The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Walt Whitman, [19 March 1863]
Date: March 19, 1863
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 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, updated, or created by Whitman Archive staff as appropriate.
Contributors to digital file: Alex Kinnaman, Elizabeth Lorang, Vanessa Steinroetter, Kathryn Kruger, April Lambert, and Nicole Gray
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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 sorry that you omitted to put in 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
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]