Transcription
PEOPLE Peyton, “pretty Miss Ogden”, William Renwick, Mr.Hewing (President of the Mechanic’s bank), ministers, Cornelia Livingston, Mr. McCrakan, Mary [Stevens?], Treat Irving, Miss Schermerhorn, Jenny Renick, Mary Rhinelander, Mrs. Rhinelander, Mr. Kendrick, Spencer, Mr Davis, Tom Gold, Mr Dexter, Benjamin Raymond, Henry Lemuel Storrs and wife Elisabeth, Murray Hoffman, [“Mr. Parmly?”], Helen Cartenius, Mary Ella, Mrs Masters & Eliza, Susan Van Rensselaers, Mr Weston, Ogden Whitman, Colden Whitman, Mr Martin, Ann Nicholas, Matilda Nicholas, Seth Spencer Whitman
PLACES Burmah [sic], England, Europe, Hell Gate, Broadway, Whitesboro, Benjamin Raymond’s house, Mr Murrary Hoffman’s house, Oyster Ponds, Hamilton, Belvidere
EVENTS Eliza’s “weak eyes”, Panic of 1837, marriage of Cornelia Livingston to Mr. McCrakan, “Mary” engagement, Treat Irving engaged to Miss Schermerhorn, Mr. Kendrick, remodeling of old Rhinelander house on Broadway, Seth Spencer Whitman Post Master
54th
Addressed to Miss Emma Nicholas
Belvidere
New York Mary 8th, 1837
I have been thinking lately my dearest friend / that you might almost as well be in Burmah as in Belvidere as it / respects hearing from you but this morning came your welcome letter. / You will think I might have written before & a thousand times have I / intended doing so and have been prevented, my eyes have been weak / of late in consequence of drawing too much I think my lessons close / this week and then I hope my eyes will be strong again. This ink / is so pale I can hardly use it. I have Pape my ink stand & he filled / it with water and ruined the ink. If you can puzzle it out I shall / be glad. Oh Emma what should we do if we could only meet I wish / the winds would blow you here you would find my window / open, and my arms ready to receive you. I have ten thousand things to / write and I don’t know where to begin. The sole topic of conversation / here is the troubles in the commercial world, of the condition of the / city, its gloom, its [sic] almost desolation. I can give you no idea. The / richest merchants are failing & even the banks are trembling, one / closed this morning. You remember the pretty Miss Ogden, her father / has failed and 400 others. The house Peyton is in & that Willie Renwick / was have failed. THere have been 20 or 30 failures in one day, you can / not conceive how doleful of everyone is. Mr Hewing the President of the / the Mechanics Bank died of apoplexy last week, brought on by / mental excitement. He had been doing something very /
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dishonorable and was obliged to resign. Even on Sunday we / hear of the distress the ministers are all preaching about it & I / have sometimes thought how delightful it would be to spend / some time in your habitation where something else but / money could be heard. England is also suffering. But enough / of this it is the opinion of many that every merchant will [?tank] / and all the banks too. You can imagine what a condition / the city is in.
Now about the engagements which are interesting / to us. Cornelia is married, the object of her wishes is in / her possession, a husband, a three story house, a horse & / carriage and money enough. I am almost certain she has / married for an establishment, poor Cornelia, from my / heart I pity her, and fear she will never realize the / happiness she anticipated with all her faults I really / feel attached to her. I am afraid she was dazzled with / Mr McCrakan’s riches he is certainly an unloveable / looking character and from the sentiment he has expressed / is any thing but what I should like a husband to be. I have / expressed myself perhaps too freely & said more than I ought / to say respecting Cornelia but it is what I cannot help feeling / & to you I say what I would not to another. She was / married in the evening & went up to his house that same / evening, only think how forlorn she must have felt, oh it / is shocking and she ought not to have gone quite so soon. / I called on her when she saw company and have not seen / her since as I was not well when she returned my visit. I shall / never see much of her again probably.
