Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3024 F
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE September 28 1837
AUTHOR Julia H
RECIPIENT Anne, Mrs. Nicholas, Rev. L.L. Whitman (envelope)
MEDIUM Paper, ink
DESCRIPTION Letter from Julia to Anne written from Fishkill.
PEOPLE Emma, Mr. Storrs, Eliza Storrs, Mrs. Storrs, Henry Storrs
(clergyman) & wife Charles, George, William, Miss Gratz, Sara Moses, Mrs Biddle, Mrs Graig, Becky, Moses, John Nathan, Emma, Caty, Ogden, Mary, Phil, Matilda
PLACES Fishkill, Cold Spring, Prairie, Chicago (Illinois), Philadelphia,
Harvard College, Rockford, Elizabethtown
EVENTS Mr Storis’ death
KEY WORDS Death, Congress
*Original spelling retained throughout work; content appears exactly as written.
[PAGE 1]
Fishkill September 28th 1837
It is really a long time since I have / written to you my dear Sister and a great shame it is but you / know what a lazy thing I am. I received Emma’s letter yesterday telling / me she had just received the intelligence of Mr. Storrs’ death, by this time / you must have heard of Eliza’s too and poor Em must be in great afflic- / tion. I have not been able to hear any of the particulars except that she/ was thought much better, but the shock of her father’s death was too great / for her and she such rapidly, poor Mrs. Storrs has returned to a desolate / home I should think her sorrows would almost overwhelm her, Henry / & his wife I have heard are going to spend the winter with her, he is to get some one to supply his place at Cold Spring that he may be with / his mother and arrange his father’s affairs, he and his wife are very much / liked he makes himself exceedingly useful among the poor and does a great deal of good as a country clergyman. I am glad that you are to be more comfortable this winter I hope you may succeed in shutting / out the cold winds entirely, I dreamed I was with you last night and / your house seemed to me as snug as possible and Squaw prairie the / most beautiful place in the world all covered with the brightest flowers / I could scarcely persuade myself when I awoke that I was actually at / Fishkill instead of Illinois for your voices were still ringing in my ears. /
[END OF PAGE 1]
[PAGE 2]
Charles passed Sunday here as his return from a journey with [Sara]/ among the mountains in Essex County which have lately excited a / great deal of affection, they were quite delighted with their [journey] the / [unrecovered words] in grandeur any thing they had seen before they/ ascend above vegetation and saw as their hunter said all creation/ you will have the whole account of it in the Spring for Charles intends/ to make a book about it, indeed his tour was one of business quite/ as much as pleasure for he says it is time “to get out and anchor to/ windward” and with legends and descriptions for hopes to make an/ entertaining book, he is very well and I think his hard work agrees/ with he says he has hardly any time unemployed, he comes up to see/ me on Saturday night and goes down at six o’clock Monday morning/ so that I see but little of him my days at Sunday school and church/ together keep me employed nearly the whole day he is here. George is/ still at Elizabethtown and expects to remain until the Spring he has/ been very fortunate not to be [unrecovered] out of employ-, I have not seen him/ since May but he is quite well and I ought to be satisfied, I shall see/ him in Philadelphia often and towards the end of winter I hope to / go and stay with him for awhile at any note these hard times will/ present my living with either of the boys as soon as I hoped to do,/ I had intended to have paid my visit to Philadelphia in the Fall/ and to have boarded with George in Pennsylvania the winter, but/ I have decided when remaining here until middle of November,/ William is to be married on the 14th and wishes me very much to / be at his wedding and it will be [unrecovered] for Mary to have me/ stay with her mother while she is in town in October, she wished me/
[END OF PAGE 2]
[PAGE 3]
to pass the winter here, but I had promised Miss Gratz that if I were/ not with my brothers I would come to her, and William is to bring/ his wife here too so that she will not be lonely William has given/ up [brewing] and is to be a farmer. Miss Gratz and Sara Moses spent the/ first week in August here and very pleasant it was she was well and/ we rode and walked constantly she talked about you and said she/ would be very glad to hear from you, your Philadelphia friends/ often ask her for news of you, Mrs Biddle has lost her brother John/ [Haig] he died in Italy after a few days illness and his child which/ he left in Philadelphia died just before Mrs Craig reached home/ Miss Grantz writes that becky Moses is engaged to john Nathan of/ New York he has been in love with her a long time and she always/ used to ridicule him but a month in his society in New York/ changed her mind and she is very much in love, I am glad she is/ going to be married for she never could have been content as an old/ maid, and he is amiable and gentlemanlike. Charles will remain at/ Cousin Emma’s all winter she is very kind and attentive to him and/ looks after his clothes which you know is very necessary for him. Did/ I ever tell you of Cousin Emma’s return from Santa Cruz she came/ back in December, Sarah died on 20th of November after much suffe/ ring, perfectly happy, sorry only that she had been sent away from home/ Caty begs to be particularly remembered to all of you she always/ asks after you with affection and behaves herself so discreetly that/ I wish you could see her, she is perfectly well so that she walks/ here. Constantly, I shall have board for her in the neighborhood/ Miss Gratz. I was at Goshen for two days but Ogden unfortunately/ was in town he has been much praised for his speech/
[END OF PAGE 3]
[PAGE 4]
days I hope we will both of us be rich enough to pay each/ other visits, I find myself constantly forgetting that I have no home/ any longer it is indeed hard to realize I am glad you have found/ agreeable at Rockford when you keep a house 12 [miles] will be nothing/ I do long to see you all, tell Em I will write to her soon Mary/ & Phil. I hope hes able to tell her more of the [Storis] than I can, when/ I go to town I shall go and see Mrs Storis. Love to all I hope Matilda sings/ yet./
Ever yours attached sister Julia H/
[Address; written on letter]
Rev. L.L. Whitman/
Postmaster/
Belvedere/
Illinois/
Via Chicago/
[Postmark]
Fishkill [unrecovered], Sep 29/
[Stamp]
FREE
in [congress] he has determined to send little Ogden to Harvard college-/ where is to board with our episcopal clergyman he thinks it is/ better than leaving him in New York without any one to super/ intent him. I do sincerely hope your affairs will prosper I fear/ it will be a long time before I see your western home. your/ village will have almost time to grow into a city one of these/
[END OF LETTER]Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
