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St Louis March 1th
1870
Dear Uncle
Mama1 is away and we are getting along very well with out
her I want to see mama and papa2 very much I thought when she
went away I could never get along with out her but the time passed away and she will
soon be back.3
I got the book you sent me and I am very much oblighed for it papa is coming home friday4
I go to school and I study Geography Spelling arithmetic loc_ad.00251_large.jpg and, Reading when mama comes back I
will have more to write
Mama wrote me that she was going to see you and if she is there tell her to stay as
long as long as she can that we are geting along very well with out her and as this is all I have to say good by from
your loving neice
Hattie Whitman
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Correspondent:
Mannahatta Whitman
(1860–1886) was Walt Whitman's niece. She was the first
daughter born to the poet's brother, Thomas Jefferson "Jeff"
Whitman (1833–1890), and Jeff's wife Martha Mitchell "Mattie"
Whitman (1836–1873).
Notes
- 1. Martha Mitchell Whitman
(1836–1873), known as "Mattie," was the wife of Thomas Jefferson "Jeff"
Whitman, Walt Whitman's brother. She and Jeff had two daughters, Manahatta and
Jessie Louisa. In 1868, Mattie and her daughters moved to St. Louis to join
Jeff, who had moved there in 1867 to assume the position of Superintendent of
Water Works. Mattie suffered a throat ailment that would lead to her
death in 1873. For more on Mattie, see Randall H. Waldron, "Whitman, Martha
("Mattie") Mitchell (1836–1873)," ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing,
1998). See also Randall H. Waldron, ed., Mattie: The Letters of Martha Mitchell Whitman (New York: New York
University Press, 1977), 1–26. [back]
- 2. 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 name. Whitman probably had his brother in mind when he praised the
marvels of civil engineering in poems like "Passage to India." Though their
correspondence slowed in the middle of their lives, the brothers were brought
together again by the deaths of Jeff's wife Martha (known as Mattie) in 1873 and
his daughter Manahatta in 1886. Jeff's death in 1890 caused Walt to reminisce in
his obituary, "how we loved each other—how many jovial good times we had!"
For more on Thomas Jefferson Whitman, 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). [back]
- 3. Martha Mitchell Whitman
wrote to Walt on February 27, 1870 and March 1, 1870 while she was in Brooklyn about her situation
there, as well as her upcoming plans to visit and stay with Walt in
Washington. [back]
- 4. In her letter to Walt of
February 27, 1870, Martha reveals that her
husband Jeff would be returning to St. Louis from their trip in Brooklyn earlier
than expected. [back]