Peter Jay to David Peloquin, 16 May 1762
Peter Jay to David Peloquin1
[Rye,] 16 May 1762
I had the honour of writing to you the 12 Decemb: & 6 feb. last, and have since received your favours of the 31st Octob: & 17 Novr together with the Magazines.2 It gives us a very sensible pleasure that you and the my Cousins your Sisters were well,3 and we wish you all a long continuance of perfect health.
in my last I acquainted you of my wife being on the recovery of a pretty severe indisposition, but this was soon after succeeded by another, She is now better again, tho’ but in a lingering condition State, and wherein as well as in her long disabled Condition and great sufferings by the Rhumatism (which you kindly take notice of in yr. last) she always perseveres in a becoming submission to the Divine Will—a very long long Series of very affecting afflictions has, indeed, attended my Family,4 but we are happy still in ^and I pray^ God ^to continue to Us his^ support undr these weighty Tryals, and we are also blessed with a firm persuasion ^belief^ that his Dispensations always tend to wise and good Ends.
My son James has long had an inclination to return to England, he says for two years only, and you will see him very unexpectedly the Bearer hereof. I wish he could have been satisfyed to continue his Practice here, wherein he had great Success, and which was not inconsiderable, however, as he thinks his going abroad will be an advantage to him I ought to submit to it, notwithstanding I am ^shall be^ thereby deprived of a very great comfort I had in him near me.5
my Son John has now been two years at College, and ^where he^ prosecutes his Studyes to satisfaction,6 he has a very happy capacity ^is indued wth: very good natural parts^ and is bent upon a learned Profession, I believe ^it will
be^ the Law.—my youngest is Still wth. me, fitting him for his apprenticeship to a Merchant, which he is inclined to,7 they both behave well and I shall be quite happy if I may live to see them also in a good way of doing well—you’ll be kind enough to excuse my open freedom abot. my Boys, which indeed I’m indued to ^proceeds^ from a firm persuasion that you wish us very Well.
My poor Sister Vallete8 has labour’d long undr an ill State of health, and according to appearance we can’t expect to see her long among us,—thus we are dropping off one after another, and God’s Will be done!
An Expedition ^is^ now on foot here, said to be intended agst. St. Augustine, and is to be conducted by Genl Amherst.9 My Wife & Children join with me in Complimts and our greatest regards to you & the rest of our dear Cousins. I am
LbkC, in the hand of Peter Jay, NNC: Peter Jay Lbk. 3. Addressed: “David Peloquin Esqr. in Bristol, pr. Doctr. Jay—”.
1. Peter Jay’s aunt, Françoise Jay, and Stephen Peloquin had two sons, David Peloquin, who was sheriff of Bristol in 1737 and Mayor of Bristol in 1751, and John Peloquin (d. 1754), in addition to daughters from Peloquin’s previous marriage, Frances / Françoise Peloquin (1707–64), Nancy Peloquin, and Marianne Peloquin (1706–78). The Peloquin brothers were prominent in the Huguenot merchant community of Bristol, and the family maintained close business and personal ties with their Jay cousins. Peter Jay conducted an extensive correspondence with the Peloquins. ; Peloquin-Jay Correspondence, microfilm, NNC (EJ: 11807); Peter Jay Lbks., NNC.
2. PJ to David Peloquin, 12 Dec. 1761 and 6 Feb. 1762, Peter Jay Lbk. 3, NNC; Peloquin to PJ, 31 Oct. 1761, Peloquin-Jay Correspondence, microfilm, NNC (EJ: 11807); Peloquin to PJ, 17 Nov. 1761, not located.
3. Only two of David Peloquin’s half sisters, Marianne and Françoise, were still alive in 1762. “Registers of the French Churches at Bristol,” Huguenot Society of London, Publications 20 (1912): 27, 28, 30–32.
4. He is referring to the illnesses of the Jay children. See “The Jay Family” (editorial note) on p. 3.
5. In 1756, after completing his medical training in Edinburgh and London, James Jay returned to New York and practiced medicine for six years. Hired by the King’s College Board of Governors at the suggestion of the Reverend Dr. Samuel Johnson, James left for England in early 1762, in the company of the Reverend William Smith of the College of Philadelphia, to raise funds for the school. The trip was an enormous success, netting King’s College £6,366 sterling. David and John Peloquin to PJ, 4 Sept. 1754, and David Peloquin to PJ, 11 Sept. 1755 and 18 Oct. 1755–23 Mar. 1756, Peloquin-Jay Correspondence, microfilm, NNC (EJ: 11807); PJ to David Peloquin, 10 June 1756, Peter Jay Lbk. 3, NNC.
6. JJ entered King’s College in the fall of 1760. Matricula or Register of Admissions and Graduations and of Officers Employed in King’s College at New York, 8, University Archives Collection, NNC.
7. For Frederick Jay’s apprenticeship, see below, PJ to David Peloquin, 14 Apr. 1763.
8. Marie Jay Valette died 5 June 1762. PJ to David Peloquin, 9 June [1762], Peter Jay Lbk. 3, NNC.
9. As part of the British expedition against Havana in 1762, Lord Jeffery Amherst (1717–97), Governor General of North America, was instructed to dispatch 4,000 provincials and regular troops from New York City to the Caribbean. In his journal, Amherst recorded that the soldiers were mustered and embarked for Cuba on 13, 15, and 18 May. The Americans reached Cuba just in time to take part in the final assault on Havana, which capitulated on 13 Aug. 1762 after a two-month siege. David Syrett, ed., The Siege and Capture of Havana (London, 1970), xiii–xxxv, 12–13, 293; J. Clarence Webster, ed., The Journal of Jeffery Amherst (Toronto, 1931), 281–83, 291.