| Title: | Stewart, Frances to Waller, Maria, 1851 |
|---|---|
| ID | 4757 |
| Collection | Revisiting Our Forest Home, The immigrant letters of Frances Stewart [J. L. Aoki] |
| File | stewart/39 |
| Year | 1851 |
| Sender | Stewart, Frances |
| Sender Gender | female |
| Sender Occupation | housewife |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Goodwood, Upper Canada |
| Destination | Ireland |
| Recipient | Waller, Maria |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | niece-aunt |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 1006 |
| Genre | decease, family life |
| Note | |
| Transcript | 1851: October 7 To "Aunt," Ireland Goodwood 7th Oct'r 1851 My ever dear Aunt Here I am still at Goodwood. I am not sure if I was here when I wrote to Maria but I think not. However, I brought Marias letter to Bessie when I came here and we both enjoyed the pleasure together. I had yours to me & she had Marias to her & then we exchanged. What a happiness it is to hear so regularly & constantly & to have such dear friends to write. You can hardly form an idea how I long for letters & enjoy when they come, for you have never been so far away from so many dear to you. Anna Hay has sent me a little letter to enclose & therefore I can not put in so much myself. I suppose you have heard of my poor Bessies 3rd disappointment. This was the most severe as all would have been right if the poor infant could have been restored but tho' it did breathe for an hour & half, it was too far gone to recover, some difficulty having delayed it in its Birth. However, she is now reconciled to the loss & sees it in a proper view. Poor dear it was a great trial to her & to poor Edward & it was such a lovely fine child & unusually large, 20 inches long, & 8 inches across the chest & shoulders & fair & lovely more like a child 2 months old than a newborn one. But it is better it sh'd be taken then than if its life had been spared for any time & He who gave it or I should say lent it, knows best. His will be done. I am sorry to say Bessie did not recover so rapidly as we at first expected. But as soon as she could bear the drive she went to Auburn for a week & returned on Sunday evening much better. Louisa is cheerful & very warm hearted & kind and paid her every attention & so did William and Louisa drive her out every day in my little poney carriage which was useful & pleasant as the weather is delightful now and the country beautiful. Today Bessie is gone away again to stay a few days with her cousin & sister in law Mrs. Templeton Brown while he is gone to Montreal and I have promised to stay here & attend to the affairs for her. I think it is good for her to be from home till she is quite well & able to employ herself actively here or her spirits could sink. I am every day expecting to hear of Anna Hay having an addition to her flock. I saw her yesterday looking well, her three children all well & full of heart & glee & making tremendous noise racing & laughing. Tommy is quite well again. He is a dear infant. Indeed they are all fine children.... I believe it is very difficult to provide for young men now. Even here it is so, for this country seems overstocked with young men and all cannot be farmers. Tho' it is a very independent business yet it cannot be called profitable & requires such drudgery & unremitting labour that people must have a decided taste & character to bear it at all. This year the grain crops have all turned out well but the prices are so low. Nothing can be made by them & it causes a great deal of trouble & distress. The potatoes are wet & small & scanty but not much of the disease tho' the leaves blackened & people were afraid of it but they are not good in general. William Stewart is quite active now & looks after things more than he did. Has got a Scotch man now to work for him who bears a good character for industry & knowledge. Robert Brown has now begun to help his brother Templeton to cultivate a new farm just adjoining this place & we can see him at work every day from the windows. Templeton lives in Peterboro at present till his farm is ready & a house built.... I am expecting Frank & John home soon & hope poor Frank may settle in time & marry. He has been very unfortunate in the States & when he had made a little sum & was going to place it in the Saving Bank he was robbed! This has discouraged him & he will have a great deal to do when he returns & every thing new to buy, cattle & horses & implements & every thing as he had sold off all when he went. But we all intend to join what we can & push him on & try & get his place ready for a wife as soon as we can. John has had a tedious rheumatic fever which has kept him back a little but he is not badly off. Poor George is working away at Toronto but earning nothing & it grieves him so much being any expense to me that he denies himself every thing & scarcely will even allow himself good clothes. Charles is very busy studying & trying to be ready to stand his Examinations for a Scholarship in College next August. It will keep him busy. Oh I am come to the end of my paper. With best love to all in which Bessie & Kate join. Ever Believe me your own child FS I never have room to say anything about these wonderful times or the Papers which we [receive] very regularly & are most interesting. We get the Achill paper very regularly & all the others & now & then a Belfast one from Catharine. She never writes now, at least very seldom but don't say anything to her. Love to James & children Today the thermometer is at 70 in the shade. 7th Oct. |
