[John Warfield Johnston at Columbia, South Carolina, to Louisa Smith Bowen Johnston, via Clifton Post Office, Russell County, Virginia, October 27, 1834. Box 1, John Warfield Johnston Papers, 1778-1890, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.]
My dear mother
Burns says, in his correspondence, that it is one of the most striking characteristics of the human race that a man will go on from day to day and from month to month, suffering more from leaving undone that which he ought to do than the very doing of the deed would cost him. Thus it is with me: I ought to have written to you as soon as I arrived here, but I have put of[f] untill [sic] a week has passed; what I have suffered, however, is in some measur[e] counterbalanced by the comfortable feeling that comes over me having finished, sealed, and sent my letter! and the agreeable thought that it will be some weeks before I have to write another.
I arrived here [S]unday morning after a tedious journey of nine days and found uncle Edward and aunt Estelle sick, aunt E confined to her bed and uncle just beginning to walk about he has been sick the whole summer having relapsed after I left here in the spring. Uncle Ben started off to Orangeburg the same morning and has been taken sick there and uncle Syd has gone to see him so that I am left alone. It is a most independent feeling which one has when left alone and able to walk about the house without restraint.
I saw Misses Mitchell and Melville in Jonesborough they have a good school and are just the same except that Miss Mitchell seems to have fattened in the estimation of fifty pounds.
Uncle E. will keep my horse about a month at his own expense. [H]e will be fat by that time so that I shall [make] something on his sale. He is an excellent horse and would be worth the expense of keeping especially as he only cost 20$ he could be kept here at 40$ until the middle of June only half of which I would have to pay. The last day I came 43 miles. I have got up every morning since I have been here before sunrise and rode my horse to water about a half a mile. I feel the good effects of it already.
I have not done anything yet in the studies as every body is sick, but I will be kept busy when I do begin. The first frost fell the second morning after I got here but the weather has been so warm that I have had to resume my summer clothes.
Write to me as soon as you receive this and inform me of the state of Rob Roy['s] health and of his proficiency in his studies. [G]ive my love to everybody.
your affectionate son
J.W. Johnston
[Louisa Smith Bowen Johnston (1800-1873)
John Warfield Johnston (1818-1889)
"Uncle Ben" = Benjamin Franklin Johnston (1808-November 5, 1834)
"Uncle Edward" = Edward William Johnston (1799-1867)
"Aunt Estelle" = Marie Antoinette Estelle Costar (De Cressac Villagrand) Johnston (ca. 1802-1848)
"Uncle Syd" = Algernon Sidney Johnston (1801-1852)
Rob Roy = pet dog
"I saw Misses Mitchell and Melville in Jonesborough they have a good school" = Jonesborough Female Academy (1833-1852) in Jonesborough, Tennessee. The building still stands at 205 West College Street. Not sure yet of the exact identity of "Miss Mitchell," but Miss Melville" can be identified as Catherine M. Melville (1807-January 1881 or possibly December 1880) who relocated to Washington, D.C., shortly before the American Civil War. She is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Lot 203 East. Jane Mary Wood Johnston (1811-1892) and her daughters are buried in the same cemetery, Lot 548].
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.
My dear mother
Burns says, in his correspondence, that it is one of the most striking characteristics of the human race that a man will go on from day to day and from month to month, suffering more from leaving undone that which he ought to do than the very doing of the deed would cost him. Thus it is with me: I ought to have written to you as soon as I arrived here, but I have put of[f] untill [sic] a week has passed; what I have suffered, however, is in some measur[e] counterbalanced by the comfortable feeling that comes over me having finished, sealed, and sent my letter! and the agreeable thought that it will be some weeks before I have to write another.
I arrived here [S]unday morning after a tedious journey of nine days and found uncle Edward and aunt Estelle sick, aunt E confined to her bed and uncle just beginning to walk about he has been sick the whole summer having relapsed after I left here in the spring. Uncle Ben started off to Orangeburg the same morning and has been taken sick there and uncle Syd has gone to see him so that I am left alone. It is a most independent feeling which one has when left alone and able to walk about the house without restraint.
I saw Misses Mitchell and Melville in Jonesborough they have a good school and are just the same except that Miss Mitchell seems to have fattened in the estimation of fifty pounds.
Uncle E. will keep my horse about a month at his own expense. [H]e will be fat by that time so that I shall [make] something on his sale. He is an excellent horse and would be worth the expense of keeping especially as he only cost 20$ he could be kept here at 40$ until the middle of June only half of which I would have to pay. The last day I came 43 miles. I have got up every morning since I have been here before sunrise and rode my horse to water about a half a mile. I feel the good effects of it already.
I have not done anything yet in the studies as every body is sick, but I will be kept busy when I do begin. The first frost fell the second morning after I got here but the weather has been so warm that I have had to resume my summer clothes.
Write to me as soon as you receive this and inform me of the state of Rob Roy['s] health and of his proficiency in his studies. [G]ive my love to everybody.
your affectionate son
J.W. Johnston
[Louisa Smith Bowen Johnston (1800-1873)
John Warfield Johnston (1818-1889)
"Uncle Ben" = Benjamin Franklin Johnston (1808-November 5, 1834)
"Uncle Edward" = Edward William Johnston (1799-1867)
"Aunt Estelle" = Marie Antoinette Estelle Costar (De Cressac Villagrand) Johnston (ca. 1802-1848)
"Uncle Syd" = Algernon Sidney Johnston (1801-1852)
Rob Roy = pet dog
"I saw Misses Mitchell and Melville in Jonesborough they have a good school" = Jonesborough Female Academy (1833-1852) in Jonesborough, Tennessee. The building still stands at 205 West College Street. Not sure yet of the exact identity of "Miss Mitchell," but Miss Melville" can be identified as Catherine M. Melville (1807-January 1881 or possibly December 1880) who relocated to Washington, D.C., shortly before the American Civil War. She is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Lot 203 East. Jane Mary Wood Johnston (1811-1892) and her daughters are buried in the same cemetery, Lot 548].
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.
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