Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Letters
  3. Correspondence
  4. duk.00310

Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Walt Whitman, [19 March 1863]

About This Item

  • Title: Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Walt Whitman, [19 March 1863]
  • Date: March 19, 1863
  • Creator(s): Thomas Jefferson Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: duk.00310
  • Source: Trent Collection of Whitmaniana, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Transcribed from digital images or a microfilm reproduction of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.

    Notes for this letter were created by Whitman Archive staff and/or were derived from Dear Brother Walt: The Letters of Thomas Jefferson Whitman, ed. Dennis Berthold and Kenneth M. Price (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1984), and supplemented or updated by Whitman Archive staff.
  • Contributors to digital file: Alex Kinnaman Elizabeth Lorang Vanessa Steinroetter Kathryn Kruger April Lambert Nicole Gray
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Thomas Jefferson. "Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Walt Whitman, [19 March 1863]." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 03 March 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: duk.00310.xml (TEI)
 duk.00426.001.jpg

I had commenced a letter to you but as it embraced abt​ what Mammy has said I will not send it just now.1 I will send the paper2 &c to day I guess. I am  duk.00426.003.jpg sorry that you omitted to put in  duk.00426.002.jpg Probasco's3 name in the list of those that sent money, could it be easily corrected. You will hear from me in a day or so.—

Jeff  duk.00426.004.jpg  duk.00426.005.jpg  duk.00426.006.jpg

Correspondent:
Thomas Jefferson Whitman (1833–1890), known as "Jeff," was Walt Whitman's favorite brother. As a civil engineer, Jeff eventually became Superintendent of Water Works in St. Louis and a nationally recognized figure. For more on Jeff, see Randall Waldron, "Whitman, Thomas Jefferson (1833–1890)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).

Notes

  • 1. Jeff wrote this short note at the top of his mother's letter to Walt Whitman dated March 19, 1863. [back]
  • 2. See Thomas Jefferson Whitman's letter to Walt Whitman from March 3, 1863. [back]
  • 3. Samuel R. Probasco (1833–1910) was an assistant engineer at the Brooklyn Water Works from 1856 to 1868 and principal assistant engineer on the Brooklyn Water Board from 1871 to 1875. [back]
Back to top