| Title: | Stewart, Frances to Parr Traill, Catharine, 1868 |
|---|---|
| ID | 4783 |
| Collection | Revisiting Our Forest Home, The immigrant letters of Frances Stewart [J. L. Aoki] |
| File | stewart/65 |
| Year | 1868 |
| Sender | Stewart, Frances |
| Sender Gender | female |
| Sender Occupation | housewife |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Douro Township, Newcsatle District, Upper Canada |
| Destination | Lakefield, Ontario, Canada |
| Recipient | Parr Traill, Catharine |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | friends |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 688 |
| Genre | news, family |
| Note | |
| Transcript | [1868: February] To Catharine Parr Traill, Lakefield, Ontario Wednesday night My dearest friend I have had from your dear Mary the pleasant tidings of dear Annies addition to her little family, with good acc'ts of both Mother & babe. I long for some further intelligence & hope the favorable accounts may continue & that I shall hear that all has gone on progressively and prosperously since, as well as that you have not taken cold or suffered in any way from the anxiety & loss of rest such events must always cause. I hope dear good Katie has been free from neuralgia & able to act her part as nurse on the occasion. I hope she will be able to give me the pleasure of hearing all particulars, if you have not time dear Mrs. Traill to do so yourself as I dare say your hands are busy enough & probably you have more writing than is either good or pleasant for you. I hope you have not felt any remains of ill effects from your fall or the sprain you had before leaving Peterboro.... What desperate weather we have had lately & what dreadful shipwrecks & loss of life & property by the storms in all points in England & what dreadful outrages the Fenians have been committing in England & what a state the whole world seems to be in, all working in a tremendous fermentation, which no doubt will cause some great commotion or explosion in time. We cannot say when, but it seems advancing rapidly. We are at present very quiet here & seem out of the reach of harm, tho' surrounded by Roman Catholics, who are doing every thing they can to take the lead & have the upper hand in every public establishment & no doubt are all Fenians, but I hope may be kept down quietly. We are now nearly shut up by snow. The roads have been impassable for sleighs for some days but today we have opened some roads through the clearing. Yesterday the sleigh & horses were just one hour opening a passage between this & Robert Browns!, whose children as well as two of Louisas (who came here to school on Monday) were detained till a road was opened for them to get home last evening. Dear Anna spent a day & night with Kate & us the week before last & she has had several very gratifying & satisfactory letters from her dear boy James, who at last reached Boston safely after a most awful passage accross from Liverpool. For 30 days they had no hope of being able to ever reach land. They were 63 days altogether on the Ocean & in such gales all the time that they never had time to change their clothes or were ever dry & with little or no rest night or day.... He seems not the least discouraged by all the dangers & hardships of sea life, but quite the reverse.... Dear Mrs. Traill, I have written this sad scribble late at night & with not very good light, as in consequence of the difficulty of communication with [ ] our stores of oil, &c as well as in other commodities are rather in a low state. So this must be my excuse for such scribbling, & it was late in the evening when I heard that Archy was to go early to town, so I hastened to my desk to prepare my dispatches. I sh'd have written some days sooner had I been able to send my letter to town. I have not seen any one from Lakefield nor has Bee yet been able to call on any of the Brides. Between the weather & having no servant for the last two months, both Bee & Kate seldom can leave home. She (Bee) unites with me in kindest love to dear Annie & Kate & tho' last not least, your own sincerely loved self & Mr. Atwood. Forgive this hasty & rambling letter full of errors & blunders, from your ever affect' & faithful friend E Stewart... |
