On his way to Washington City, Meriwether Lewis makes purchases on behalf of Mandan chief Sheheke’s family and the Osage delegation traveling with him. Today, he fills in a bill of exchange for a sizable purchase from prominent Louisville merchant Thomas Prather’s store.
Thomas Prather
By Eugenia Johnson for the publication Louisville’s First Families.
This sketch is made from Jouett’s likeness of this estimable gentleman, who is said to have done more for the advancement of Louisville than any other one man. The Jouett portrait of Thomas Prather is owned by his great-greatgranddaughter, Mrs. J. Barbour Minnigerode.—Louisville’s First Families
Thomas Prather’s Purchases
Louisville November 9th 1806.
Sir,
My bill of Exchange no. 117 in favor of Thomas Prathor or order for four hundred Dollars is for that sum advanced me in specie; and which when paid will be charged to me on account of expences incident to the conveying certain Indians to the seat of the general government, and for other public purposes.
I have the honor to be with due
Consideration
Your obt. Servt.Meriwether Lewis Capt.
1st U.S, Regt. Infty.[1]Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783–1854, ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 1:351–52.
Notes
| ↑1 | Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783–1854, ed. Donald Jackson (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 1:351–52. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Kathleen Jennings, Louisville’s First Families: A Series of Genealogical Sketches (Louisville, Kentucky: The Standard Printing Co., 1920), 35. |
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- The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
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