Washington District of Columbia

President Thomas Jefferson letters to and from Benjamin King
Furnished by : John Sharp

Portrait by Saint Memin circa 1806 This portrait is from the Library of Congress and is said to be the likeness of Benjamin King		Thomas Jefferson Portrait from NARA circa 1805

1822/1823 Correspondence of Benjamin King, Washington Navy Yard Master Black Smith & President Thomas Jefferson regarding King's Equilateral Level & Grass Cutting Machine. Introduction In his letter dated 2 December 1822 to President Thomas Jefferson (1743 -1826), Benjamin King (1779-1837), Washington Navy Yard, Master Black Smith, offers his new "equilateral level" for inspection and promotes his new grass cutting machine. Thomas Jefferson had a lifelong fascination with science and was drawn to new practicable scientific and technological applications which he hoped would improve the productivity of his large estate at Monticello, Virginia so Benjamin King's ideas must have intrigued the retired former President. Thomas Jefferson knew Benjamin King, they probably met in 1807 when King was assigned by Washington Navy Yard Engineer and Architect of the Capitol, Benjamin H. Latrobe (1764-1820) to help mold and install the iron work at the White House. Later, Benjamin King helped install fixtures in Jefferson's White House water closet (Bath Room)1. During that time King had used his ingenuity to help built a number of hoists and machines which were used to lift heavy stones in the building of the new capitol and it was probably these construction devices the President Jefferson remembered when he asked King for the price of a comparable hoist.2 During his long tenure at WNY, Benjamin King was often called on to help other inventors and frequently this involved fabricating special instruments or devices. Two early Secretaries of the Navy, Robert Smith and Paul Hamilton had high regard for King's technical talents and abilities http://www.genealogytrails.com/washdc/secnavlet.html but both felt he was a hard man to manage and both Secretaries at different times sought his dismissal. While Thomas Jefferson never bought King's new devices, he had high regard for his ability, and it was King's ability that despite his critics kept Benjamin King gainfully employed .Even for Henry Latrobe, who came to dislike Benjamin King, could still note King was a man of "real usefulness".3 These letters too between the Master Black Smith and the former President suggest Benjamin King's better qualities and I believe in Thomas Jefferson clear praise, we can see reflected some King's utility and value to the Department of the Navy and the Washington Navy Yard. Note : Despite considerable search, I have been unable to find any further information on Benjamin King's equilateral level and grass cutting machine. King's drawing if any, which would have been enclosed, were apparently not retained by the President . Transcription: These letters are part of the Library of Congress, Jefferson Papers and this transcription was made from the Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Papers 1606 -1827: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/ In transcribing these letters, I have striven to adhere as closely as possible to the originals in spelling, capitalization, punctuation and abbreviation including the retention of dashes, ampersands and overstrikes, all errors that remain however are mine. John G. Sharp June 18, 2008

Navy Yard Washington Jan 3rd 1823 Honorable Sir Yours of the 22nd of December last duly received and would have been justly honored as this (but having been indisposed for the last ten days prevented my writing sooner) as to the request contained therein was accorded with particular pleasure, and otherwise perfect convenience the original cost of the raising machine I have ascertained of the assistance of the Architect of the Capitol to have been on hundred and twenty five dollars exclusive of the rope necessary employed in the machine. From the multiplicity of the business fitting out Schooners &c to go against the pirates has deprived me of having the pleasure of presenting you a model of Straw cutting machine, which comes at a very low rate, being about thirty Dollars each, and cuts with ease five bushels of cut Straw in one minute on the present plan worked by manual power but may very conveniently be attached to water power, I hope in long to be able to present you with a model of which I flatter myself will give infinite satisfaction for price and ease of Labour - if you should deem any other information necessary I should have the pleasure in being competent to your commands. I am Honorable Sir Your most Obedt & Honorable Servant [signed] Benj King To T, Jefferson Esq. Monticello

Monticello Dec. 12.22 Sir I have duly received your favor concerning the drawing of your equilateral level. I think it ingenious and likely to answer well the purposes proposed and especially that of ascending roads, if your straw cutter answers well and is cheap, it will be in demand, we have a present one, most excellent for its purpose, but so dear that now one buys it. I wish you success with both and hope that the time since I witnessed your useful labors at the navy yard have been agreeably & profitably spent to you, having this occasion of writing to you I will trouble you with an inquiry, you know the hoisting machine which Mr. Latrobe used for raising great weights at the public buildings, it was what is called the axle in the wheel, being in size about 8.3 diameter an iron spur wheel at the end of about six inches, the hoisting rope wrapped round the axle the wheel was moved by locked pinion with a double handle. I mounted one at Washington for my own use but our University having need of it I let them have it for what it cost me at Washington, but what that was I can not find, I therefore ask the favor of you to inform me of the cost of undertaking one therefore the use of all wooden work complete without a rope, it has a spur wheel at one end of the axle only some of them have two your information with enable me to settle with the university and greatly oblige me. accept my best wishes and respect [Signed] TJefferson Mr. King

