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Margaretta and William A. Avery to Walt Whitman, 16 September 1891

About This Item

  • Title: Margaretta and William A. Avery to Walt Whitman, 16 September 1891
  • Date: September 16, 1891
  • Creator(s): Margaretta and William A. Avery
  • Whitman Archive ID: loc.05414
  • 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.
  • Contributors to digital file: Ethan Heusser Cristin Noonan Alex Ashland Stephanie Blalock
  • Cite this page: Avery, Margaretta and William A.. "Margaretta and William A. Avery to Walt Whitman, 16 September 1891." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 03 May 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: loc.05414.xml (TEI)
 loc_gk.01403_large.jpg Bln Sep 16/91 Dear Cousin Walter

Most the time I am in the house, being weak & unwell. Margta is quite well, and often refers to her very pleasant visit to you about this time last year. We hear of you often through newpapers &c1

We send our love to you,

As Ever Mgta & Wm A. Avery 185 Sterling Place.  loc_gk.01404_large.jpg  loc_gk.01405_large.jpg NY World. Sep 16/91  loc_gk.01406_large.jpg

Correspondent:
Margaretta Avery was a cousin of Whitman's mother Louisa Van Velsor Whitman; she and her husband William lived in Brooklyn and visited Whitman when he was in Camden, at which time Whitman sold Margaretta a copy of Two Rivulets and gave her a copy of Memoranda During the War (See Walt Whitman: Daybooks and Notebooks, ed. William White [New York: New York University Press, 1978], 1:44n115).

Notes

  • 1. The Averys enclosed a newspaper article titled "Murder and Arson Prevented" that was published in the September 16, 1891, issue of New York World. The article details how the lives of Treadwell Whitman and his sister—a couple living at Smithtown, Long Island—were saved when a Deputy Sheriff made arrests that foiled a plot to murder the couple and set fire to their home. Treadwell Whitman was related to Walt Whitman's father, Walter Whitman, Sr. (1789–1855). [back]
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