Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Letters
  3. Correspondence
  4. loc.04954

Margaretta L. and William A. Avery to Walt Whitman, 1 March 1892

About This Item

  • Title: Margaretta L. and William A. Avery to Walt Whitman, 1 March 1892
  • Date: March 1, 1892
  • Creator(s): Margaretta L. and William A. Avery
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.04954
  • Source: The Charles E. Feinberg Collection of the Papers of Walt Whitman, 1839–1919, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 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.
  • Contributors to digital file: Cristin Noonan Amanda J. Axley Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Avery, Margaretta L. and William A.. "Margaretta L. and William A. Avery to Walt Whitman, 1 March 1892." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 11 May 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.04954.xml (TEI)
 loc_vm.01732_large.jpg March 1, 1892 Brooklyn, N.Y.1 185 Sterling Place, Dear Cousin Walter,

As the Press gives us very frequent reports of your health &c we have refrained writing you. Knowing you would like to hear from us & reatives​ we write you. Margaretta has had cough 4 or 5 weeks, some better now. I am not well, old bowel trouble. No relative here seriously ill. Have not heard from the Townsend2 Tribe lately. We sincerely sympathise with you and with the knowledge of your retention of intelect​ . We join in our best Love to you, neither being able to meet you in person.

Margaretta & William A. Avery.  loc_vm.01733_large.jpg  loc_vm.01734_large.jpg  loc_vm.01735_large.jpg  loc_vm.01736_large.jpg  loc_vm.01737_large.jpg

Correspondent:
Margaretta Avery was a cousin of Whitman's mother Louisa Van Velsor Whitman; she and her husband William lived in Brooklyn and visited Whitman when he was in Camden, at which time Whitman sold Margaretta a copy of Two Rivulets and gave her a copy of Memoranda During the War (See Walt Whitman: Daybooks and Notebooks, ed. William White [New York: New York University Press, 1978], 1:44n115).

Notes

  • 1. This letter is addressed: Walt Whitman. | 328 Mickle St | Camden N.J. It is postmarked: Brooklyn, NY | MAR 1 | 9PM | 92; Camden, N.J. | MAR 2 | 6AM | 92 | Rec'd. William and Margaretta's surname "Avery" has been written on the left side of the recto of the envelope above a stamped letter "A." [back]
  • 2. The Averys are likely referring to the family of Lillie and Priscilla Townsend, who were cousins of Whitman's mother, Louisa Van Velsor Whitman (1795–1873). [back]
Back to top