The Walt Whitman Archive
Life & Letters
Correspondence
About this Item
Title: Samuel G. Stanley to Walt Whitman, 13 July 1886
Date: July 13, 1886
Whitman Archive ID: loc.04323
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.
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, Stefan Schöberlein, Ian Faith, and Stephanie Blalock
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[illegible]LEY & UNCKLES,1
[illegible] Blind and Door Manufacturers,
Butler Street, Near Third Avenue.
Brooklyn, N. Y. July 13...th
1886
Mr Walt Whitman
Dear Friend
Probably you have forgotten me by this time. In the long "times gone by" you may remember me with some other lads who used to sit in your room in Myrtle [ave?] & hear you tell stories & help you drink coffee. There was Joe Heyer, Bill Devoe,2 your brother Jeff,3 & others. I remember well the first time I ever saw President Lincoln. You & I stood talking on G St. (I think it was) near Secretary Chase's residence Washington. You said to me "There goes Uncle Abe, I shall never forget [illegible] impression it made on me at the time.
I saw an article in the Sunday Eagle giving an account of an interview with you at your home in Camden which interested me very much. Joe Heyer loaned me the paper to read it & by the by Joe works for us & we often in speaking of old times, mention the days & times we passed with our old friend Walt Whitman. I am collecting Photos of distinguished Americans & would be glad to get one of yours, if it can be got. Joe has an Engraving of you which he prizes highly. If there is any published will you let me know. I suppose your time is occupied but I should dearly love to hear form you & believe me to be
Your old friend
Sam G. Stanley
Correspondent:
Little is known about Samuel
G. Stanley besides the information he provides in this letter. He was apparently
a friend from Brooklyn.
Notes:
1. This letterhead likely refers to Samuel G. Stanley and John F. Unckles's business, which was known as Stanley & Unckles, Sash, Blind, and Door Manufacturers. It was located at the corner of Butler and Nevins in 1876; see Important Events of the Century: Containing Historical and Important Events During the Last Hundred Years (New York: United States Central Publishing Company, 1876), 170. [back]
2. William Devoe, a carpenter. He corresponded with Jeff as late as 1885. See the letter from Thomas Jefferson Whitman to Walt Whitman of February 23, 1885. [back]
3. 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). [back]