Bates, Daniel, 1779-1799. Letters from Daniel Bates to William Jenks, May 1795-September 1798. HUD 795.6, Harvard University Archives.

Daniel Bates wrote these five letters to his friend and classmate, William Jenks, between May 1795 and September 1798. In a letter written May 12, 1795, Bates informs Jenks, who was then employed as an usher at Mr. Webb's school, of his studies of Euclid, the meeting of several undergraduate societies, and various sightings of birds, gardens and trees. In a letter written in November 1795 from Princeton, where he was apparently on vacation with the family of classmate Leonard Jarvis, he describes playing the game "break the Pope's neck" and tells Jenks what he was reading (Nicholson, Paley?, and Thompson) and what his friend's father was reading (Mirabeau and Neckar).|In a letter written on December 9, 1795, Bates recounts the "bedlam" then taking place at Harvard, including an account of the theft of candlesticks, a cushion and a Bible. In a letter written in March 1797, Bates encouraged Jenks to stay in Waltham, with a Mr. Dix, as long as necessary to fully recover from an illness from which he was apparently suffering. He also updated Jenks on what he was reading: James Ferguson's writing on eclipses and an unnamed work by Jean Jacques Burlamaqui. In the last letter, written September 22, 1798, Bates recounts a visit with a Dr. Eustice concerning a potential trip to Virginia. He mentions that William Ellery Channing was also a candidate for the unexplained journey; presumably Bates is referring to a position in Richmond, Virginia, tutoring the children of David Randolph. Channing, rather than Bates, ultimately accepted this position.

Biographical Notes

Daniel Bates was born in Boston on December 4, 1779. He received an A.B. from Harvard College in 1797 and died two years later, in 1799.|William Jenks was born in Newton, Massachusetts on November 25, 1778. He received an A.B. from Harvard College in 1797, an A.M. in 1800 and an S.T.D. in 1842. He also received two degrees from Bowdoin College: an S.T.D. in 1825 and an L.L.D. in 1862. Jenks served as pastor of churches in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Bath, Maine before joining the faculty of Bowdoin College as professor of Oriental and English literature. He later returned to Boston, where he founded a mission for seamen and took an active part in several of the city's humanitarian reform organizations. He served as a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College from 1832 to 1845. He was also a founder of the American Antiquarian Society and the American Oriental Society. William Jenks died in Boston on November 13, 1866.