I think B. King may have had his letter done by a clerk       at the Navy Yard or a professional scribe since it does       not look like other examples of his know handwriting.                                                                John               Navy Yard Washington December 2nd 1822 Honorable Sir I beg to present you enclosed a draft of an equilateral level for leveling of Lands, on nay Incline plane Side of the hills for which by adding a Spy Glass on the center of the motion, by which the pendulum preponderates it would prove an useful invention for leveling Mill races Canals &c as the Index would correctly show the elevation likewise I have a new invented Straw Cutting machine which Surpasses any invention of that Kind hitherto made know I have had the pleasure of making one for Gen Walker Jones of this City and will do myself the honor pf presenting you with a model for your inspection, I ma with infinite respect Honorable Sir Your Most Obed Hble Servant [Signed] Benjamin King Master Blacksmith & Head Plummer To T. Jefferson Esq Monticello

1 Benjamin H. Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson 13/15 August 1807: "I have made a very careful survey of the cistern and the Water closets. The latter want a through repair, which I must get [Benjamin] King of the Navy Yard to undertake." The Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers Benjamin H. Latrobe Volume 2, 1805-1810 edited by John C. Van Horne Yale University Press New Haven 1986 p. 463 Benjamin King was perceived as a difficult man to get along with Benjamin Latrobe, Commodore Thomas Tingey and later Commodore Isaac Hull all at strained work relationships with this bright, clever and irascible Scotchman. A letter from Benjamin Latrobe to President Thomas Jefferson dated August 29, 1807 provides some detail as to how much King was involved in the design for the White House: Sir: At the President's house I have laid out the road on the principle of the plan extended to you. A small alteration of the outline of the inclosures to the south was necessarily made, which renders the whole ground infinitely more handsome and accommodates the public with an easier access from the Pennsylvania Avenue to the New York Avenue. In the plan submitted to and approved by you a semicircle was struck to the south from the center of the bow of the house. The semicircle carried the inclosure too far to the south. Mr. King will lay before you the new plan, which differs from the other in being of oblong figure instead of a semicircle. By this alteration many very important objects are gained: 1. The Pennsylvania and New York avenues are by the wall and gate opposite to them at right angles. 2. A direct access is obtained from the New York to the Pennsylvania Avenue and on the shortest line. 3. The wall is straight from point to point, and thus all circular work is avoided. 4. The nature of the ground is consulted so far as to obtain the best level for the road with the least removal of earth. 5. The road runs in such a manner that the President's house is not overlooked from the low ground and is covered by the rising knolls as the road rises. Having laid out the ground with the assistance of Mr. King, to whose kindness and skill I am under the greatest obligations, the next consideration was how to do the greatest quantity of business with the fund appropriated, and if possible to get at least the south half of the wall built this summer. I therefore bought a cargo of lime, made a contract for stone, and preparatory arrangements for the work itself. The next step was to get down to the foot of the wall on the south side by cutting out the road to its proper width, leaving the internal dressing of the ground to the last. The building of the wall rendered it necessary to go to the permanent depth of the road, otherwise I should have contented myself with laying it down on its right place, removing only so much earth as would have made the declivities convenient to the carriages. But this could not be done, and I contracted to loosen the ground from the first walnut southeast of the President's house to the War Office, the width of the road, footpath, and wall. The next consideration was to execute your directions as to the north side of the President's house, and to level the ground regularly and gradually from the level of the stones in front of the steps, which nearly agrees with the site of the offices, sloping in their direction toward the enclosure. The earth which was to affect this necessarily was removed from the site of the offices between the President's house and the War Offices. B. H. Latrobe 2 King and other workmen were detailed from the Washington Navy Yard to work the new Capitol and the White House many times during the first two decades of the Navy Yard's existence much to the aggravation and chagrin of Commodores Thomas Tingey and Isaac Hull see Thomas Jefferson the Second Term 1805 -1810 Little Brown and Company New York 1974 p539 3 The Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers Benjamin H. Latrobe Volume 3, 1811-18200 edited by John C. Van Horne Yale University Press New Haven 1988 p. 9 note 2.

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