John Strode was a mill owner in Culpeper County with whom TJ and James Madison often boarded when traveling between their Virginia homes and Washington or Philadelphia. During the American Revolution he managed James Hunter’s ironworks near Fredericksburg, producing munitions and other goods. Strode shared TJ’s interest in improving plows, and in 1805 TJ sent him one of his moldboards. From 1810–12 Strode represented Culpeper County in the Virginia House of Delegates, but TJ described him as penniless when recommending him for a state or federal position in 1813 (PTJ description begins Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, and others, eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 1950– , 31 vols. description ends , 29:432; Kathleen Bruce, Virginia Iron Manufacture in the Slave Era [1931], 69–73, 131; Madison, Papers description begins William T. Hutchinson, Robert A. Rutland, John C. A. Stagg, and others, eds., The Papers of James Madison, 1962– , 29 vols.: Congress. Ser., 17 vols.; Pres. Ser., 5 vols.; Sec. of State Ser., 7 vols description ends , Congress. Ser., 12:246–8; 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 , esp. 2:1229; TJ to Strode, 11 Mar., and Strode to TJ, 25 Mar. 1805 [DLC]; Leonard, General Assembly description begins Cynthia Miller Leonard, comp., The General Assembly of Virginia, July 30, 1619–January 11, 1978: A Bicentennial Register of Members, 1978 description ends , 260, 265; Strode to TJ, 25 June, 17 July 1813; TJ to Strode and TJ to Madison, both 13 July 1813).