The sad end is come. William1 passed peacefully to rest at 2 A. M. this day. He failed very much the last week, & more on Sunday, & from that day on.
It is sad because he so wanted to get well, & to the last thought he was loc.02977.002.jpggoing to recover.
But he lies now the image of perfect rest & peace, & more beautiful than I ever saw him, & looks as he did when I knew him first so long ago, & the late loss of flesh in the face has brought back the very look of youth.
loc.02977.003.jpgWill you kindly inform Dr. Bucke?2 I can not write him yet.
I am indeed alone, both children, my father & mother, all four of my brothers are gone. What a group to welcome me when I shall join them!
Last Sunday was the anniversary of our darling Jeannie's3 passing on, & I almost thought loc.02977.004.jpgWilliam would go that very day.
As ever— Nelly O'Connor.Correspondent:
Ellen M. "Nelly" O'Connor (1830–1913) was the
wife of William D. O'Connor (1832–1889), one of Whitman's staunchest
defenders. Before marrying William, Ellen Tarr was active in the antislavery and
women's rights movements as a contributor to the Liberator and to a women's rights newspaper Una. Whitman dined with the O'Connors frequently during his Washington
years. Though Whitman and William O'Connor would temporarily break off their
friendship in late 1872 over Reconstruction policies with regard to emancipated
African Americans, Ellen would remain friendly with Whitman. The correspondence
between Whitman and Ellen is almost as voluminous as the poet's correspondence
with William. Three years after William O'Connor's death, Ellen married the
Providence businessman Albert Calder. For more on Whitman's relationship with the O'Connors, see Dashae
E. Lott, "O'Connor, William Douglas [1832–1889]" and Lott's "O'Connor (Calder),
Ellen ('Nelly') M. Tarr (1830–1913)," Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998).