Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3030 I 1-4
OBJECT NAME letter
DATE March 28, 1838
AUTHOR Anicartha Miller
RECEPIENT Mrs. Anne Hoffman Nicholas
MEDIUM pen, ink
DESCRIPTION
Letter from Anicartha Miller to Mrs Anne Nicholas. Updates regarding the progress of purchasing the manumission of Elizabeth Spencer’s children in Curacao. During the summer of 1837, Anicartha learned that one daughter Rebecca was sold to a new owner. Mr Foulke was contacted to help connect them to the new owner. Mrs Priam informed Anicartha that Mrs Robertson would be traveling to New York with daughters Rebecca and Olive, but arrived in August with only her own son and Elisabeth’s third daughter Chlorine. Rebecca and Olive were both pregnant and could not travel. This would be Olive’s second child, which Elisabeth had concealed from Anicartha. The children’s freedom was purchased with the daughters. Olive (and unborn child) bought from Mrs. Robertson for $186. Anicartha required to pay for and furnish transportation. Spencer paid $180 to Mrs. Robertson for Elisabeth. Descriptions of Mrs. Robertson’s “agreable” nature and complexity of situation. In winter, news received that Rebecca gave birth. In February, Mr. Foulke reported the Olive was purchased for $309.96. Anicartha had to raise additional money to cover costs, received from individuals and $50 from Estate of Lindley Murray. Transportation must still be paid, Mr Foulke and his niece have promised to help arrange that. Law of Curacao requires that they wait one year from purchase to become free. Description of Chlorine’s appearance and her accomplishments. She spoke only “pablimento” [sic Papiamento, language of Curacao] but now speaks and reads English fluently. Brother Franklin died alone in Mississippi. Maragaret had a difficult confinement and delivered twins prematurely, a stillborn girl and a living boy given the name Franklin. Sister Elisa will marry Dr. Macdonald. Father has bought house on Clinton Place where they will all move in May. Mr Macdonald [John, brother of Dr Macdonald and apparently engaged to Anicartha] is living with his brother on Houston St. He walks daily and attend church with Anicartha every Sunday. His health and spirits seem to be improving and Anicartha prays for him. News of the church gaining members, relative of Mr Charles Roberts included. Reverend Williams health was poor but is now better. Mr Bowen and Mr Roberts have left the church because of financial issues and “spiritual embarrassments”. Wife of Dr Vanderpool has joined the church. Mr Green has a four week old son. Mr. Orchard a Tract Missionary Baptist minister has joined the church and does some preaching; very different from Mr Williams. News of the Colored Orphan Asylum will have the wait for another letter.
*Original spelling retained throughout the work, content appears exactly as written.
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New York, March 28th, 1838
My dear Mrs Nicholas,
I have deferred writing to you month after month in the hope / that Elisabeth Spencer’s affairs would be drawn to a conclusion, and although two or three / weeks have now elapsed since the final settlement has been made, I have been too much en- / gaged to carry my intentions in regard to you into effect. As I know you will desire to hear / every thing connected with the matter, I must go back as far as last summer. I had as I be- / lieve you know written to Curaçao . As Mrs Robertson had sold Rebecca, I was under the necessi- / ty of employing the agency of Mr Foulk to effect her purchase from her new master. During / the summer, I learned from Miss Periam that Mrs Robertson was expected in New York, on her way to England, and that she would probably bring Olive and Rebecca both with her. In Au- / gust, she and her son arrived in New York bringing Chlorine, but without Elisabeth’s other children. Elisabeth’s distress on learning the cause was beyond measure. They were both of them likely to be- / come mothers. I now learned for the first time that Olive had a child before, which Elisabeth / from some mistaken motives had concealed from me. The affair was now evidently much more / complicated and difficult, than I had anticipated at the commencement, but it was more important / from the greater number of human beings involved in it, and having commenced the affair, I felt / strengthened to prosecute it. I accordingly bought Olive of Mrs Robertson for $186, and an agree-/ment was signed by her promising for the sum to cause her freedom and that of her offspring to / be procured in Curaçao after which it would be incumbent on me to effect their transportation to / New York. The business was all transacted in a very agreable manner. Mrs R is a very ladylike / and agreable woman, and her son a very well educated, gentlemanly young man. They both of / them treated me with very great politeness, although their indifference to the feelings of their slaves / and their apparent forgetfulness that they were moral and accountable beings, could not but strike / me very unpleasantly. Of Olive, Mrs R gave a very high character, but did not speak so well / of Rebecca. She wished to have taken Olive to England with her, and said she was much disap- / pointed when she found she could not do so. She told me that in regard to chastity, she could / not place any dependence on any of her slaves and seemed to think that to give them better prin- / ciples was impossible. While she was here, Spencer paid to her $180 for the freedom of Elisa.- / beth. During the winter Elisabeth received news of the birth of Rebecca’s child, but she has [crossed out] /
