Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3041 E
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE April 12, 18?? [assumed 1835]
AUTHOR Frances Wilkes Colden (“Fanny”)
RECIPIENT Emma Nicholas Maloney
MEDIUM Paper, ink
PEOPLE Seth Spencer Whitman, David Colden, Mary Provoost Colden
(“Aunt Colden”), Matilda Nicholas Whitman, “Mr. Rapelie” (George Rapelje OR Rapelye), Ann Hoffman Nicholas, Mary Rhinelander King, Phil Rhinelander Jr., Charles Fenno Hoffman, “Mrs. Dr. Ellet” (Elizabeth Fries Lummis Ellet)
PLACES Wilkes home, Aunt Colden’s new home, boarding house,
EVENTS Aunt Colden moving out of boarding house where she has been
staying (post death of Cadwallader Colden), Charles Fenno
Hoffman’s recent book is well received, Ann writing?, Whitman/Nicholas family “lost” home in Hamilton before able to move to new one so visiting NYC,
Hudson Square _ April 12th
Many thanks, my dear Emma, for you / kind letter. I do indeed feel must interested in all that / concerns you + am in no danger of being wearied when you / give me an account of it + I truly regret your last news / were so unfavorable for the losing one home before you se - / cure another must, I think, cause great anxiety in your / little circle, however necessary such a change may be though / I hope sincerely, for all your sakes, Mr. Whitman may not / be disappointed in soon finding a situation to suit him / in every respect. It will be a great pleasure to Matilda to / see her friends after so long an absence and I am sure they / will be equally glad to welcome her _ I hope [crossed out] David + I have / various travelling plans in agitation but if I should not be at / home when you arrive I shall [crossed out] have not doubt I shall return in / time to see you before you heave here _ we do not propose making / any long [?attempt?] from home. If we had taken possession of our / house. (Mr. [Rapelie’s?] gift) I should beg you, my dear Emma, to make /
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Your visit to me, but we are not rich enough to go to / housekeeping yet, + we remain with Mama for another / year at least. Your Aunt Colden has taken a small house / near us, + looks forward with great pleasure to leaving / her boarding house of which she is heartily tired. She was / so active [crossed out, inserted above] ^ a housekeeper that she misses the occupation / and is very happy that she will again have something / to do _ Her establishment will be very small, but large enough / for comfort _ her income will not admit of her living in / the profuse way she has been accustomed to but, but compared / to the place she has boarded at, her present one will / be really delightful. Mary Rhinelander + Phil. drank tea / with her this winter, and I was very much struck with / Mary’s improvement in looks + manner _ Phil. I found / was a correspondent of yours _ He seems intelligent + amiable / but so diffident, it is not easy to become acquainted with / him _ I hope when you are in town, they will come with / you to see me _ at present they either want courage to / visit or inclination, for they have not been here at all the / winter. You must [ ^ have] seen from the papers + heard on all sides / how much Charles’s book is admired _ I hope it will have / given him money as well as fame; and I think it must /
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For every body seems to have bought it + the expenses cannot / be very great. Is not your mother writing on translating / something? It was thought here that a tragedy, just performed / + much admired, was by her, but the authoress is now an - / nounced _ she is a Mrs. Dr. Ellet _ or some such name _ she / has written a good deal for magazines _ Remember me / Kindly to your [^ mother] + Matilda + believe me, my dear Emma,
Sincerely your friend F. ColdenTranscriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
