To John Jay from Susan Barclay, 6 December 1812
From Susan Barclay
Anns View 6th December 1812
My dear Sir,
Altho at a loss for words to express the gratitude I owe for your kind and handsome present to my family, I cannot neglect endeavoring to convince you that I feel it most extensively; It occasions the retrospect to many happy scenes in our youthful days, when friendship and a knowledge of your worth rendered you one of the most valuable members of our society; it also awakens that regard that long absence together with a variety of circumstances permitted to sleep but could never exterpate.
I beg that you will believe that both Col Barclay and myself have a perfect sense of your generosity, if the satisfaction arising from it equals my wishes it will be great.1 That you may long enjoy health and happiness is the earnest wish of dear Sir your old, and with much Respect, Affectionate friend
Susan Barclay
ALS, NNC (EJ: 09072). For JJ’s reply, see his letter of 16 Dec., below. Susanna De Lancey Barclay (1755–1837), was the daughter of Peter De Lancey and Elizabeth Colden, and JJ’s cousin. In 1775, she married Thomas Barclay (1753–1830).
1. Thomas Barclay had clerked for JJ, but remained loyal to Great Britain, joining the Loyal American Regiment, eventually attaining the rank of colonel. In 1777, his property was confiscated and sold. At the end of the war, the Barclays, along with his wife’s brothers James and Stephen (the latter of whom was married to Barclay’s sister Cordelia), removed to Nova Scotia, where Barclay became active in politics. In 1796, Barclay was named to the arbitration commission to determine the location (mouth and source) of the St. Croix River in order to establish the border between Maine and New Brunswick, pursuant to Art. 4 of the Jay Treaty. In 1799, Barclay was appointed consul-general to New York, a position he retained until war was declared in 1812, when the Barclays were forced to return to England. In 1813, the Barclays returned to the U.S. when he was appointed agent for British prisoners of war in the United States. They returned to New York in 1815, when he resumed his position of consul, which he held until he became part of the Anglo-American commission, under Articles 4 and 5 of the Treaty of Ghent, to determine the ownership of the Bays of Fundy and Passamaquoddy and fix the northern boundary. The Barclays remained in New York until their deaths. On at least two occasions, Barclay transmitted letters to JJ’s correspondents in England (Lord Amherst and William Wilberforce), as well as between PAJ and Lord Bolingbroke. See JJ to Thomas Barclay, 1 Feb. 1808, Dft, NNC (EJ: 08700); and PAJ to JJ, 23 Feb. 1810, ALS, NNC (EJ: 06149). See also TP to JJ, 16 July 1796, and enclosure, and JJ to TP, 20 July 1796, , 6: 481–82, 483; PAJ to Peter Kean, 18 Jan. 1819, ALS, NjUN: Liberty Hall. ANBO.