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Walt Whitman to Louisa Orr Whitman, 30 April 1887

About This Item

  • Title: Walt Whitman to Louisa Orr Whitman, 30 April 1887
  • Date: April 30, 1887
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.05004
  • 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 Walt Whitman, The Correspondence, ed. Ted Genoways (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2004), vol. 7, and supplemented or updated by Whitman Archive staff.
  • Contributors to digital file: Ryan Furlong Stefan Schöberlein Caterina Bernardini Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman to Louisa Orr Whitman, 30 April 1887." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 09 May 2025. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.05004.xml (TEI)
 loc_ad.00233_large.jpg Camden Saturday Afternoon April 30 '87 Dear Lou

Mrs: Goodenough has been here & I have paid her1—enclosed is receipt—I continue ab't half and half in feeling & health

—Mrs: G. says Ed is well—I rec'd a note from my sister H2 when I was in NY at the Hotel3—all ab't as usual with her—

Walt Whitman  loc_ad.00234_large.jpg

Correspondent:
Louisa Orr Haslam Whitman (1842–1892), called "Loo" or "Lou," married Whitman's brother George Whitman on April 14, 1871. Their son, Walter Orr Whitman, was born in 1875 but died the following year. A second son was stillborn. Whitman lived in Camden, New Jersey, with George and Louisa from 1873 until 1884, when George and Louisa moved to a farm outside of Camden and Whitman decided to stay in the city. Louisa and Whitman had a warm relationship during the poet's final decades. For more, see Karen Wolfe, "Whitman, Louisa Orr Haslam (Mrs. George) (1842–1892)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998).

Notes

  • 1. Margaret Goodenough took care of Whitman's mentally infirm youngest brother Ed, whose board cost $16 monthly, an expense which Walt Whitman shared with his brother George and his wife Lou, see Daybooks and Notebooks, ed. William White (New York: New York University Press, 1977), 2:510. [back]
  • 2. Hannah Louisa (Whitman) Heyde (1823–1908), youngest sister of Walt Whitman, married Charles Louis Heyde (ca. 1820–1892), a Pennsylvania-born landscape painter. Charles Heyde was infamous among the Whitmans for his offensive letters and poor treatment of Hannah. Hannah and Charles Heyde lived in Burlington, Vermont. For more, see Paula K. Garrett, "Whitman (Heyde), Hannah Louisa (d. 1908)," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
  • 3. When Hannah wrote to Whitman, he was in New York to deliver his lecture entitled "The Death of Abraham Lincoln." He gave the lecture on Thursday, April 14, 1887, and there was a reception the following day at the Westminster Hotel. [back]
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