From Thomas Jefferson to John Bringhurst, 26 July 1793
To John Bringhurst
July 26. 1793.
Th: Jefferson is to receive at the bank of the US. on the 1st. day of October, 875. Dollars, towit, a quarter’s salary. It would be very convenient to him to anticipate 600.D. of that sum now, that is to say 300.D. to take up his note at the bank of N. A. due from Tuesday to Friday next, and 300.D. for current purposes of Aug. and September. He will ask the favor of Mr. Bringhurst to endorse a note of that amount to the bank of the US.—Having no money connections in Philadelphia, he applies on this occasion to Mr. Bringhurst, because he stands secured by the state of their particular accounts tho’ this note is not to enter into them, but to be paid by Th:J. out of the money which the bank will have in their own hands as before mentioned.
PrC (DLC).
John Bringhurst (1764–1800) was a Philadelphia hardware merchant at 26 High Street in 1791 and a “fancy-goods” merchantat 12 South Third Street in 1793, when he aided TJ in a number of financial transactions. A Quaker disowned for bankruptcy by the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting in July 1794, he later moved to Wilmington, Delaware, and in 1797 visited TJ at Monticello. He was living with a brother in Philadelphia when TJ visited him on his deathbed (Josiah G. Leach, History of the Bringhurst Family … [Philadelphia, 1901], 32, 38; Clement Biddle, The Philadelphia Directory [Philadelphia, 1791], 14; , 15; Harwood A. Johnson and Diana Edwards, “Ornamental Wedgwood wares in Philadelphia in 1793,” Antiques, cxlv [1994], 166–73; Bringhurst to TJ, [ca. 11 Sep. 1793]; , 5 Jan. 1794, 10 Sep. 1797, and note; James Madison to TJ, 31 Jan., 21 Feb. 1796, 2 Aug. 1797).
Bringhurst endorsed TJ’s note for $600 to the Bank of North America on 30 July 1793, having previously endorsed TJ’s $300 note at the Bank on 30 May 1793 (, 30 May, 30 July 1793). TJ’s letter of 28 May 1793 to John Kean, cashier of the Bank of the United States, seeking instructions on how to obtain a discount for this amount is not recorded in SJL and has not been found (Catalogue of the Interesting and Valuable Collection of Autograph Letters … of the late John Dillon, Esq… . Sold by Auction, by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge … [London, 1869], Lot 566).