Sunday, August 21, 2016

Jane Mary Wood Johnston Mitchell/Michel to John Preston Johnston, February 8, 1841

[Jane Mary Wood Johnston Mitchell/Michel at Lilliput, Abingdon, Virginia, to John Preston Johnston, at United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, February 8, 1841, Box 26, Folder 12, Series X, Sub-series J, Robert Morton Hughes Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Patricia W. and J. Douglas Perry Library, Old Dominion University Libraries, Norfolk, VA 23529. This is my rough transcription.] 

My dear boy,

I received your letter to-day, & assure you that I was highly gratified to perceive that you still remember and love your unworthy aunt. I have frequently promised myself that I would write to you, but as I have heard of you very often without any direct correspondence, I suffered my daily round of household duties, and petty cares, to engross my time, and prevent the fulfillment of my purpose. I am truly glad that you, my beloved nephew, have opened a correspondence which will afford me so much pleasure. I was sure that your uncle Beverly was in the habit of writing to you frequently, as he often told me of letters received from you. I shall take him to task for his negligence, the first time I lay eyes on him. I have an idea, however, that he is engaged in a correspondence of a most interesting nature, with a young lady (of course) & doubt not that you will excuse his being remiss in attending to the claims of less fair writers. He is still in pursuit of Miss Daniel -- and, I am told by one of his friends, with a good prospect of success. He himself is perfectly impenetrable on the subject. I suppose you know that his quondam flame, Miss Erskine, is married -- to an ordinary, & somewhat aged man, a Mr. Gay.

You give the first intelligence I have had of brother Joseph's love affair. I do most sincerely wish that he may gain the heart & hand of his lady love, if she be such as he paints her. I should like to have a sister-in-law that I could love & esteem rather more highly than her of Hayti. I never know where to direct a letter to Joseph. I therefore entreat that you will write to him, in my name, and urge him most strongly to pay us a visit the ensuing spring or summer. We hope to have you, & Liz, & brother Sydney, with us. Our dear Joseph's presence would make us almost too happy. Do beg him, in every way you can think of, to come, & tell him that we all love him as dearly as ever. I should not be surprised if mamma were to visit us next summer, & sister Louisa is pledged to give us her company. They both mention you most affectionately when they write to me.

You ask where we are living? Do you remember where Spiker used to live, on the main road, half a mile west of Abingdon? His house has been pulled down & ours built on the same lot; (though further from the road) by Mr. Railey. It is a neat little cottage -- the situation is beautiful, & the distance from town so short that our friends there can conveniently come to breakfast or tea with us. We have a small circle of very agreeable associates, with whom we are on the most friendly terms, indeed as intimate as near kindred, and your two uncles are often with us. So I have every reason to be pleased with our place of abode. Your aunt Preston breaks us house every fall, and spends the winter in Carolina, with Margaret. She is there now, & will, in all probability, remain until Thomas's return, which is fixed for April or May.

Your little playmate, Louisa, still thinks of you with undiminished affection. She talks of you every day, & mentions your kindness to her. She has grown a great deal since you saw her, & is much prettier. But my boy is my beauty, He is certainly (partiality aside) the sweetest little fellow that I ever saw, and your uncle Harvey thinks he bids fair to be as clever & smart as his cousin Preston.

Your uncle Harvey has been in Lynchburg all the winter closely occupied in painting. His success there was totally unlooked for. He started from home to spend the winter in Petersburg, but, being accidentally detained in Lynchburg got to painting there, & has had an extraordinary run of business. He expects to return home next month, I know he will be delighted to see you here -- he always speaks of you with the affection of almost a father. I must now lay this aside until I see your uncle Beverly who is from home just now.

I have kept this a week, waiting to see your uncle Beverly. He needed no persuasion, I assure you, to give his consent to your coming home  in the next summer. He says he wants you, by all means, to come, & that he will send you, shortly, a permit to get a furlough. I would have you bear in mind, my dear boy, that I shall expect you to spend nearly all the time with us here. A few days in Botetourt, and the rest here, with Eliza. Lou sends her love. Pray do not let it be long before you write again to your affectionate aunt.

Jane W. Michel

[Lilliput = cute name for the cottage that must have been inspired by Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726, 1735). 
Jane Mary Wood Johnston Mitchell/Michel (1811-1892)
John Preston Johnston (1824-1847) and Liz/Eliza = Eliza Mary Johnston (1825-1909), children of Charles Clement Johnston (1795-1832) and Eliza Madison Preston Johnston (1803-1828)
Bev = Beverly Randolph Johnston (1803-1876)
Joseph = Joseph Eggleston Johnston (1807-1891)
"Her of Hayti" Marie Antoinette Estelle Costar (De Cressac Villagrand) Johnston (ca. 1802-December 15, 1848)
Mamma = probably Ann Nancy Bernard Johnston (1775-1865)
Louisa = Louisa Smith Bowen Johnston (1800-1873)
Margaret = probably Margaret Buchanan Frances Preston Hampton (1818-1852)
Thomas = possibly Thomas Lewis Preston (1812-1903)
Lou = Mary Louisa Mitchell/Michel (1838-1930)
"My boy" = William Manning Mitchell/Michel (1839-1908)
Harvey Mitchell/Michel (1799-1866)
Sydney = Algernon Sidney Johnston (1801-1852)]

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