Auction Name: 2026 June 19 The John H. Freund Americana Collection Signature® Auction

Lot Number: 42060

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/6331*42060

John Jay Autograph Letter Signed ("John Jay"). One page of a single leaf, 8 x 10 inches. Bedford, [N.Y.]; August 7, 1820. Docketed on the verso.

A from John Jay to his son, Peter Augustus Jay, concerning property management, family finances, and the burdens imposed by taxation in early nineteenth-century New York. Written from his home in Bedford, the letter shows Jay closely overseeing both his real estate holdings and the distribution of income among family members. In part:

"Dear Peter

...From your account of the Stable, that Business appears to have been well conducted. Maria is well pleased with your having leased her lot. I wish some of the others could be leased also. I find the sums paid on acc't of Taxes and assessments on our Lots since the 1 Jany 1819, amount to $17,511.98 - exclusive of those advanced for and repaid by Mr. Manners...To subject unproductive Property to such Demands must prove oppressive and embarrassing to many others as well to me. Considering the Pressure on Individuals from the State of the times, I indulge a Hope that the Corporation will forbear subjecting the citizens to similar Expenses, until the means of defraying them shall be less difficult to acquire - especially while public utility does not render them clearly indispensable. To me it appears advisable that the Debts of the city should not be increased, and that its Expenditures should be carefully accommodated to existing circumstances.

Pay the money rec'd of Sands - and on the bond from Mr. Haight, to Mrs. Watkins; and take her Rec'd for it -

You will recollect that of the annual Rent of $500 for the Home Street Lot, you was to retain 250 for your own use, and of the Residue pay 200 to Nancy & 50 to Hannah Benajmin - of the last years Rent Nancy has rec'd. 100, and I believe has been expecting the other 100, since May last. This omission has doubtless been caused by the multiplicity of affairs which constantly engage your attention...and Delicacy I am persuaded has restrained her from reminding you of it -

I hope that at least the Interest, and if possible part of the Principal will be paid by Mr. Stevens. - my late complaint has ceased, but I continue feeble. The Rest of us are as well as usual - Sarah is well, and beloved by us all - my Love to Mary -

I am Dear Peter your very affc. Father
John Jay."

A full transcript of the letter is available in the lot's extended description online.

By 1820, Jay had been retired from public office for nearly two decades. After serving as the first Chief Justice of the United States and later as Governor of New York (1795-1801), he withdrew to private life at his estate in Westchester County. He writes with the steady authority of a father managing both family finances and obligations, focusing on the growing burden of taxes and the strain of maintaining unproductive property. He notes payments exceeding $17,000 over an eighteen-month period and warns that such demands would "prove oppressive and embarrassing" not only to himself but to others in similar circumstances. At the same time, he gives precise instructions on the handling of rents, debts, and obligations to other family members, including payments due to Nancy and Hannah Benjamin.

Condition: Very good. Flattened folds with minor toning and additional minor offset toning at outer top right margin. Irregular margin at top left.

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