Name/Title
Letter from William Irvine to Mrs. Louis du Pont IrvingEntry/Object ID
HHV 003.160Description
Letter from William Irvine to Mrs. Louis du Pont IrvingSubject
Distant relative relating family history in Orkney Islands, preservation of Sunnyside, home of Washington Irving’s father, story of brave William de Irwyn (Irving relative)Subject Person/Organization
William Irvine, Mrs. Louis du Pont Irving (1884-1969), Washington Irving (1783-1859), William de Irwyn, Robert the BruceSubject Place
* Untyped Subject Place
Edinburgh, Scotland, Sunnyside, Irvington, NY, Orkney Islands, ScotlandCollection
Irving Manuscript CollectionTranscription
Transcription
153 Gilmore P.
Edinburgh
May 27th 1923
Mrs. L. duPont Irving
Irvington on Hudson
Dear Madam
Received your letter / of March 27th for which I thank / you very kindly, also for P.C. / enclosed. I was very pleased to / hear that the descendants of Washington / Irving still own and occupy the / ancestral home. It seems a / delightful old dwelling and to be / all that the great author himself / represents it. The web of romantic
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And literary association spun round / the place in the past will be / strengthened by the bridge of time / I can imagine no place seemingly / more suited to give / habitation to / the [?many?] spirits of the past and / recall distant times when the great author walked beneath these / self-same trees and soliloquised / in the quietude and loveliness of / his demesne. I fee no small / veneration for the place, for what / it is and has been. Likewise, I feel / a keen sense of pride at being / able to call myself a relative – / though far distant, of the founder. / You will know that the Author's father came from what Washington /
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Himself called the ends of the earth, / namely, the Orkney Islands. He was / born in a house of small pretensions / called [Quholm] in the island of / Shapansey, one of the above-mentioned / group. I may say I am a native / of the same place though at present / a student at Edinburgh University / in the Faculty of Arts. My home in / Shapansey is situated about four / miles or so from the home of / Washington Irving’s father during / his early boyhood. The old house / is still standing in which he was / born and inhabited. The line from / which I am descended comes from / a brother of Washington’s father, who / stayed in Quholm. I may also / mention that there is another branch /
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Of the same stock in the Castle of Drum / Aberdeenshire, Scot’d This is one of the / older branches and links up with the / original of the family in the person / of Wm de Irwyn, secretary and/ armour-bearer of Robert the Bruce, / who received the lands and Castle / of Drum as recompense for his / services and unflinching loyalty / in time of great peril, especially / when he was one of seven faithful / companions who lay with him in / ca copse of holly while his pursuers / passed by. Thus you see the family / history is full of interest, personal / and historical, to anyone who takes / a pride and renown. Thanking you / once more for your esteemed letter,
Believe me
Yours Sincerely
William IrvineTranscriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
EnglishOther Names and Numbers
Other Numbers
Number Type
Former NumberOther Number
W 216
