Transcription
--TWO LETTERS IN THIS TRANSCRIPTION--
CATALOG NUMBER VC 1283
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE 1 November 26, 1843
AUTHOR 1 Catharine Van Wyck Battin
RECIPIENT 1 Philip Gilbert Van Wyck (“Father”)
MEDIUM Paper, ink
PEOPLE Stephen H. Battin, “hired Girl”, Mr Hathaway, Mr Samuel Bard,
Kate ??,
PLACES Rome, new lodgings near Christ Church, Stephen’s study, parlour,
hall,
KEYWORDS description of new lodgings for winter (own home?), “next door
but one to the Church”, furniture: rocking chairs, table, engravings,
books, stove, dining table, nest table, chairs, lounge, sofa (“soffa”),
Stephen’s study, description of rooms (parlour, hall, study, dining
room, sleeping apartment), work Box, brown and green carpets
with rose decoration, bedstead (white painted to look French), washstand, Bureau, upstairs rooms, carpets, bedstead 2, bureau 2, chairs, store room conversion, room for hired Girl, pantry for “dishes and eatables”, Kitchen, wood house (for wood), cistern, well, Cellar, “skimmer and grater” are very useful, Mr Hathaway failure, must sell, Mr Samuel Bard lecture on Temperance,
Sunday evening Nov 26 - 1843
Dear Father,
According to your request I will / write, and give you a flowing description, if the [interior - faint] / of our place of residence for this winter, we are very / pleasantly situated next door but one to the Church / which you know is very conveni-[^ e]-nt as to getting out / in Stormy weather, The Parlour in the first place is quite / a pleasant room with three windows [in?] fronting the / street and one side window the furniture consisting of / a very large rocking chair which is very easy and / comfortable a pretty table between the windows with / a number of very fine engravings and also some very / interesting books upon it, a very pretty stove which keeps / the room very warm and also Stephens study which / is a pleasant room it is small but quite large enough / for the use be makes of it This last room I have / been speaking about leads out from the parlour. / The Hall is quite small therefore I have but little to / say about it, the dining is quite a food sized room / with a nice Table the place for this is between the two / front windows there are two rocking Chairs and other / chairs and a lounge instead of a soffia Soffa a / small nest Table very pretty with a work Box and / several books upon it the Carpets are Brown and /
[END OF PAGE 1]
Green the figure is a bouquet of roses, one sleeping apartment / comes next, a very pretty Bedstead painted white in shape / of a French one, a Bureau and washstand to match, now / we will introduce you in the room upstairs there is quite / a hall you enter after you have assended the stairs / then we open a door into a large front bedroom with / a pretty carpet bedstead resembling sister Joanna’s and / also a Bureau to match a washstand and several Chairs / another room which we have converted into a Store room / where we keep every thing xx nice and a room for the / hired Girl, now we will go down stairs in the Pantry where / my dishes and eatable are kept, then into the Kitchen, where we have every convenience for Cooking, also a very good / wood house where our wood is pilled up in the best manner / an excellent Sistern and very good well [roater] / I have / used my [Skimmer] and Grater found them very good and / usefull. The Cellar as a very good one our vegatables are keot / very well from freezing it has a board floor and I can / go down xxx [^ in it] without taking cold, Mr Hathaway has / failled and out at cost. There was a gentleman / called here the other day and informed me of you all / being well at home of which I was very glad to hear … / it was Mr Samuel Bard who is Lecturing on — / Temperance he had a Lecture last evening and one / this evening, I remain your affectionate
daughter
Catharine
[END OF PAGE 2]
[2ND LETTER]
CATALOG NUMBER VC 1283
OBJECT NAME Letter
DATE 2 November 27, 1843
AUTHOR 2 Stephen H. Battin
RECIPIENT 2 Philip Gilbert Van Wyck (“Father”)
MEDIUM Paper, ink
PEOPLE
PLACES Rome, another Parish with parsonage,
KEYWORDS Kate is bilious, wants to be bled, he is reluctant,
Rome Nov 27. / 43
Dear Father
Your letter with draft reached me on / Saturday Evening, and I have receipted the same on / the Bond. Kate has told you we are all well as usual / Except herself. She is getting quite bilious, and wishes / me to call the Doctor to bleed her. I am very reluc / tant to do this. Though it may be necessary to Relieve / her head ache. She is if any thing too hearty, her / appetite too strong. One Thursday last I received a / pretty “ [lored?] call” to another Parish, where they / have a Parsonage in addition to a salary as large / as my present income., But I have declined it, our / congregation tho small is fast increasing, + the trouble / and Expense of moving at this season would quite / equal the advantage to be joined in a pecuniary / point of view, and perhaps at the end of another / year . Another + larger field of usefulness will offer / itself, My people will also Enlarge my donation / this winter, knowing that I have sacrificed some / t hing for their benefit. These are the worldly motions / connected with these changes, their are higher ones / which I think have weighed much with me, / It is very gratifying however to get such a call.
[END OF PAGE 3]
Our church is small. Our village is small and our / Parsonage is also, tho not much more so that / Mr Halseys, and we are quite as comfortable as / he. We are satisfied in our own minds for the present / my dear wife is an contented a creature as you’ll / find and so am I. I speak boastingly, a little
[BOTTOM OF PAGE 4]
Nevertheless it is true, this makes like comfortable, / “health, peace and competence” some Poet says / this I am persuaded is your motto also. Our / best love to mother + yourself, + family
Affectionately your son, Stephen H. Battin
[ADDRESS]
P. G. Van Wyck Esq’r
Grove Hill, Sing Sing
Westchester Co
E N.Y.
[POSTMARK - blue ink]
18 ¾
[POSTAGE STAMP = red ink, circle]
ROME
NOV
28
N.Y.
[LABEL - REVERSE]
Rev. S. H. Battin
Nov’em 26th 1843
About $100—
Draft +cTranscriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
