Entry/Object ID
2026.040.015Scope and Content
Letter addressed to Mrs. Roswell (Catherine) Brown, Mystic Bridge, Conn., from her brother-in-law Shubael R. Brown in Key West, Florida, 1849. There were strong ties between Mystic/Noank and Key West at this time as many local men spent their winters in Key West engaged in fishing and salvaging shipwrecks.
"Key West, January the 22, 1849
Dear sister Catherine, I received your letter today and was glad to hear that you was well and the rest of the folks. I wish I could write you that I was the same. I have a bad cough. I think it will get better if I stop on this coast a few years but that is too much. The Doctor tells me not to go north and I may get over it. I shall come home in June if I am alive and nothing happen. I have a good appetite but I am afraid my lungs affected. Show no one this letter because it is written in a hurry. Don't tell her what the sickness is for I live in hopes. Give my love to, as I did not get a letter from, I was glad to get the papers because I knew where they come from. Tell Roswell I wrote him a letter and wish him to answer it when he gets time. I wrote to him a month ago and for that reason I shall not write to him again. Tell little Roswell I want to see him. I was very sorry to hear of that sudden death that you wrote of for that Dear Soul sake for I know that she must of felt bad. It is very healthy here. The cholera is very bad in New Orleans and it is spreading all through the bay. The Mystic folks is all well here. The sloop arrived today all well, very rough passage. Tell Roswell that there is 40 sail of wreckers between cape Florida and Tortugas and now the MYSTIC has come she makes 41 and I think wrecking will be slim. I am in the fastest and largest sloop on the reef. Uncle Shubael is in the sloop DOLPHIN, Captain. He has got a fine boy and is going to send him north to school him in the spring so I must knock off writing for fear the (mate?) will close the steamer leave at 6 o'clock and I hope that you will write me by the next mail and persuade someone else to for I give more for one word from her than 3 hundred volumes from anyone else. Don't fail to give my love. If I could be in that parlor tonight I would give a fortune. Give my best respects to uncle Daniel. Folks this letter is written in a hurry so you must burn it the same. For god sake don't let Roswell see it. So I must close by saying goodbye for the present and I go ashore and put this letter in the office for the steamer is in sight.
Your loving Brother, S.R. Brown
Tell Lydia I have not time to write her today, but when I come down again I will write."Collection
Carol Kimball CollectionAcquisition
Accession
2026.040Source or Donor
Carol KimballAcquisition Method
TransferLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Primary Object Term
CorrespondenceNomenclature Sub-Class
Other DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsSearch Terms
DOLPHIN, Key West, Fishing, MysticArchive Details
Date(s) of Creation
1849Archive Notes
Date(s): 1849Provenance
Notes
Admin or Biographical History: Catherine W. Chesebro Brown (1824-1896) was the daughter of Zerviah and Daniel Chesebrough (a farmer and lumberman in Groton). She married Roswell Brown III (1821-1895), the son of Roswell and Betsey Brown, in Groton on March 17, 1844. Roswell III spent two winters fishing in the south before establishing a sucessful livery business in Mystic.
Shubael R. Brown (1826-1849) was born in Stonington, the son of Roswell and Betsey Brown and younger brother of Roswell III. He died at the age of 23, potentially from the illness he describes in this letter.
The letter mentions "little Roswell" referring to Catherine's son, Roswell C. Brown (1845-1858) who was 3 years old at the time the letter was written. Uncle Shubael is also mentioned. This is a reference to Betsey Brown's brother, Shubael Brown (1799-1862), who was engaged in fishing and salvaging work in southern waters. He died in Key West, Florida on April 28, 1862. Lydia, mentioned in the postscript, is probably Shubael R. Brown's sister, Lydia Brown Haley (1817-1903).Name/Title
Brown Family Correspondence, 1849