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[inserted: not yet] received the same intelligence in relation to Olive. Mr Foulke received no definite answer from his / correspondent in relation to the purchase of Rebecca, until about a month ago, when he an- / nounced to him that she had been bought and the expenses of manumission defrayed for $309.96 / This was one hundred dollars more than had been subscribed, and I was immediately obliged / to go to work, and collect more money. This at the present period was no easy matter, and I felt / many misgivings about it. I applied to the Trustees of the Estate of Lindley Murray, who have a / residuary fund at their disposal for charitable purposes, and received fifty dollars. The remainder / (except ten dollars) has been subscribed by individuals, and the money paid over to Mr Foulke. They are now to be brought here, with their children, and some expenses are still to be incurred. But I / feel now willing to make any exertions to ensure their arrival. The [inserted: oppressive] laws of the island will / not permit them to come away under a year from the time of their liberation, and they were not / manumitted until last October, so that unless the laws can be evaded, they cannot be expected for some time. Mr Foulke has a niece going to Curacao shortly and he promises that she / shall do all that is possible to get them away. You will very readily imagine that I have had / a great deal of perplexity and trouble, but the thought of rescuing five human beings from sl- / very and degradation is more than sufficient to compensate for all. I feel however that nothing is accomplished, until they are removed from the atmosphere of slavery, and placed in a situa- / tion, where I can myself be instrumental in elevating their moral and intellectual character.
I have as yet said nothing about Chlorine, and to pass her by without / notice would be an unpardonable omission. If you could see her, I am sure you would agree / with me in thinking her the most engaging coloured child you ever saw. She is a bright [inserted: light] mu- / latto, with bright black eyes and a countenance of great animation and intelligence. She is / well-formed, and active, and even graceful in her movement. But what is most interesting is, that she is a child of uncommonly quick parts. Since last September, she has come daily to / our house, and has received instruction from my sister Elisa. When she arrived, she could / speak only the pablimento. She has now forgotten it, and speaks English fluently, although / with a very pretty accent, but what is more remarkable she reads English with facility. / She has not had great pains taken with her, and I think her progress very remarkable. / If the remainder of the family are at all like her, they will richly reward any labour / that is bestowed upon them.
But after having occupied so large a portion of my letter with / Elisabeth’s affairs, you will be glad to hear something of our own. And it seems to me / that so many events have been crowded into the compass of one year, that I scarcely /
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know where to begin. When I last wrote to you, our family circle was unbroken, and our / hearts were filled with joyous expectations. How soon, and how mournfully the scene was / changed you know very well. You know too, for you have been called to drink of the same / cup, how bitter it is to be separated from those we love in their dying moments. Franklin was / my favourite brother, the pride and hope of our family, and no one but those who cherished / them, can tell how many fond expectation were laid in the dust with him. The thought / that he should have died among strangers, and without the consciousness of his situation, / is a thought I am not even now able to dwell upon. Yet, if I have understood my own feel- / ings, I have not murmured at the decree, or doubted that the event in all its circumstances / was best for him that was taken or [inserted: and] those who were left.
You will I am sure be interested in hearing of Margaret’s con- / finement. She was very unwell all winter, and so much more uncomfortable that is common in / such circumstances, that we were extremely anxious about her. About two months ago, she was / prematurely delivered of twins. One of them, a girl was still-born; the other, a boy, was a living / and healthy child, and is now doing well. She has named him after our dear last Franklin. / Although she suffered very great prostration of strength, she had no bad symptoms, and seems / now quite well, although she has lost much of her colour and flesh.
