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Monday, Feb 8 pm '92
Geo Stafford1 the father is dead—buried tomorrow—I keep on much
the same—probably growing weaker—bowel movement an hour ago.
bad steady pain in left side what I call under belly—Dr. McA2 here daily—
God bless you all
Walt Whitman
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Notes
- 1. George Stafford (1827–1892)
was the father of Harry Stafford, a young man whom Whitman befriended in 1876 in
Camden. Harry's parents, George and Susan Stafford, were tenant farmers at White
Horse Farm near Kirkwood, New Jersey, where Whitman visited them on several
occasions. For more on Whitman and the Staffords, see David G. Miller, "Stafford, George and Susan M.," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D.
Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998). [back]
- 2. Dr. Alexander McAlister
(1864–?) of Camden, along with the Philadelphia physician Daniel Longaker
(1858–1949), attended and treated Whitman during his final illness. Later,
after the city of Camden purchased Whitman's Mickle Street house, Dr. McAlister
served as the chairman of the Walt Whitman Foundation, which was dedicated to
administering and preserving the poet's final home. [back]