, from 10 to 14 inches
diameter at the Stump. He desires you to let me Know in 8 or 9 days whether you will
consider it a contract."[198] Bolinger could not begin work at the university until late April,
however, so when Jefferson informed Bolinger that the university was accepting his offer he
told him to put off coming until the first week of May.[199]

 
[189]

189. Jefferson wrote Mathew Carey on 11 March requesting him to "forward by mail a copy
of the House carpenter's book of prices printed by him in 1812. it is of importance to us as
being the standard to which we refer for prices in our contracts for all the buildings of our
University" (DLC:TJ).

[190]

190. Nelson Barksdale, Advertisement for Workmen, ca 1 March 1819, in James Oldham's
"Memoriall to the bord of Visitors of the U.Va. Octobr 3. 1823," ViU:PP. For references to
the placing and appearance of this advertisement, see TJ to Thomas Cooper, 3 March, and
Cooper's reply of 11 April, TJ to Joseph Carrington Cabell, 6 March, and Cabell's reply of
12 March, TJ to Dabney Carr, 11 March, all in ViU:TJ, and Israel Collett's Account for
Advertising, 18 March, in ViU:PP, as well as the letters cited below. This advertisement
appeared in the Richmond Enquirer on 12 March (see Richard M. Burke to Barksdale, 6
April 1819, in ViU:TJ).

[191]

191. Israel Collett's Account for Advertising, 18 March 1819, in ViU:PP, shows that the
advertisement cost $5 to publish in the Staunton newspaper.

[192]

192. Charles Johnston to TJ, 4 March 1819, in ViU:TJ.

[193]

193. William S. Reid, John M. Gordon, George Cabell, and John Bullock to TJ, 3 March
1819, in ViU:TJ.

[194]

194. James Bullock to TJ, 3 March 1819, ViU:TJ.

[195]

195. Hudson to TJ, 10 March 1819, ViU:TJ. Jefferson's dockets on the letters sent on behalf
of David White indicate they were all received on 10 March. By "lathing" Hudson means
preparing the groundwork of a wall or ceiling by nailing narrow, thin strips of wood of
various sizes to ceiling joists, studding, or rafters. The lathes are covered with tile, slate, or
especially plaster to create a finished (and often polished) final surface.

[196]

196. Stuart to TJ, 9 March 1819, in ViU:TJ. Colonel John Jordan (1777-1854), an Irishman
who moved from his native Goochland County to Lexington in 1796, and Samuel Darst
(1788-1864), the son of prominent Lexington contractor Benjamin Darst, operated the firm
of Jordan & Darst from 1815 to 1824, with Jordan negotiating the contracts and Darst
managing its operations (see Lyle and Simpson, Architecture of Historic Lexington, 81). The
firm built some of Lexington's "most impressive buildings," including Stono, Jordan's home
near the Virginia Military Institute at Jordan's Point, Darst's own mansion, Barclay House
(now called Beaumont) on Lee Avenue, and The Pines, the residence of the elder Darst
(ibid., 18-20). Jordan also contributed to Lexington's transportation system by building
roads connecting the town with the more established routes across the Blue Ridge and
Allegheny mountains, the bateau canal on the James River at Balcony Falls beginning in
1824, and the North River Canal System in the 1830s (23-24). Jordan previously worked as
a brickmason at Monticello and owned a slave woman married to TJ's brickmason slave
"Brown," whom TJ ultimately sold to Jordan (see TJ to Jordan, 21 December 1805, in
MHi:TJ; see also Betts, Farm Book, 21-22, McLaughlin, Jefferson and Monticello: The
Biography of a Builder
, 103, 113, and Lay "Charlottesville's Architectural Legacy, Magazine
of Albemarle County History
, 46:52-53). Allen Hawkins layed the garden walls at Pavilion
II and Hotels A and D (ViU:PP, Ledger 1).

[197]

197. Dabney Cosby to Nelson Barksdale, 29 March 1819, ViU:TJ.

[198]

198. Cosby to TJ, 14 March 1819, ViU:TJ.

[199]

199. TJ to Bolinger, 9 April 1819, ViU:TJ.