| Title: | Stewart, Frances to Brown, Harriet, 1869 |
|---|---|
| ID | 4795 |
| Collection | Revisiting Our Forest Home, The immigrant letters of Frances Stewart [J. L. Aoki] |
| File | stewart/77 |
| Year | 1869 |
| Sender | Stewart, Frances |
| Sender Gender | female |
| Sender Occupation | housewife |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Goodwood, Upper Canada |
| Destination | Peterborough, Ontario, Canada |
| Recipient | Brown, Harriet |
| Recipient Gender | female |
| Relationship | grandmother-granddaughter |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 570 |
| Genre | Christmas, family |
| Note | |
| Transcript | 1869: December 25 To [Harriet Brown], [Peterborough, Ontario] Christmas day 1869 My own dear Harriette I hope you are very well and very happy today and as merry as people generally are at this sociable season. I have been some weeks intending to write to you so that you should have my good wishes and loving remembrance on this day but I have not been very well for sometime nor in very good spirits and you know people cannot write cheerful or pleasant letters unless they feel quite well and happy. One cause of my feeling dull was having been disappointed in my wish to send you all my very dear little Grandchildren some little presents but 1 found I could not manage it so I wrote to dear Mamma I fear a very dull & discontented sort of letter, for I felt so, & whenever I do so it makes me feel sick. But I have had a cheerful day for Aunt Kate & Uncle Robert and their six children spent the whole day here from a little past 11 in the morning till near 10 at night. The servants of both families were allowed to go home to see their own friends. I am sorry to say none of our party were at Church for it threatened rain and we are 5 miles from our Church. Early in the morning about 3 oclock Mary & Caroline Mathias and Mary Brown went to Uncle Roberts house & sung two nice hymns just near their bedroom window. One was Hark! the Herald Angels Sing and the other hymn was Heavenly Home! Heavenly Home! Precious name to me. I dare say you know this last one. Of course you do the first one. Their voices sounded very nice in the stillness of that hour. We had no Christmas tree this year but on the evening before 18 of my grandchildren & their mothers were here & had a merry evening with various games & they dressed up & acted charades, some of the older ones. Oh I should have liked so much to have your dear Papa & Mama & you my five dear children here along with ours. Aunt Louisas 5 were here but she could not come as she is staying in Peterboro. Aunt Annie and 7 of her children were here but dear Uncle John is far away in Illinois. Aunt Kate and her six were here besides Aunt Bee's 4 & our nieces & Uncle Robert so we had a large party. I think Harriet is writing a few lines to you. She is a very nice little girl. She is not at all fat but is tall & thin. She & Aunt Lou's little Birdie are very fond of each other & go out on a little hand sleigh & slide down a little hill in our lawn. Papa will explain to you how they go. I hope dear Harrie you may have & had a very merry Christmas & New Year for both will be "bye gones" when this reaches you. I have a headache today but I don't think it is very bad. So dear I hope you will soon write to me & believe me that though I have not been able to send you presents or to prove the truth of my words I am always your very loving Grandma, F Stewart |
