Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER HF 3044 O
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE April 4, 1847
AUTHOR Emma Nicholas Maloney
RECIPIENT Anne Hoffman Maloney
MEDIUM Paper, ink
PEOPLE Richard S. Maloney, Matilda Nicholas Whitman, Phebe Wilde,
sister Hannah?,
PLACES
EVENTS
Addressed to:
To/ My dear daughter Anne Hoffman Maloney
Belvidere April 4th 1847
To my dear daughter Anne Hoffman Malony / My own health being very precarious & being deeply / impressed with the uncertainty of life & of the / vanity of all human expectations, I feel my dear / daughter as if I wished (while I have the health / and strength to do it) to write a few thoughts for you / in case that your Mother should be take from you / before you shall have some to years of maturity.
Is is my prayer, my beloved child, that I may / live for your sake, but if our heavenly Father should / will it otherwise, we must submit to the sepera - / tion [sic], trusting to meet again on that bright shore / where all tears are wiped away & parting is no more / and now, my dear child, in order that we may meet / in that bright land, you must not only love your / Mother & our father & your earthly friends, but you / must love your God supremely, & Jesus Christ the / Saviour about every earthly good _ You must read / your bible & love it & take it for your guide & only / rule. You must early seek, by repentance prayer & / faith to know the Saviour, whom to know - aright / is life eternal. Let my little daughter grow up / to tbe gentle & affable & courteous to all but be very / particular with whom she associates on intimate /
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Terms for this my child is a deceitful, corrupting & / heartless world, & if you should live you will find / (to use a hourly phrase) that “all is not gold that / shines”. Should your Mother be taken away while yet / you father is living, you must not fail in any / filial duty, but be to him a devoted _ affection - / ate & obedient child, & seek by youth & affectionate / manners & a pure heart & clear conscience to set a / bring & shining example to all around you & thus / contribute to your own & the happiness al all who / love you. I could write whole pages to you my / child but do not feel able to at present, but it is / my earnest desire that you may grow up to be a pure, a dignified & intelligent women, & a true / & humble christian/
Your doting Mother Emma Malony
Should I be taken away unexpectedly at any time / I wish all my books_ papers & clothing to be / sacredly kept for my daughter Anne, with the following exceptions viz. [Crossed out in pencil at a later date] the miniature of Aunt / Matilda _ to be given to my sister Matilda, the ring that I wear presented by [Phebe Wilde?] to be given / to my sister Hannah, the old red Morocco bible / that was my Mothers to be given to [M????] Jones / & my large bible, that wa also my Mother’s, with /
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Engravings to be given to my dear husband /
[WRITTEN LATER IN PENCIL & from him to my son Richard]
Emma Molony
Belvidere April 4th 1847
Belvidere Oct 25th 1847
I wish to make a few additions to the above / viz: that my books should be divided between my children Ann & Richard; [crossed out in pencil] also my cut glass bottle / that was my Mothers to be my dear Sister Catharine / Molony. The miniature of my Grandfather to my / son Richard the likeness of my sister & her husband / for Annie & also I [^would] like that the portrait of little / Sarah should be given to Anne _ this is all at present
Emma Molony.
P. S. I would also add to the above, the wishe that the / book given by Dr. Rush to my Mother, & also “Leaflets / of Memory” presented to me by Charles Hoffman / should be given to our dear, though absent Julia / Hoffman _ and the likeness that I have of Charles / Hoffman to Richard my son _ also the right that I wear / presented by my dear friend Eliza Storrs to be given to / my sister Matilda. Every [added on pencil ^every keepsake and family relic] belonging to me individu - / ually not specified here is to be sacredly kept for / my daughter Anne. SHould I be take away while /
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She is too young to take chard of things for herself it / would be my wish to have my sister Matilda take charge / of the until she is old enough. I want that she should / be taught to love & revere the memory of any dear departed / mother, I want she should know as nearly as she can the /
[added in pencil ^ also something for my brother J. R. Molony]
Loss she sustained when God in his infinite wisdom / took her from us. I want both my children should/ be made acquainted with their relations on the ma - / ternal side & taught to love them _ I feel particular - / ly anxious about this & hope my wishes will be sacred - / ly regarded _ I want these letters preserved & given to my children as soon as they are capable of reading / & appreciating them _
Emma Molony
P.S.
I want my dear brother Matthew Molony remembered / & a book selected from among my books that will be / suitable for a remembrance for him.
The portrait of my Mother given to / }
My daughter Anne, & a daguerreotype / } E. M.__
Taken from the likeness of my Mother for my son Richard }Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English