Martha Jefferson Randolph to E. S. Davis
| Dear Sir— | Feb. 16, 1827. |
I should have not been thus remiss in returning you my thanks for your kind attention, in forwarding the South Carolina resolutions, but for the delay occasioned in the first instance, by some days detention of your letter in Albemarle, and also the circumstance of its finding me confined to my bed with a severe indisposition, which left me in a state of great debility.
I will not do myself the injustice to attempt any expression of my deep feelings of gratitude to the generous hearts whose liberality have given support to my old age: to understand them, it is only necessary to know, that it found me prostrate in health and spirits, in poverty, and with eight* children unprovided for, five of them still of an age to go to school.
To a member† of the same generous State are we indebted, for bringing forward and advocating in Congress, a petition to unite our Lottery with that of the District of Columbia, by which arrangement my dear father’s memory will be saved the reproach of insolvency. For, in the present unfortunate times, his whole property, brought to a forced sale, would not have paid his debts. I remember with pleasure the visit you paid us at Monticello, and should you at any time revisit Virginia, should be most happy to see you at my house.
Believe me, dear sir, with gratitude to every one who bears the name of South Carolina, and yourself in particular.