Charles Thomson, Secretary of Congress

The first person to whom Jefferson showed the original version of Notes on the State of Virginia after François Barbé-Marbois, the secretary to the French legation, for whom they were written, was Charles Thomson. Thomson was an intriguing figure for Jefferson to confide in. The tall Scotch-Irishman, some fourteen years older than Jefferson, had served as secretary for the Delaware Indians, who adopted him into the tribe and gave him the name “Man of Truth.” As secretary of Congress, his name became a byword for veracity: “When a man reported anything in the way of news, which seemed to be doubted, he sought to confirm it by saying, ‘It’s as true as if Charles Thomson’s name was to it.’” (Life of Ashbel Green, V.D.M., 48.)