Holograph letter from Peter Augustus Jay to his father Augustus Jay in original envelope [Regarding earliest "Jay property" in NY]

Jay, Peter Augustus ; [1877-1933]

Published by Rome, 1915

About this Item

2 pages; Holograph letter on Embassy letterhead with wax Embassy seal from Peter Augustus Jay at the American Embassy in Rome to his father Augustus Jay at the Knickerbocker Club in New York concerning death of relative Colonel William Jay and disposition of Jay property at the intersection of Pearl and Broad Streets in New York. TRANSCRIPTION: "American Embassy / Rome // April 10, 1915 // Dear Father // It has just struck me that now that dear Col. Willlaim Jay is dead Moppy (or rather Arthur Iselin) will want to sell their part of the property on the corner of Pearl and Broad Streets. I hope very much indeed that you will not consent to sell your share of this land. // You may not remember my great grandfather and your grandfather Peter A. Jay's will - which is given in full in Jack Jay's 'Reminiscences of Peter A. Jay' - In it he solemnly charges his descendents to hold on to this property and never to be induced by any stress to mortgage it, saying that it is the first land bought by our family in America. // Though we have lost Rye and now Bedford will no longer be Jay, we still have something to be proud of, namely an undisputed title to a piece of ground in New York handed down from father to son for well over 200 years -- a very rare thing in America. // I daresay that it may not pay expenses and it would be more business like to sell it instead of paying high taxes, but I very much hope you will not do so. // On the contrary, I hope you will leave it to me in your will with the reversion to Lanny's boy, in case I have no son (as unfortunately seems likely). // Believe me, dearest Father // love // Peter" The relatives PAJ refers to in the letter are William Jay II (1841-1915), the great grandson of American Founding Father John Jay. He was called "the Colonel" on account of his rank during the Civil War. In civilian life he was a lawyer, specializing in real estate law. William Jy and his wife Lucie Oelrichs Jay were fixtures in the upper class, Gilded Age set known as "the Four Hundred." Their only surviving child Eleanor Jay Iselin (1882-1953) was called "Moppy" on account of her unruly hair. She married Arthur Iselin in 1904, and she inherited Bedford House when her father died in 1915. After her death in 1953 Eleanor Jay Iselin the Jay family Bedford Estate became an historical museum memorializing John Jay and his family. The author of this letter, Peter Augustus Jay (1877 1933) was an American diplomat born in 1877 at Newport, Rhode Island, into the esteemed Jay family that traces its direct lineage to John Jay, Founding Father and first United States Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1902, he began his professional diplomatic career at the American embassy in Paris followed by service in Constantinople. Jay became Chargé d'Affaires in Tokyo in 1908, where he served until the end of 1909 when President William Howard Taft appointed him Consul General to Egypt in Cairo (1910 - 1913). In 1920, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Jay as U.S. Minister to El Salvador; soon after President Warren G. Harding, made him U.S. Minister to Romania (1921-1925), where he assisted in negotiating that country's repayment terms of $42 million for wartime and post World War I development loans. In 1925, President Calvin Coolidge appointed him U.S. Ambassador to Argentina. This was his last foreign service job, as he resigned his post and returned to Washington, D.C in December 1926, following the death of his young daughter Emily.

Seller Inventory # 45188

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Holograph letter from Peter Augustus Jay to his father Augustus Jay in original envelope [Regarding earliest "Jay property" in NY]
• Publisher: Rome
• Publication Date: 1915
• Binding: Ephemera
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Signed and Association Copies
  • Americana and American History
  • Ephemera