December 10, 1806

Inquiry from Lisbon

Lisbon 10th. Decr. 1806

Sir [Thomas Jefferson]

I shall be very glad to hear of the safe return of Capen Lewis. His account of the interior of the Northern part of our Continent must be curious & interesting.

Assuring you Sir of my most profound Veneration I am Sir yr mo: obdt & obliged Servt^[1]John Jarvis to Thomas Jefferson, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-4656 accessed 3 January 2026.

William Jarvis

William Jarvis (1770–1859) served as the United States consul in Lisbon and Charge d’affairs for Portugal from 1802 to 1811. There, he sometimes brokered wine purchases on behalf of Thomas Jefferson. In 1810, the second invasion of Napoleon forced the sale of about 4,000 Merino sheep of which Jarvis bought 1400 from the ruling Governmental Junta. He eventually shipped some 3,630 Merino sheep—1400 Paulas, 1700 Aguires, 200 Escurials, 130 Negretti, and about 200 Montarcos—to variouscities in the United States.^[2]Mary Pepperrell Sparhawk Cutts, The Life and Times of Hon. William Jarvis, of Weathersfield, Vermo nt (New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1869), 276–78, 287, available at … Continue reading These were not the first Merino sheep in North America, but it did have a dramatic effect on the sheep industry in North America leading to both boom and bust.^[3]“Merino”, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merino accessed 6 January 2026.