Transcription
CATALOG NUMBER S 1010 - TO BE COMPLETED
OBJECT NAME letter
DATE March 10 & March 15, 1807
AUTHOR Mary Anna Sawyer Schuyler
RECIPIENT Dr. Micajah Sawyer & Sybil Farnham Sawyer
MEDIUM Paper, ink
PEOPLE Micajah Sawyer, Sybil Farnham Sawyer, Mrs. Cochrane,
Catharina Van Rensselaer Schuyler (“Mrs. Malcolm”), Renssalear
Schuyler (brother-in-law), William Sawyer, Catharine Farnham? (“Aunt Farnham”?), John Rutsen Schuyler (stepson), Catharine Schuyler (stepdaughter), Robert Sands Schuyler and Stephen Van Renssalear Schuyler (stepsons, “little boys”), Mammy Lydia, Poll, Mr Renssalear “the patroon”, Hannah
PLACES Stillwater, Albany, Rhinebeck, Newburyport, Canada
KEYWORDS newlywed, “food never comes amiss now”, husband/wife,
[LATER - blue pen]
Mrs P.J.Schuyler to her parents. Dr. & Mrs. Micaijah Sawyer visit to Stillwater & Albany "the Patroon" [meets?] Mrs Cochrane_ then Mrs Malcolm]
March 10th 1807
I have no employment my dear parents more pleasing than writing you & I am equally as certain that it is one you derive satisfaction from _ I am not now at Rhinebeck but at Stillwater where Mr. Schuylers brother Ransellaer [sic] resides_ here we met Mrs Malcolm with whom I am much pleased_ she is a very fine woman & what just [know?] , I think better than that, very friendly to me_ _ I find Mr. Schuylers friends disposed to supply the place of my own & though it is impossible to feel the same sensations to strangers as to those who from my earliest infancy I have loved & caressed, yet already these I have seen possess much of my friendship _ _ I think my dear Mother you would be highly gratified with the game I play at my knife & fork. food never comes amiss now, & so far from its being irksome to set at the dinner table the time is much the most tedious that is not spent there. _ my health is perfectly good & though Willm prophesied that I was to be very tender this Winter if he could see me he would soon yield his opinion._ I calculate upon finding many letters when I get home _ as yet they have been scarce but if my friends knew the happiness they could impart by a few lines those that love me would quickly make the little exertion __ It is very pleasant to me to fancy your different occupations through the course of the day, & so systematical are all our movements at Newbury Port that I will answer for it in the ordinary course of events I hit right. _ It is only in one spot that I find disquiet. poor Aunt Farnhams sick room must be a melancholy scene & her motherless children a call upon all our hearts__
John & Catherine are both with us_ the former so [far] on his way to Canada_ the little boys we left at home kind Heaven has blessed them with happy dispositions & they find it easy to be [happy & crossed out in March 15 ink] contented._ Pray remember my love to Mammy Lydia & to [Poll?] I expect to hear you have paid Hannah a visit _ I think you will be much gratified she is situated very pleasantly _ in the course of the Summer we shall see you at Rhinebeck indeed my dear father & mother this is what I calculate much very much [upon over from in March 15 ink] Give my best remembrances to all friends not forgetting Enoch__ With every sentiment of duty & affection yours MAS
[PJS's hand, but scribbly] I have the pleasure to say that I am blessed with a wife beyond my deserts. I trust I shall
improve, for I own myself vile, & unworthy of so much excellence. ___ [PJS's regular hand] This I absolutely deny, - for tho in guiding my pen she has compelled me to speak well of her, I cannot consent to indite[sic] my own unworthyness[sic]
[MAS hand] Albany March 15th _ My dear friends I add a few lines to say I am thus far on my way to Rhinebeck after a very pleasant visit at Stillwater_ We are now at Mr. Ransellaers or as he is commonly called the Patroons. I shall put my letter into the office at this place & I hope you will get it sooner than usual, though it is not worth much _ According to the etiquette of this City I am going to call upon the Governors lady Mrs. Louis __ I find them all great politicians here_ but the affairs of this State differ so widely from those of Massachusetts that I feel almost in another Country & as yet am much more interested in [tear] cause of Strong than any of the parties [tear] but the federalists fear here that [seal] governor will not get in, & after all [seal] is to carry the day. most sincerely I hope they may be mistaken _ I believe you will ^hardly^ understand some of this letter, but Mr Schuyler took my pen to write a postscript & I told him to let me guide his hand_ he consented but I could not pursuade[sic] him to subscribe his name until he explained matters __& in truth I have no right even in joke to abuse him _ for he is the most tender & attentive of friends __ I think we shall go to New York in a week or two_ & after that settle quietly down a sober couple . as yet we have been pretty much on the wing _ _ Adieu my beloved Parents ---
I enclose a letter to ^you for^ Aunt Farnham because of the postage_Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
