Wikipedia, and a number of other places on the internet, claim that Jefferson wrote his diaries and/or letters in pig latin, but I can’t find anything with more detail. Does anyone have a copy of something written by TJ in pig latin?
I assume by Wikipedia, you mean the article on Pig Latin, as the Jefferson article does not say that. Jefferson is said in Hailman’s Thomas Jefferson on Wine to have written letters to friends in Pig Latin, while young; it is possible that this refers not to modern Pig Latin, but Dog Latin, which was called Pig Latin at the time. Such a mutilated Latin strikes me as exactly the sort of thing that the young Jefferson would have found amusing. Modern Pig Latin, on the other hand, is only funny when spoken; writing letters in it seems to me a tedious and unrewarding exercise.
I have no idea where one might find copies of such letters; Jefferson’s papers are collected at the Library of Congress, but only selected items are available for view online.
Link to the staff report on Pig Latin.