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As for Mary, you could not have been much surprised as [sic?] that / match. Mary is very inexperienced for her years & I think / considering all things it is a good match he is a little too old / that is the only objection. Mary is a sweet girl I love her very / much and feel the greatest interest in her. She will not be / married this summer. I wish she could remain as she is 3 or / 4 years longer. As for me Emma you & I will keep each other / company, it is quite an impossible thing for me to be married / so you need never fear for me. Do you know that Treat is / engaged to a Miss Schermerhorn, he has met with in Europe & / this is all I know about it. Our little circle is sadly broken up / never to meet as we have met, it is melancholy to think it is so. / Jenny Renwick and Mary Rhinelander are not yet engaged. Mrs. / Rhinelander has gone to Hell Gate again. I never seen [sic] her [page folded] / speak to her since we left Hell Gate. Emma do you kno[ [page torn] / that I suspect there was some truth in what was told me [page torn] / feel badly every time I think of it. It was abominable of me. / I can [^& do] forgive of all and have sent [-t-h-e- crossed out] it to oblivion but in / spite of all my efforts I cannot help thinking about it sometimes / & never but with pain. Oh for a talk with you. Don’t read this to / any one I beg you. I could not have been more surprised than to hear / of Mr Kendrick’s engagement & I don’t know what to think of it. / He is to be pitied and if he can ever look upon the past & be / happy his heart is one I should never wish to be mine. / Mr Davis was here last Saturday evening, he told me Mr K / was much better if you wish to know what [ ^ all] he said I will / write it to you, or “lay it on the shelf” until we meet.
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Tom Gold has lost all his property & gone home to Whitesboro! I I / do not know what he will do. Mr Dexter it is feared will lose / his also. Mrs D is on wretched health. How pleasant it will be / for you to go to Benjamin Raymond’s, he is a kind young man. /
Since I wrote I have been to Mr [?Parmly]. He / enquired after you & your mother & said you were a charming / girl. He is “sweet Mr Parmly” as you use to call him. I should / really like to go again. When I saw down in the chair, I ‘ thought, this is where Emma sat, and it was delightful to / think you had been there. The battery is lovely now I
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Always think of you when I go there. Would you not like to / shop for ice cream. We used to have nice times did we not? / I feel convinced we shall again be together, I am sure / we shall, but when or where I cannot even imagine. I / have not seen either Phil or Mary lately. Willie Renwick /
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Was here one evening last week & he was at Hell Gate the / evening before & they were all well. Mrs. Rhinelander’s house in Broadway / has been all changed. The first story has been torn away & there is a / beautiful fancy shop there now. They rented the house for 5000 a year / I met Spencer in the street last week and stopped & had [^ quite] a chat with him, he / looked very well and is at Mr. Murray Hoffman’s. I saw Julia several / weeks since, she is now at Fishkill. I presume as she told me then she / was going.
About four weeks since Henry & Elisabeth came down to make a / visit and Henry was taken with the varioloid, he was not very ill & is / now almost well and will return soon. Elisabeth is very well, the / more I know her the more I love her she is a lovely girl. Helen / Cartenius has returned to Whitesboro and I am going up very soon to stay 4 or 5 weeks. We shall probably go to Oyster Ponds again this summer. / I long for the time to come where I can be in the country once more. / How I should enjoy exploring the vicinity & hope one day to live in it / We have had this far a delightful spring although rather cold. /
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Do you wish to know the fashions? You must make your sleeves / tight turned with ruffles or puffs, large sleeves are all done with. /
Where & how is Mary Ella? Do you write to her? / Mrs Masters & Eliza went to Hamilton several weeks ago. Susan / Van Rensselaers beloved Mr Weston has not arrived yet from England. / Mr Martin is to be married the first of June. I am glad Ogden & Colden / are improving so much. I should like to see them very much. Give Mama’s / & my love to your Mother & Matilda and mine to Mr Whitman, what a good thing it is that he is Post Master. Dearest Emma write to me / very soon your letters are ever most delightful to me & the / assurances of your affection very sweet, trust me you are & ever wll / be very dear to me, wherever you are I often think of you & often long to / be with you. Papa would send his love if he knew I was writing. Now / good by my dearest Emma
Best of blessings, best of thee
Best of joys caress thee
Ever yours sincerely
Eliza Storrs
This is a miserable scrawl & I am ashamed of it _Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
