Name/Title
LetterEntry/Object ID
2020.005.0004Scope and Content
This is a letter from Emma at the Young Ladies Seminary in Benicia to her cousin at the California Military Academy in Oakland. Her cousin is Mr. William H. Sharp of The Dalles Oregon.
Emma thanks her cousin for the long letter about the "Conclave". (Not sure what this refers to but it must have taken place just before 09/12/1883.) Emma complains about girls not being allowed to go downtown every week. She talks of taking a ride with Mary Pioda and the "new" teacher Miss Hollister. She describes the ride as being very "rapid" and Mary driving so as she needed to hang on to the carriage. She then describes how someone put phosphorus over their face and went through two halls at night (Miss Stones and Miss Snyder's). They tried to find the culprite by smelling each girls hands.
She mentions that one teacher, Miss Richards, went to San Francisco Friday night to hear Henry Ward Beecher.
Her cousin had mentioned coming down to see her. Emma says if he comes they can only see each other for about hal an hour and a teacher must be present the whole time.
I Believe this to be a letter from Emma Rhoda Sharp Wood (1867 - 1943) from Castoria, San Joaquin, CA. in the 1880 census. Her parents are Peter George Sharp and Elizabeth A. Wood from Ohio. She is writing to her cousin William Henry Sharp (1863 - 1943) who was at school at the California Military Academy in Oakland but living in The Dalles, Oregon at the time. His father was Phillip Thomas Sharp. Peter and Phillip plus another brother came to California in 04/1849 as part of a mining company for the Gold Rush. Emma's older sister Sophia Wood Sharp (1865 - 1903) was also a student at the YLS. Note that she died in 1903 and is buried at the Stockton Rural Cemetery. Can't find her death certificate so not sure what the cause of death was.Collection
Benicia School Collection
