Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3047 C
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE June 19 1840
AUTHOR John A. King Sr.
RECIPIENT Richard S. Moloney
MEDIUM Paper, ink
PEOPLE Phil Rhinelander, Jr., Mary Rhinelander, Ann Hoffman Nicholas,
Napoleon, Mrs. Rhinelander (Sr.), Emma Nicholas Maloney, infant son of Emma & Richard Maloney, Mrs. Jones
PLACES Illinois, “the South”, Cuba, New York, St. Helena, Europe (“the
other side”), the “West”, France
EVENTS death of Alice Ann Hoffman Nicholas, Kings return from Cuba &
South, Emma has a son, fashions of “Log Cabins and Cider”,
dividends, campaign of Harrison, (miscarriage Mary?), arrival of The Great Western, Cotton price low, European commerce, removal of Napoleon’s ashes from St. Helena
Addressed to:
Dr. R. S. Molony
Care of Revd S. S. Whitman
Belvidere
Illinois
*Original spelling retained throughout work, content appears exactly as written.
[PAGE 1]
Hell Gate 19th June 1840/
My dear Sir/
Upon our return from the south / a short time since I found awaiting for me several / letters from you, the last of which contained to us / very melancholy news and I can assure you created / the strongest sympathy for Emma who has during / the past year lost two so hear to her, but yesterday / brought joy amidst grief in the happy intelligence / that she had presented you with a fine son with - / the prospect of a safe recovery _ need I tell you / how sincerely Mary sends her congratulations to her / by me, intending very soon to do so with her own / pen, upon this joyous event, which I trust and think / will in a measure open new channels for the feelings / where the long cherished ones are now no longer permitted / to flow, and give a new impulse never before experienced / You now enjoy a happiness which affliction’s shock denied / to us, would that it had not been so, for as in Emma’s case /
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Mary’s mind would have had an absorbing interest and the feeling / that another was dependant upon her energy for life _
Our jaunt to Cuba, which, now that it is part, we are gl[inserted: a]d / was undertaken, has been of service to Mary, having been filled with / beautiful novelties although with many discomforts, which perhaps / were beneficial, since it called upon her for some exertion _ / Her spirits also I think are improved, since she now consents / sometimes to go to see her Relations which before she would not. / It was a hard struggle but religion finally enable her to sub - / mit to the will of God, whose ways are not for us to know, that / Emma may find the same consolation both from that and the sincere sympathy of her friends I earnestly hope _
Mary thanks my dear Sir for your repeated Kind / invitations for a trip to the West this summer, but I fear that / I should not be able to persuade Mary to leave home again this / year even for a week. I cannot tell you the delight it would give / her to see + talk with Emma, but for the present I fear it cannot / be _ she is never fond of travelling and already a three months experience / of it will not be a favorable argument in your behalf, but still / she must give her own answer to your wife when she writes _ for my / own part the West with its as yet unknown resources has often been the / theme of [crossed out] my thoughts and often have I wished to see some / part of it _ perhaps before many years we shall visit it, but for this / season you must not exact our coming _
Please acknowledge for me to Emma the very kind and to / me relieving letter which she wrote in March _ Your wishes shall /
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Be at once attended to, unless perhaps a Dividend which will be de - / clared in the early part of July may be an object for waiting a few weeks _
Every thing now going on in the City has some reference to / Log Cabins and Cider, so that now we are seeking our fashions / from your glorious West, something of an anomaly instead of / from the old countries. The prospect here for Harrison is beyond / a doubt as indeed it seems to be in every direction _ The Great West - / ern has just arrived after 14 days of passage _ bringing no news at / all favorable to us, since Commerce was not all on the other side / active and Cotton rather lower _ France was very busy making / arrangements for the removal of Napoleon’s ashes from St. Helen[page torn] / a movement on the King’s part most politic _
Mary + Mrs. Rhinelander until with me in a gre [page torn] / deal of love to Emma and her boy, [inserted: of] whose appearance they / were delighted to hear. Hoping that we shall soon hear from you / that your family are doing well
I Remain Dear Sir
Very sincerely Yrs
John A. King Sr.
If Mrs. Jones is with you, have /
The goodness to say to her that /
I paid the note for $100 _ one of 1st May /
When presented _ Mary sends her best /
Love to her and hopes one of these days again to see her _
R. S. Molony Esqr
[END OF PAGE 3]
[ADDRESS]
Dr. R. S. Molony
Care of Revd S. S. Whitman
Belvidere
Illinois
[END OF LETTER]Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
