Letter
Dublin Core
Title
1832.03.21 – Elizabeth Huntington to John Huntington, Mar. 21, 1832
Description
A short note sent to Whiting when he was a student at Harvard, along with food and a pair of socks. Charles’ wife Helen is ill and Elizabeth writes with evident pleasure about taking her baby granddaughter home to Forty Acres, making a little joke about the horse ride.
Creator
Elizabeth Whiting Phelps Huntington
Source
Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers (Box 12 Folder 11)
University of Massachusetts Special Collections and University Archives
Date
1832-03-21
Rights
public domain
Type
Correspondence
Transcription
Hadley March 21st, 1832
My Dear Whiting,
Our Edward intends sending off a load to Boston tomorrow, I improve the opportunity to fulfil my promise which I believe Bethia made last week. I went to Northampton yesterday and finding Helen1 very unwell with the stomach complaint, I stayed over night–Doctor Flint2 called while I was there, and advised to [unintelligible] the child on account of Helen’s health; accordingly Charles brought me home this afternoon, and I brought the baby3–or rather the horse brought us all three. So we are all engaged to contribute to her comfort and Charles is staying to see to her tonight.
We are hoping to send you a few things for your comfort–in the form of eatables–and I shall put in a pair of socks which I have been knitting.
We have heard nothing from Oswego4 for several weeks–as Bethia wrote so recently5, and I have been occupied this evening I think I shall close very briefly, and defer to another opportunity what I might otherwise have said–and only add that I am as ever your affectionate mother.
E.W.H.
Mr. John W. Huntington
Cambridge
- Helen Sophia Mills married Charles Huntington in Northampton, where they stayed until her death on March 30, 1844. Charles and the five children who survived their mother remained in Northampton. ↩︎
- Who is Doctor Flint? From the way he is spoken of without any introduction, it’s possible he is the family doctor. ↩︎
- This most likely refers to Helen Frances Huntington, who would’ve been about one year old at the time of the letter’s writing. ↩︎
- Elizabeth is likely explaining that she hasn’t heard from her eldest daughter Elizabeth Huntington who moved to Oswego, NY after marrying George Fisher. ↩︎
- It is said that Bethia lived in the family home, “Forty Acres,” in Hadley all her life. Elizabeth is probably referring to a recent letter Bethia wrote to John Whiting. ↩︎