Name/Title
Letter from Ebenezer Irving to Sarah Mann IrvingEntry/Object ID
HHV 003.141Description
Letter from Ebenezer Irving to Sarah Mann IrvingSubject
Reply to a letter Sarah wrote, Pierre in Port Richmond, Edgar on 17th street NYC, office “Broad Street”, Sarah had passed one summer at “Bergen Point”, Eb’s long walks in the city, Eb’s hearing loss and improvement, ear trumpet, “little Kate” (Katrina) at school in NY, lives with Mrs. [Mary C.?] Jencks (her Aunt), Routh trip to Liverpool, already improving?, Jefferies gas works in AL, Sanders gave notice, Theodore Irving family has a new home in the “country”, his parishioners, DC receiving “new members”, Sarah will “reap her harvest” among them (i.e. she should find plenty of new boarders), boarding houseSubject Person/Organization
Ebenezer Irving (1776-1868), Sarah Mann Irving (1824-1913), Edgar Irving (1808-1873), Pierre Paris Irving (1806-1878), Katrina Van Tassel Irving Williams (1845-1915), Mary Ester Mann Jenks, Anna Duer Irving Routh (1830-1884), Frederic Randolph Routh (1828-1909), Sanders Irving (1813-1884), Julia Granger Irving (1822-1897), Catharine Ann Irving (1816-1911), Theodore Irving (1809-1880), Ellen Irving (1840-1895)Subject Place
* Untyped Subject Place
Sunnyside, Washington, DC, New York, Port Richmond, NY, Staten Island, Bayonne, NJ, Montgomery, AL, Mobile, ALCollection
Irving Manuscript CollectionLetter Details
Postmark
Notes
November 25 1854/5 [date cut off]Transcription
Transcription
Sunday evening
Sunny Side Irvington, Westcht’r Co’y NY Nov. 25. 18-[image cut off]
My dear Sarah
It is time that I should tell / you that I received your letter of 4th instant with great / pleasure: I was in the City at the time passing some ten / or twelve days at Edgar’s. You will readily suppose / that my sojourn in the city was a pleasant one / or I would have hurried home sooner. The weather / was fine and I found my health and strength much / improved by change and exercise. I walked repeatedly / from Edgar’s in 17th Street to his office in Broad Street and / back again, and while at Pierre’s at New Brighton I took / long walks in various directions, so that I must have / rambled some five to six miles at each stretch. One of / my walks was to “Port Richmond” opposite to the place / at Bergen Points, where you passed a part of one summer. / I would have crossed over but found that the ferry had / been discontinued the communication now is by the steam / boats to + from New York that touch there on their trips. I was / away from Sunnyside some four weeks and more merely / returning for a a day or so to replenish my wardrobe. I have / come home again, by the blessing of heaven, with added / health and strength and in good spirits, and what may / perhaps occasion you a little surprise, with my hearing con= / siderably improved; I perceived a slight change about four / weeks since which has continued to increase very gradually / until that now, with the assistance of my [trumpet], I / can converse with those whose words were utterly indistinct
[END OF PAGE 1]
A month ago. I presume that you have heard / direct from little Kate and that she has herself ans= / =wered the question you put to me as to how she was / pleased with her school. I called at Mrs Jenck’s the / morning I left the City. Saturday a fortnight since, and found / Kate and her aunt on the point of starting for the Market / I understood that she purposed writing to you that day; the / little girl appeared to be in fine health and spirits _ I believe / that she is well satisfied with her school’ it is in high repute / and she finds a [cousin] there; I may have mentioned that / Pierre’s youngest daughter, Ellen, attends there. I apprehend / that I shall not see little Kate often this winter, for I shall / go to the City but seldom and only on errands, returning the / same day, and as Kate is in school from 9 AM to 3 PM / except on Saturdays, and as I would get there xxx [and] / have again between those hours, I shall not have time / to call in 14th Street, but I shall surely call if time permit.
I understand that Pierre received letters last week / from his daughter (Mrs Routh) which are encouraging _ they had / a passage of about eleven days to Liverpool, and it proved / upon the whole, a pleasant one. Ana was not sea sick / the whole passage, and Mr. Routh had only some slight qualms. / and she already found benefit from the voyage.
Sanders and his wife were not so fortunate, for though they / were only some fifty six hours from N. York to Charleston, the sea / was rough and both were [very] sea sick the whole time, but they / reached Montgomery, Ala. in good health and spirits. By / letters a few day since from Julia it seems that they are not / likely to remain quietly in Montgomery, for Mr. [Jaffray] with
[END OF PAGE 2]
Whom he [^ Sanders] has contracted, has written to him requesting him to / take charge also of the gas works in Mobile and enlarge them, / so that he will be occupied between the two cities, and / Julia says [^ that both be and she] will of course be passing up and down the Alabama / river [^ frequently] Sanders however has no intention of continuing his present / arrangement with the [Jeffries] and has given them notice that / he shall quit on 1st of April, and before, should they find one / sooner to take his place: he purposes to try his fortune / nearer, or about home
Catharine received a letter yesterday from Theodore’s / daughters Fanny and Lizzie, urging her to make them a visit / saying that their house is in order and very inviting; I have / not heard her say whether she will make the call or / not; winter visits in the country are not usually pleasant.
Theodore wrote to me just after be had taken possession / wishing me to come and see how pleasantly they were / fixed and giving me an account of their introduction / to their new quarters. His parishioners are very kind and / attentive, they ad every thing well prepared, and [^ Theo. & his girls] was / not a little surprised and gratified on finding an ample / repast awaiting their entrance _ this he writes was / prepared by the (something I could not make our from / the manner in which it was written) of the two wardens. / After puzzling myself for some time to make out the word / I gave it up, it appeared to be more like owls than any / thing else and yet we could not believe that the / repast could have been prepared by the owls of the / two wardens. I got Pierre to translate the word for / me and he made it “the — wives of the two wardens.” /
[END OF PAGE 3]
It is not very probably that I shall make a visit to / “Bay Ridge” before the fine weather of Spring, say in May, / should it please H-[??] to spare me; for it is not pleasant / moving about in cold weather _
I expect to hear of exciting times soon in Washington / The [members?] will be crowding to the place, and every man / will have his head and hands full; I trust that you / will reap a good harvest among them.
Commend me to the kind recollections of your Sister / Susan and believe me affectionately thine
Eben’r Irving
Mrs. William Irving
No. 28 4 ½ Street
Between Penn’a Av. & 6 Street
Washington. D.CTranscriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
EnglishOther Names and Numbers
Other Numbers
Number Type
Former NumberOther Number
W 196
