Transcription
“Sunnyside”
Irvington-on-Hudson
Aug. 26th
My dear Kate
You will know how / glad I was to get your letter / last evening by my answering / it so very soon, I don’t think / I have heard a word of you / since we saw you in New / York I think winter before last / but we often speak of you and / wish we could see more of you.
I was very sorry to hear of your / illness last winter and of your / son Fred’s too, you must have / had a very hard time of it and / then to have your husband’s
[END OF PAGE 1]
store burnt up was a little / too hard an experience for one / year, but I am glad you were / able to go off and have all / care behind. I believe there is / nothing like it for restoration to / health, and how very sad about / your brother Will, of course we / had heard nothing of it and I / suppose should not now if you / had not written it. And now I / know you would like to hear some - / -thing of the family here, if I can / remember all that has happened / since I saw you, Etta Irving was / Leslie’s daughter, was married last / Oct to a Mr Bolton, a Professor and / scientific man who she met at Lake / Minnewaska, she went abroad / at once and returned in June
[END OF PAGE 2]
They were all very well pleased / with the match though he is about / fifty years [^ old], but then she was not / very young herself, he is very well / off and she will have a very com- / -fortable life whereas she had been / very poor and had a hard struggle / I believe they are to live in New York / he is quite a literary man, they are / now at Lake Minnewaska again.
Three of Nellie [Whittemore’s] girls / are engaged to be married, but I / am afraid they are all to wait / until they are a little better off in / the world, that is rather a pity / as I suppose it would be a relief / to have some of the six daughters / married. Poor Julia Bowdoin had a great sorrow to lose her oldest / daughter in June, you know she / was married to Mr Kingsford.
[END OF PAGE 3]
She left one little boy nearly 3 / years old and was expecting / another about the time she died / but she died of heart disease / before her child was born and / she had a very suffering winter, it / has been a great trial to poor Julia, / Temple Bowdoin was married in / April to Miss Kingsford, the sister / of Fanny’s husband. I had heard / that your son Irving was engaged / to be marriage to a Miss Bord, we / must have heard it through your / Aunt Julia and she heard it / through the [Porters] for I don’t / see how else we heard it, I hear / she is a very nice girl and I / hope it will be a happy match / thought I think with you it would / be better if they could wait a
[END OF PAGE 4]
A little while until they get a / little ahead, but young people / never think of those things, and / then gain it is an incentive for / a young man and perhaps he / does better for it, the only trouble / is they sometimes have a pretty / hard struggle at first. Your Aunt Julia is staying with us now, / she leaves next Saturday the 1st / of September to go to her niece / Mrs Pierson at Ramapo where / she will spend that month and / then goes to Niagara for October, Julia Porter’s wedding I think / will be about the 10th though / I am not sure that the day is fixed, Mr Washington lives in / Washington so that will be very nice /
[END OF PAGE 5]
For your Aunt Julia. Your Aunt Charlotte is with us too, she always / comes and spends the greater part of / the summer with us. Morgan’s family / spend the summer at Ridgefield, Conn. / to be near her mother, and as it is too far for Morgan to go and come / every day, he generally goes there on Friday and stays until Monday and the rest of the week comes up / here. Of course you must have / known that our good old Robert is gone as it is two years this fall since he died, but I doubt whether / you may have heard that Maria too is gone, she died just a year ago very suddenly of Apoplexy, she had been down stairs and got an early breakfast for Morgan to go to town, when she complained suddenly of her heard and only lived about /
[END OF PAGE 6]
Half an hour, you can imagine / how completely we were upset / losing these two old faithful / servants and we felt as if we could scarcely get on, but somehow things work themselves out and we kept the two daughters, Katie and Martha who have always / been with us, and the youngest son we kept as gardener, coachman / and man of all works, they took care / of the place all last winter and / are going on very nicely doing / every thing, and we feel as if we / are better off with them than if we / had strange servants who would take no interest in us or the place, / but the father + mother are a great / loss to us. We are both pretty /
[END OF PAGE 7]
Well now though we were somewhat / pulled down by the excessive hot / weather this summer, your Aunt / Sarah is never very strong but / she is about as usual and consid- / -ering our ages I think we are / quite smart, still we have to take / a little care of ourselves. Now I / believe I have given you a little / history of the family as far as I can / think and I am sure you will be / tired. We shall be at Miss Hoffman’s again next winter and hope we / shall see you there if you come / down at any time, and we should / always be glad to see you here / or any of your family while
we / are here. Please don’t wait / quite so long before you write /
[END OF PAGE 8]
Again and let us know all / about your family, that is more / interesting than any thing you / could write. All the Aunts send / a great deal of love and with / our kind remembrances to Mr. Williams and your Mother /
I am affectionately your
Aunt Kate IrvingTranscriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
