Letter
Dublin Core
Title
1838 – Elizabeth Huntington to Frederic Dan Huntington, Monday Morning, 1838
Creator
Elizabeth Whiting Phelps Huntington
Source
Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers (Box 12 Folder 8)
University of Massachusetts Special Collections and University Archives
Date
Monday morning
Rights
public domain
Type
Correspondence
Transcription
Mr. F.D Huntington
Amherst College
Monday Morning 1838
Dear Frederic,
You have been informed by Mary1 of William’s2 prospects. Cousin Dan too is expecting to be married this month. A sad time for old folks [father ?], Theodore is probably on his way home by this time. Mary I suppose told you all about the party at Theophilus’s. Friday Miss [Thornton?] and the cousins drank tea with us. Saturday [Munroe Clapp?] and wife Ann C. and Mary made a visit to Theophilus. Bethia joined the party. Saturday all went to N.3 and heard Mr. [Tanerden?] excepting myself. I enjoy now and then such a day of stillness very much. We all need then reason to collect our wandering thoughts, and fix them more exclusively on the things belonging to a better life. The world passeth away every day, brings with it events which ought to teach us that this is not our home.4 The allurements of the world are too apt to engage the hearts of the young. It is therefore wise to set apart each day a little reason which shall be sacredly devoted to God and the interests of the soul. May you my dear Frederic ever keep your eye directed to Heaven, for looking to Jesus in the privilege and the delight of his followers.5 God bless now and ever.
Most affectionately,
Your mother Elizabeth
- This is possibly referring to Mary Huntington, the ninth child of Dan and Elizabeth Huntington, she passed away in 1839 a year after the writing of this letter. ↩︎
- This is most likely referring to William Huntington, the third child of Dan and Elizabeth, he was married in 1839 a year after this letter to Lucy Edwards. ↩︎
- Elizabeth abbreviates the town of Northampton to “N.” in her letters. ↩︎
- What specific events is Elizabeth referring to? ↩︎
- At the time of this letter, it has been over ten years since Elizabeth Huntington had been excommunicated from the Hadley church. Between 1821 and 1828 she faced severe judgement by the church for so openly rejecting the Trinity, bridging the gap between God and his followers by humanizing Him. In violation of conservative Congregationalism, her beliefs and attitudes led to her excommunication from the church. She embraced the more liberal doctrine of Unitarianism in her belief in the centrality of unity to life and her confidence in the eventual prevailing of love to bring mankind together as one. (Cultivating a Past: Essays on the History of Hadley, Massachusetts) ↩︎