Algernon Sidney Johnston Begins Drafting 'Memoirs of a Nullifier,' July 3, 1831

[Algernon Sidney Johnston at Columbia, South Carolina, to "My dear sister" (Louisa Smith Bowen Johnston) at Abingdon, Virginia, July 3, 1831, Box 1, John Warfield Johnston Papers, 1778-1890, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University].

It's been a year since they've exchanged letters. He has written a long letter to Jane. In between the lines, it's obvious that his earlier attempts at running a fashion shop or bookstore with his brother Edward William Johnston has been a failure, and they still owe money. Instead, Algernon tells a couple of stories poking fun at "Oui Cheri," Edward's wife Marie Antoinette Estelle Costar (De Cressac Villagrand) Johnston (ca. 1802-1848), and a busybody neighbor, "Mrs. Bay" (probably Ann Davis Bay, 1757-1847).  

'The most remarkable event is that we have gone to housekeeping again, finding it pleasanter and cheaper than the other method of living. We are resolved not to exceed 500$ a year, and in order that this be enforced I keep the cash, and when Monday morning comes give Oui Cheri five dollars for the week,* and whether it lasts the seven days, or only two, it’s all the same, nothing can get any more money out of me that week.

This far we have got along quite prosperously; indeed last week we had one and nine[?] pence left. I have found it necessary, however, to prohibit the use of butter. For two reasons: firstly, it excites bilious fever: secondly, it is expensive, much beyond the mere cost of itself, for it is the nature of butter to lubricate and make slippery the throat, and thus greatly to facilitate the descent there through. It is evident therefore that the use of it occasions a much greater consumption of bread and other viands than takes place when they are allowed to remain in their natural dry state.

Our next neighbour is a certain Mrs. Bay, an old lady of no great character for veracity or magnanimity. The first morning after we moved here she sent two cucumbers; the next, something which she called a cabbage; and the next a plate of four biscuit[s]. Oui Cheri, without thinking these presents very significant, was nevertheless delighted with Mrs. Bay’s goodness, and praised her to the skies. I, however, advised her not to accept them, and predicted that they would soon have a falling out, and sure enough it soon appeared that no sooner had the old lady dispatched the plate of biscuit[s] than she seized her bonnet pushed off to Mrs. Chappell and told her (which you know was more than equivalent to putting it in the newspaper) that she supported Oui Cheri’s family entirely, that without her they would go to pot, and nothing else about the house would – Oui Cheri has been ever since in deep distress about it. I advised her to bake a cake of bread, send it as a present to Mrs. Bay, and then go and tell Mrs. Cooper (Mrs. Chappell’s rival in enlightening the town,) that she supported Mrs. Bay, but she has not the spirit to follow my advice.

Having given Jane a piece of poetry, I will send you a most sentimental piece also – here it is.'

"Sweet Laura" poem [subsequently published as "To Laura" in Memoirs of a Nullifier; Written by Himself. By a Native of the South. Columbia, S.C.: Printed and Published at the Telescope Office, 1832, pages 32-33].

'Ben talks about returning to Virga. Soon. When he does, Edward and [blank] will write to father and Charles. As for myself, I don’t expect this summer to stir a hundred yards from where I now am. For the present I’m now turned author. The other day I sold a parcel of manuscripts for 200$. What do you think of that? I confess, that it was to a fellow in whose debt I was, and who probably calculated that he’d never get anything better. I do this because I have little else to employ me this summer. In the fall I will go at something more serious. I have much else to say, but, as you see, no more room.'

Again solicits a letter – asks about John also, and "father."

And so the letter ends. 

Taking a look at the Federal Census of 1830 for Columbia under "E. W. Johns[t]on," there are listed two white males under 30, one white female under 30, one black female slave aged 10-23 and one black female slave under 10. The enslaved members of the household are never directly mentioned in this letter. Mrs. Bay, listed on the same pages of the 1830 census, includes fourteen enslaved members in her household (all but one, female) and one white female 20-30. 

*Five dollars in 1831 roughly equals $140.00 in 2016. 

[Algernon Sidney Johnston (October 17, 1801-September 22, 1852)
Louisa Smith Bowen Johnston (February 16, 1800-March 17, 1873)
Marie Antoinette Estelle Costar (De Cressac Villagrand) Johnston (ca. 1802-December 15, 1848)
Edward William Johnston (October 17, 1799-December 9, 1867)
Jane Wood Johnston (November 26, 1811-January 6, 1892)
Charles Clement Johnston (April 30-1795-June 17, 1832)
Benjamin Franklin Johnston (November 18, 1808-November 5, 1834
John Warfield Johnston II (September 9, 1818-February 27, 1889)
Peter Johnston, Jr. (January 6, 1763-December 8, 1831)]

For their help and assistance, many thanks to the staff of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. For more information about the John Warfield Johnston Papers, here's a link to the guide.