Day-by-Day / February 12, 1803

February 12, 1803

Portsmouth fire donations

While they wait for Congress to approve funding the Western Expedition, President Thomas Jefferson gives his secretary Meriwether Lewis 100 dollars for pay for a “year’s gazettes”. He also makes a donation to Joseph Willard on behalf of the Portsmouth fire victims.

 

A View of Portsmouth in New Hampshire, taken from the East Shore (Bef. 1777)

By Phelps Stokes

Idyllic landscape of Portsmouth viewed from across the harbor

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library, digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/4df470e0-c5ed-012f-3d89-58d385a7bc34

A Secretarial Task

12. [12 February 1803]

Put into Capt. Lewis’s hands to pay a year’s gazettes 100.D.
—Thomas Jefferson[1]The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series, Jefferson’s Memorandum Books, vol. 2, ed. James A Bear, Jr. and Lucia C. Stanton (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), 1089–1117 … Continue reading

The name of the Gazette is not known, but the high dollar amount suggests it may be a somewhat charitable contribution—perhaps to the New Hampshire Gazette.

First Portsmouth Fire Donation

Washington Jan. 11. 1803.

Dear Sir

We learn by the public papers that a great calamity by fire has happened to Portsmouth, and that yourself and some others are appointed to recieve contributions for the distressed sufferers and to distribute them. I take the liberty of inclosing to yourself an hundred dollars for this purpose. I observe the trustees say in the papers that they will make a record of the donations. I pray that in my case it may be of the sum only, without the name. the former I suppose is necessary in making up your accounts. Accept assurances of my constant & affectionate esteem & respect.

Th: Jefferson[2]Thomas Jefferson to John Langdon, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 39, 13 November 1802–3 March 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012), 311–312 available at … Continue reading

The first of three Portsmouth “Christmas Fires” broke out on the morning of 26 December 1802 in an old wooden dwelling also serving as the New Hampshire Bank. John Langdon was one of five people sent out to collect donations on behalf of the victims. Two more catastrophic fires in 1806 and 1813 led to The Brick Act of 1814 “mandating that all new buildings over 12 feet high be built of brick”.[3]The History of Portsmouth’s Christmas Fires”, New Hampshire Magazine, www.nhmagazine.com/the-history-of-portsmouths-christmas-fires/ accessed 21 January 2026.

Rev. Joseph Willard. S.T.D.

[Doctorate in Sacred Theology]
Prest. of Harvard College
from Dec 1781 to Sep. 1804
Born Dec. 1738.Died Sep 1804.

silhouette of Joseph Willard created with a physiognotrace

Silhouette created with a physiognotrace, from Willard Genealogy.

Second Portsmouth Fire Donation

12. [12 February 1803]

Gave to Mr. Willard 100.D. in charity for Portsmouth additionl. to Jan. 11.
—Thomas Jefferson[4]Jefferson’s Memorandum Books.

Joseph Willard was an in-law of James Sheafe—one of the five members of the Portsmouth fund-raising committee—and president of Harvard. With Jefferson, he was a founding member of the American Philosophical Society and its first secretary. Coincidentally, he was third cousin—once removed—of Alexander Willard who would serve as a private on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.[5]Thomas W. Baldwin, Vital Records of Cambridge Massachusetts to the Year 1850 (Boston, Mass: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1915) 1:764–6; Joseph Willard and Charles Wilkes Walker, … Continue reading Altogether, the Portsmouth committee received and distributed more than $45,000.[6]Portsmouth Fire Relief Papers, 1802–1803 – MS071, Portsmouth Athenaeum, portsmouthathenaeum.org/portsmouth-fire-relief-71/ accessed 22 January 2026.

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Second Series, Jefferson’s Memorandum Books, vol. 2, ed. James A Bear, Jr. and Lucia C. Stanton (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), 1089–1117 available at Founders Online, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/02-02-02-0013 accessed 22 January 2026.
↑2 Thomas Jefferson to John Langdon, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 39, 13 November 1802–3 March 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012), 311–312 available at Founders Online, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0268.
↑3 The History of Portsmouth’s Christmas Fires”, New Hampshire Magazine, www.nhmagazine.com/the-history-of-portsmouths-christmas-fires/ accessed 21 January 2026.
↑4 Jefferson’s Memorandum Books.
↑5 Thomas W. Baldwin, Vital Records of Cambridge Massachusetts to the Year 1850 (Boston, Mass: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1915) 1:764–6; Joseph Willard and Charles Wilkes Walker, Willard Genealogy, Charles Pope, ed. (Boston, Mass.: Murray and Emery Company, 1915), 92.
↑6 Portsmouth Fire Relief Papers, 1802–1803 – MS071, Portsmouth Athenaeum, portsmouthathenaeum.org/portsmouth-fire-relief-71/ accessed 22 January 2026.

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