Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER VC 1185
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE December 9, 1842
AUTHOR Rev. Stephen Henry Battin (son-in-law)
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L7NW-NCS
https://scalar.usc.edu/works/trinity-history/rev-stephen-henry-battin-fifth-rector-of-trinity-1858-1863 (check all biographical details)
RECIPIENT Phillip G[ilbert]. Van Wyck
MEDIUM Paper, ink
PEOPLE [Gordon] Huntington, “Kitty” (Catharine, wife?), ill women with
Rheumatism, her daughter, Mary Smith Gardiner VW (“mother Van Wyck”),
PLACES Rome NY, Oneida Lake, Pine plains, Grove Hill, Oneida Depot,
Ossining (“Sing Sing”), Westchester County, Syracuse,
KEYWORDS snow, sleighing, trip to Oneida Lake, “thanks giving” holiday, rail
road, Locofocos, political partisanship and influence in congregation, cost of fine furniture, his salary, my dear wife, is / “daily improving in appearance.” (pregnancy?), Ladies “fair” to raise funds for church expenses, Attica Bank (or others?), inflammatory Rheumatism, treatment by “Animal Magnetism”, illness of Mary Smith Gardiner VW,
LOCOFOCOS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locofocos
Rome December 9th 1842.
Very dear Sir.
Your letter containing draft has / come safely to hand, for $ 120 on Manhattan Bank. / I have this moment arrived home from a pleasant + / very unexpected ride to Oneida Lake, in company with / my Excellent friend + Class mate [Gordon] Huntington / The Sleighing is splendid, on first Dec’r the Snow [^ fell] all / around us in twelve hours 2 feet + one inch in depth. / I never before rode through such wild looking country, / Pine plains, it is called + it does not belie its name, / The lake was frozen over at the head only, from here / the distance is 16 miles. I did not stop in my burry / to tell Kitty I was going. So the old Gentleman Mr Huntington / came in after her. They dined after waiting 2 hours for / our return, and dined again with us at 5 ½ o clock. / He enjoys a greed old age, + is a most agreeable com - / panion, Yesterday, “Thanks giving” we could accept / of but one out of 3 invitations to dine, after morning / Service and a Sermon, My duties are increasing / quite rapidly enough. By request, I have arranged / to preach my third sermon on Sunday Even’g at / Oneida Depot about 16 miles distant on Rail Road / to Syracuse, and hope to organize a Church in the / Spring. This will be doing something, though I find
[END OF PAGE 1]
It very hard work. I have just learned a curious / fact in connexion with my sermon for “thanksgiving” / it was not your may be sure a political discourse, / it however attempted to show that our National and / State Constitutions and our Magna Charta, “The / declaration of Independence,” and various enactments and / customs, evidently acknowledge Christianity as the Religion / of our nation, The fact is this, that almost to a / man, I know of but one exception, My congregation / are Loco-focos, and most of them hold offices of / considerable value, viz. Post office, Pres of bill, Surrogate / +c +c, though they have got a silent yet staunch Whig / in the Pulpit.. The money comes most acceptably / as the whole amount Expected $220, was pledged to / individuals in Town. We have only purchased necessary / articles of Furniture, with two or 3 which Kate / thought she would like to have, but any kind of a / piece of Mahogany or even good curled Maple costs / more than double than at New York, and as we have but the one room until Spring, we chose to have it / pretty nice. My Salary is punctually paid in but / at present it only meets necessary expenses.
Our healths are quite good, and my dear wife, is / “daily improving in appearance.”
Since I have officiated / bere, I have advised them to make some improvements / and a debt of $250 has been incurred. The Ladies /
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Are getting up a Fair, to aid in its liquidation, / The Receipt of the one hundred + twenty shall be / endorsed on your bond to Catherine, I hope the / Attica Bank or [even ours] will cash it without difficulty / or much charge. A case of very severe inflamma - / tory Rheumatism has just occurred in our Parish, a Married Lady, after all sorts of remedies. She de - / determined, against belief, “to try” “Animal Magnetism” / her own daughter after instruction in that occult / Science, could perform the operation, and it has / certainly helped if not cured her, she can attrib - / ute it to nothing else. I really hope Mother Van / Wyc-[page torn] will simply try it “for fun if n - [page torn] / as ch - [page torn] say. It might lull if not des-[page torn] / pain. Most earnestly do we hope she will [page torn] / get relief. It once in awhile starts a tear from Wife’s / eye, when she thinks of Mother’s sufferings and her / distance from her, but I soon kiss it away.
The winter is mild + pleasant thus far, tho’ / we have heard the wind rattle in “a very apprehen - / sive manner”.
Our best love to Father and Mother and family,
Your affectionate Son,
Stephen H. Battin
[END OF PAGE 3]
[POSTMARK]
18 ¾
[POSTAGE STAMP - black ink, circle]
ROME
DEC 10
N.Y.
[ADDRESS]
Phillip G. Van Wyck Esq’r
Grove Hill, Sing Sing
Westchester Co N.Y.Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