But, I have yet another change to relate in our domestic circle. Elisa / is shortly to be married to Dr Macdonald. It is an event that I did not at all anticipate at / the time you left New York, although I need hardly say that it is very gratifying to my feelings. / The only draw-back to my pleasure in the connection is, that I do not consider him a decidedly / religious man. Yet, there are few persons with whom I could more unhesitatingly entrust Elisa’s / happiness. I have known him so long and so thoroughly, that there seems to be no room for / mistake. He has resigned his situation at the Lunatic Asylum and has come to New York to / practice physic. They will remain in our family for the present, and I could wish might be / induced to do so always. Our family has been so broken up, that I cannot bear to think of / parting with Elisa. My father has purchased a house in Clinton Place, and we shall re- / move into it on the first of May. Elisa will be married soon after.
Mr Macdonald came to the city with his brother, and his resided near us / in Houston Str. all winter. His general health is very good, although he does not regain that / use of his limbs, and is entirely incapable of application of business. He walks now almost / daily in the street (though not without assistance) and seems to have overcome much of his / repugnance to being seen. He has been at church without me almost every Sunday /
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Evening and is I think pleased and interested by Mr Williams’ preaching. I do not / however think that he evinces as much sensibility on religious subjects, as he did when he / was at Bloomingdale. He is not now so much out of the world as he was then, and seems to have a less painful sense of his misfortune. My fears and anxieties for him are / very great, but I bear him constantly on my heart in prayer, and I believe that my prayers / will ultimately be answered.
The church is increasing in numbers, and I trust in holiness and / usefulness. There has been a series of unusual meetings held there in most of the churches, as / well as in many others parts of the country. The results I believe generally have been en- /
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couraging. At out last communion day, ten were baptised, which is a larger number than / has ever been added to the church at one time. The church was crowded to overflowing, / and the ordinance was unusually striking [of] and impressive. There are a number of other per- / sons who are enquiring, although there are but three candidates to appear at our church meeting- /ing. Two of these are a sister and sister-on-law of Mr Charles Roberts. They are both of them / very interesting young women. Mrs Roberts is the wife of Elbridge Roberts, who removed here / from Boston last spring. Mr Williams is in every respect very much as usual. He is I think / [inserted: more] thinner and and pale than when you went away, but does not seem to be absolutely out of / health. Last fall he appeared to be very unwell, and the church passed a resolution to / dispense with his services for a few months, hoping that he would go abroad, but he / declined availing himself of the opportunity.
[ADDRESS]
Mrs Anne H. Nicholas/
Belvidere/
Illinois
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[CROSS LETTERING PAGE 1]
There are a number of faces in the church now, that would be strange to you, and many that you used to / see there you would miss. Mr Roberts and Mr Bowen were as you know very useful to the church / both temporally and spiritually have suffered very severely from the late commercial embarrassments. Mr Bowen / has not failed us as Mr Roberts has, but has met with heavy losses and seems quite broken down in body / and mind. Mr Roberts has removed from the city. Dr Vanderpool is married and his wife who was a Meth - / odist has united herself with our church. Mr Green has a young son about four weeks old. Miss Byron / who you know went to Ohio to visit her brother has married and settled there. Her husband is a lawyer / and his name is Atwood. She was here with him last summer. Among the additions to our church are / Mr Orchard, a Baptist minister, who is Tract Missionary in the 15th Ward. He is a very different man from / our pastor in his [sermons? services?], but I think as useful man. I have given you all the news of the church that / I can think of. I feel myself happy there and so its interests are dearer to me that any other earthly / object. Whether I have spirituality enough to bear the lofs of my [inserted present] religious advantages is a question that I of - / ten anxiously ask myself. What do you find to have been the effect of your present situation on your religi- / ous character and habits? I was pleased to find that dear Emma had met agreable society at Chicago / and above all a pious and intelligent Baptist minister. Tell her Elisa will soon answer her letter, but / she must not be surprised if she is not at present a fortunate correspondent. I intended to have written to / you about the Coloured Orphan Asylum which has for the last year occupied much of my time but I fear / I shall make my letter unintelligible and must preserve it for another. Write as soon a possible after the re - / ceipt of this and believe me, my dear friend your affectionate,
Anicartha
[END OF LETTER]Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
