Rev. War Yale Veteran Uriah Tracy Settles Isiah Thomas Subscription

This letter from U. S. Senator Uriah Tracy of Connecticut to Alexander Thomas of Walpole, New Hampshire, addresses what appears to be a lapse in his payment for a subscription to the Farmers' Weekly Museum, a very popular newspaper that Thomas edited.

[REVOLUTIONARY WAR]. Uriah Tracy, Autograph Letter Signed, to Alexander Thomas, July 25, 1801, Litchfield, Connecticut. 1 p., 6.375" x 7.5". Expected folds; some residue at corners of verso from attachment to another sheet; very good.

Complete Transcript
Litchfield 25th July 1801
Sir
I have been for 4 or 5 months so much indisposed, that I have hardly been able to write or do any business. I regret that there is any misunderstanding between us about your papers., but really supposed I had taken all the requisite steps, which propriety dictated, to stop them; in a case like this, I never inquire what the Law is, but am always willing to do what honor shall require. I will send you two Dollrs & let it operate a settlemt if you please & will so signify to me.
I am Sir your Obedt Servt
Uriah Tracy
Mr A. Thomas

Uriah Tracy (1755-1807) was born in Connecticut and in response to the Lexington Alarm joined a company from Roxbury. He later served as the company clerk. He graduated from Yale University in 1778 and was admitted to the bar in 1781. He practiced law in Litchfield, Connecticut for many years. He served as a Federalist in the state legislature from 1788 to 1793, in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1793 to 1796, and in the U.S. Senate from 1796 until his death. He was the first member of Congress interred in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC.

Alexander Thomas (1774-1809) was born in Orange, Massachusetts, a distant relative of printer Isaiah Thomas, and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1792. After serving as a clerk in Isaiah Thomas's store in Worcester, Massachusetts, he became a partner in 1796 in what became Thomas, Son & Thomas. He later was the managing partner of the firm in Walpole, New Hampshire, and edited the Farmer's Museum from 1798 to 1801. He died in Saratoga, New York.

The Farmers' Weekly Museum (1793-1810) began publication in April 1793 as the New Hampshire Journal, from the press of Isaiah Thomas (1749-1831) and David Carlisle, in Walpole, New Hampshire. Carlisle, a Walpole native, had been an apprentice under Thomas at the Massachusetts Spy in Worcester, Massachusetts. The newspaper soon became The New Hampshire and Vermont Journal, or Farmer's Weekly Museum. In 1795, lawyer and author Joseph Dennie (1768-1812) began contributing to the newspaper before editing it from 1796 to 1798. It soon developed an astounding circulation for a country village newspaper, with subscribers from Maine to Georgia. Alexander Thomas (1774-1809), a relative and former apprentice of Isaiah Thomas, became editor in June 1798 and continued until October 1801, when Isaiah and Alexander Thomas sold the establishment to David Newhall. The Thomases resumed ownership in 1803 and continued publishing it, with a suspension from March 1807 to October 1808. The paper ceased entirely in 1810.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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