From James Madison to Robert H. Rose, 27 July 1826
To Robert H. Rose
Montpellier July 27. 1826
Dear Sir
I have recd. yours of June 21.1 and am glad to find by it, that mine of May 16.2 had got safe to hand. The urgency which it explained, makes me lose no time in complying with your wish to be informed of the time within which your intended payment will be particularly requisite, and I can not name a later day than the middle of December. If you shd. be able to come yourself with it, so much the better. It will be a matter of regret, if the exertion should put you to serious inconveniencies, but I cannot without disregarding some very pressing engagements, fix a later period for its arrival.
I shall communicate to all whom you name, the remembranc⟨e⟩ and friendly feelings you express for them. My mother, aged as she is, is blessed with a comfortable portion of health. My brother, after a long interruption of his, is again restored to it. His son Robert is endeavoring to establish himself at or near the seat of Govt. in E. Florida: with what prospects I can not venture to say. His daughter Laetitia was married about a year ago, to a son of Capt. Phil: Slaughter,3 and has just added to the number of his grandchildren. My sister Macon,4 and those around her are as usual. In Mrs. Willis’s family a change has taken place, by the marriage of her daughter to her kinsman John Lee. Her son John is a student at the University.5 My other kindred & neighbors, remain with few alterations that are probably unknown to you.
We had a visit some time ago from Mr. Newman & Nelly. They have not returned from that to his mother; and we have had no late accounts of them.
I am truly glad to learn that your children in general are in a way so satisfactory to you, and that you have such flattering prospects of providing for them. You are very fortunate in your crops, notwithstanding the fall of prices for them; when compared with our situation, where the crops as well as prices fail. I did not carry to Market more than a half crop of Tobo. which averaged but little more than $5. per Ct, and my wheat crop will be still more deficient, owing to the intensity of drought preceded by the ravages of the Hes: fly. I must add that for want of Plants and of seasons for the ensuing crop of Tobo., I have been obliged to put a considerable portion of the Hills in Corn: whilst the planted part is greatly thinned by several causes, & has a very unpromising appearance. My corn fields were improved by copious rains; but are now suffering from the want of rain, which if much delayed will be too late, the fields being all of them old & much worn. Remember us affectionately to your family and accept respects & friendly wishes for yourself.
James Madison
Should you be unable to make your fall visit, perhaps you may find a conveyance with [canceled], by some member of Congress, sure to pass near us, on his way to Washington.
Draft (NN: Arents Tobacco Collection).
1. Letter not found.
2. Letter not found.
3. Letitia Madison (1806–28), daughter of William Madison, married Daniel French Slaughter, the son of Philip and Peggy French Strother Slaughter, on 6 September 1825. They had two sons, James Edwin and Philip Madison Slaughter (Chapman, “Descendants of Ambrose Madison,” 59).
4. JM’s sister Sarah (Sally) Catlett Madison Macon (1764–1843) had married Thomas Macon in 1790. They lived at Somerset, a plantation not far from Montpelier, where they raised their nine children (ibid., 34–38).
5. Nelly Conway Madison Willis (1780–1862), the daughter of JM’s brother Ambrose and Mary Willis Lee Madison, was JM’s ward after Ambrose’s death. She remained close to JM throughout his life and was present at his death. Her husband was John Willis (1774–1811), a physician, whom she married in 1804. They had two children—a daughter, Mary Lee Willis (1806–36), who married John Hancock Lee on 2 March 1826, and a son, John Willis (ca. 1810–85), who was a student at the University of Virginia until his expulsion in 1830. John Willis Jr. owned various plantations in Orange County, Virginia, including a tract purchased from JM in partnership with his brother-in-law in 1832, and built a home at Mayhurst on the eve of the Civil War (ibid., 27–28, 50–52, 69, 71–72; Minutes of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, 14 July 1830 [ViU: Special Collections]; Indenture for Sale of Land, 5 June 1832 [Vi: Orange County Courthouse Records]).