Life & Letters

Correspondence

About this Item

Title: Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Louisa Van Velsor Whitman, 18 March 1870

Date: March 18, 1870

Whitman Archive ID: duk.00312

Source: Trent Collection of Whitmaniana, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. The transcription presented here is derived from Thomas Jefferson Whitman, Dear Brother Walt: The Letters of Thomas Jefferson Whitman, ed. Dennis Berthold and Kenneth M. Price (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1984), 143. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the correspondence, see our statement of editorial policy.

Contributors to digital file: Alex Kinnaman, Elizabeth Lorang, Kathryn Kruger, April Lambert, and Nicole Gray




St. Louis,
Mar 18th 1870

My Dear Mother

Mattie arrived all right on Wednesday abt 3ocl1—in the afternoon—We were all glad enough to see her I assur you—The weather had been very bad ever since she left Brooklyn—but she got along very comfortably—and looked very well when she got in—I should have written you yesterday—but I understoo[d] Mat to say that she either would or had done so

Mat had a fine visit home and I think it has done her lots of good—also I am very glad to hear that there is a prospect of getting you and Walt out here2—hope you will come sure—

Please excuse this letter as I have just time to say that Mat arrived safely—the children are well and happy as can be—


affectionately Jeff


Notes:

1. Leaving her daughters with a housekeeper and Jeff's colleague Davis, Mattie travelled to Brooklyn in mid-February 1870. Jeff accompanied her as far as Pittsburgh where he stopped for business before joining her in Brooklyn. After a few days Jeff returned to St. Louis but Mattie remained in Brooklyn until mid-March (Mattie: The Letters of Martha Mitchell Whitman, ed. Randall H. Waldron [New York: New York University Press, 1977], 68). [back]

2. These plans were not acted upon (Waldron, 70). [back]


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