William D. Meriwether to Thomas Jefferson, [23 March 1809]
From William D. Meriwether
Thursday Evening [23 Mar. 1809]
Sir
The Committee appointed by a meeting of your County men to express to you their feelings & sentiments on your late return, inclose you a copy of an address which they are instructed to present—Those gentlemen who live at a distance & are now in Town, wish to be inform’d at what Time & place it will be most agreeable to you to receive them—
By order of the committee |
W D. Meriwether |
Chrmn |
RC (DLC: TJ Papers, 187:33214); partially dated; endorsed by TJ as a letter of 23 Mar. 1809 received the same day and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: Inhabitants of Albemarle County to TJ, [ca. 11 Mar. 1809].
William Douglas Meriwether (1761–1845) was a miller, surveyor, and land speculator who inherited Cloverfields, a large estate in Albemarle County. His milling operations on the Rivanna River in and near Charlottesville and Milton produced wool, cotton, flour, and timber, and in 1810 he was a director of the Rivanna Company, incorporated in 1806 to make improvements on the river. Meriwether represented Albemarle County in the Virginia House of Delegates, 1809–10, and served as sheriff in 1801 and 1828–30. After the death of his cousin Meriwether Lewis, he became agent for settling his affairs, having been his guardian since Lewis’s father died. In the years after TJ’s return to Monticello, Meriwether became a leading opponent of his development efforts at Milton (Louisa H. A. Minor, The Meriwethers and Their Connections [1892], 24; William D. Meriwether to Charles Meriwether, 14 July 1830 [NcU: Meriwether Family Papers]; , 16, 29, 72, 157, 162; , 272; , 19).