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Title: H. B. L. [Longstreet?], Cottage, to "My dear Friend"
ID1636
CollectionIrish Emigration Database
FileLongstreet, Hannah B/32
Year1873
SenderLongstreet, Hannah B
Sender Genderfemale
Sender Occupationmiddle-class housewife
Sender ReligionCatholic
Originprob. Augusta, Georgia, USA
Destinationprob. Belfast, N.Ireland
RecipientAllen, Isabella
Recipient Genderfemale
Relationshipfriends
SourceD 1558/1/2/245: The Papers of William John Campbell Allen. Deposited by the late F. D. Campbell Allen, Esq., 15 London Road, Harrow-on-the-hill, Middlesex
ArchiveThe Public Record Office, N. Ireland
Doc. No.9907028
Date25/10/1873
Partial Date
Doc. TypeEMG
LogDocument added by LT, 14:07:99.
Word Count975
Genre
Note
TranscriptCottage. 25/73

My dear Friend.
Your kind
letter has given me great pleasure
bringing as it does such assurances
of affection and a renewed invitation
to visit you; with promises that
your dear children will do all they
can to make me happy. The fact
that I am now almost entirely
confined to one place by weak
health, only makes me prize the
more, the efforts of my friends
to take me away from home,
But I must not think ever of
crossing the water again or
indeed going any where beyond
my very short tether. I am
glad to hear you have passed
the summer so pleasantly. Mr
Allen & you must both be
stronger than when I saw you.
A trip to Port Rush would
have then seemed to you an
undertaking of some moment.
Perhaps the young people will
not let you stay at home as
much as you would still like.
I can't forget how hastily you
got back from a merry
making, to which Emma & I
had almost compelled you to
go. I am sure you feel more
like going into society now
than you did then. It must
be such a happiness to go with
your girls & live over in them
the days of youth. I fancy
Andrew James has grown very
like the young man, who
came to Augusta long, long ago,
before you knew him perhaps.
We miss Uncle Campbell sadly
when we go back to those days,
and indeed to any of the years
which are passed, for he kept
himself always in the centre of our
family plans & pleasures &
we had grown to feel he was
our own Uncle. His interest
continued in all the nieces &
nephews of my Aunt, up to the
day of his death. He had been
most anxious I should go with
him to Clarkesville, that I
might be with him in his
last days, but my health would
not allow me to think of it.
He was there just one month
when he died. His remains
were brought to the Cottage Cemetery,
he having told us the spot where
he wished to be laid; and the
kind of tombstone he would wish
placed over him. When his will
was read, the astonishment &
disappointment of the whole community
extended even to his two prominent
heirs. Henry & Robert Campbell
both said, they wished the distribution
had been otherwise of our
Aunt's property. Grace & her
brother seemed to think it quite
right. Whatever we may have
thought, we have said nothing,
and the matter after having been
discussed by the public a sufficient
length of time, has died, out of
sheer exhaustion. You enquire
if my brother in law is one
of the Executors. He is, and
the Mr Bean who is mentioned
so often, is son in law to my
Aunt Mrs Smith.
My good Aunt is with me now
as a constant companion. She
visits her son twice a year,
but this is her home. It would
be lonely for me without her
affectionate care. Though she
is seventy five years old, she
is the strong one of the pair.
My sisters family spend a
good deal of time with us
one & another dropping in many
times in the day.
The death of our only brother
has made a great change
in our family. He was suddenly
cut off in his prime
of life with disease of the
heart and has left a
widow & four children.
His young son who was
in England at school,
had to be called home to
take charge of his Father's
plantation. He is just seventeen,
so grown & so sedate
we scarcely recognise the
little boy who left us three
years ago. He has improved
his excellent opportunities
and brings home many
prizes as proofs of his
diligence. He has at once
taken his place as head
of the family and his
delicate little Mamma has
great confidence in his
ability to carry on his
Father's business. It is a
change from students life
to the management of wayward
freedom, cotton
picking & packing and all
such work, but the brave
heart fears nothing & bears
his burdens manfully,
coming home tired, to join
his sisters in refined pursuits
during the evening
hours. He has great taste
for music & drawing & is
never too weary to spend
an hour at the Piano.
I don't know if you remember
two pretty little girls of my
Aunt Carmichael. One of these
is the widow of my dear brother.
Her home is near Savannah,
and my Aunt Emma's son
Oswell, lives in the same
neighbourhood. Oswell has
a family of five children.
Emma & Mr Sibley have
come this evening from
Marietta. I did not, as
usual, spend any part of
the summer there, but visited
my brother's family instead.
Emma is looking quite well
and her children like
Mountaineers. The weather is
distressingly warm and we all
feel apprehensive lest yellow
fever may be conveyed from
Memphis to our Southern
Cities. It is rather unusual for
such mortality to be confined
to one place. I suppose the
other cities are taking great
precautions in the way of
purifying &c. My Nephew
Collen Ketchum is waiting
for cold weather to return
to business in N. [New?] Orleans.
He is greatly pleased with that
City, but we do not like his
being so far from us and
in such an unhealthy
atmosphere. We have just
heard of the death of Alfred
Cumming a brother of Henry.
Mr Allen probably remembers him.
My Aunt joins me in kindest
remembrance to Mr Allen & yourself.
My love to your sister and to
your cousins when you see them.
I hope you will write again / & very
soon/ to your attached friend,
H. B .L. [Longstreet?]