My dear daughter,
Your brother Edward the
bearer of this will inform you of the great calamity with which it has pleased
Almighty God to visit us. Your dear Mother is no more. Yesterday morning at ten
minutes past three o’clock her blessed spirit winged its flight to the mansions
of everlasting bliss.
Amidst the grief with
what such a misfortune has overwhelmed me it has been a sweet consolation to
know that she died with the most perfect appearance of that happening which is
only to be found in another world.
The morning before her
death she requested that Mrs. Martin might be sent for which was immediately done.
Previous to her arrival she found herself sinking so fast she began to
apprehend that Mrs. Martin might not come in time, and therefore thought it
necessary at once to make some preparations. As the first step towards this she
considered it her duty to give some advice to her husband and children and to make
some requests of her other friends, the particulars of which I will detail to
you when we meet. They were of the most effecting and interesting kind.
In the admonitions given
to her daughters she has bequeathed a legacy beyond all price. It was a great
consolation to me that your brother Charles arrived in time to partake of the
solemn lesson. He entered the room at the moment she commenced it, without her
knowledge that he was present. When he afterwards appeared kneeling at her
bedside she reached out her hand to him and said my dear Charles I am glad to
see you. You have been to me a dutiful and an affectionate son. I love you
dearly. She then went on to tell him that being the oldest of the family, the
charge of it, in the course of human events, might devolve upon him, and
pointed out with unusual clearness and perception the various duties he would,
in such an event, have to perform – amongst the first of which was the care of
his infant sisters – who would look to him for protection should they be
deprived of a father.
She then spoke of you, and expressed a strong wish that she could have seen you, observing to Charles that my Dear Lucy has been equally dutiful and affectionate with yourself -- tell her I love her from my soul, and bear to her my latest blessing.
About this time Mrs. Martin arrived. On entering the room she expressed much satisfaction that she had come and immediately requested that she would pray for her. When the prayer was ended she desired that her brother Doct'r Steptoe and Mrs. Martin might be left alone with her. The first interview was not entirely satisfactory, but the second was completely so.
When it was over she sent for me to inform me the result, which she did in a manner the most interesting that can be conceived. She then observed she was ready to go and asked Mrs. Martin if it would be sinful to [section marked out] pray to God to take her hence. She replied not if it was his pleasure. She then put up the most impressive prayer, to that effect, which ever went to the throne of god. After this she lay entrecouped for nearly an hour, when she again began to converse, but it was evident her mind had got into a state of delirium which continued to increase untill [until] about half an hour before she expired, when she became as tranquil and composed as her bodily pain would admit of and remained so to the last.
After the delirium commenced I could not longer remain in the room nor was I present at the awful moment of her exit. But the manner of it, as I am informed by those who remained, was such as might have been expected from one whose life had been so spotless.
It has added much to the poignancy of my affliction that none of your dear brothers were present except Charles and poor little Francis who was unconscious as to what was passing. The others were all in Botetourt. I had sent for them but they arrived too late.
You who have been long a witness of the attachment which I have borne to your blessed mother and whose present situation enables you to form a proper conception of the ties which have bound us together, can readily imagine the various distressed which are brought upon me by this awful calamity. In looking around for assistance and consolation where can I turn with so much confidence as to my beloved daughter[?]
May I then entreat of you, my dear child, as you value the repose of mind of your father immediately on the receipt of this to pay me a visit. A different arrangement must be made of my domestic affairs. In putting this new machine, as it were, into motion your presence will be necessary, besides it will tend to soothe and mitigate my grief.
Let nothing then I beg of you my dear child prevent you from coming. Next to yourself there is no one whom it will give me more satisfaction to see than Mr. Ambler. Bring him with you if you can. If not your brother Edward will attend you and he will follow as soon as convenient. You must calculate upon staying some time with me.
Farewell till I see you.
She then spoke of you, and expressed a strong wish that she could have seen you, observing to Charles that my Dear Lucy has been equally dutiful and affectionate with yourself -- tell her I love her from my soul, and bear to her my latest blessing.
About this time Mrs. Martin arrived. On entering the room she expressed much satisfaction that she had come and immediately requested that she would pray for her. When the prayer was ended she desired that her brother Doct'r Steptoe and Mrs. Martin might be left alone with her. The first interview was not entirely satisfactory, but the second was completely so.
When it was over she sent for me to inform me the result, which she did in a manner the most interesting that can be conceived. She then observed she was ready to go and asked Mrs. Martin if it would be sinful to [section marked out] pray to God to take her hence. She replied not if it was his pleasure. She then put up the most impressive prayer, to that effect, which ever went to the throne of god. After this she lay entrecouped for nearly an hour, when she again began to converse, but it was evident her mind had got into a state of delirium which continued to increase untill [until] about half an hour before she expired, when she became as tranquil and composed as her bodily pain would admit of and remained so to the last.
After the delirium commenced I could not longer remain in the room nor was I present at the awful moment of her exit. But the manner of it, as I am informed by those who remained, was such as might have been expected from one whose life had been so spotless.
It has added much to the poignancy of my affliction that none of your dear brothers were present except Charles and poor little Francis who was unconscious as to what was passing. The others were all in Botetourt. I had sent for them but they arrived too late.
You who have been long a witness of the attachment which I have borne to your blessed mother and whose present situation enables you to form a proper conception of the ties which have bound us together, can readily imagine the various distressed which are brought upon me by this awful calamity. In looking around for assistance and consolation where can I turn with so much confidence as to my beloved daughter[?]
May I then entreat of you, my dear child, as you value the repose of mind of your father immediately on the receipt of this to pay me a visit. A different arrangement must be made of my domestic affairs. In putting this new machine, as it were, into motion your presence will be necessary, besides it will tend to soothe and mitigate my grief.
Let nothing then I beg of you my dear child prevent you from coming. Next to yourself there is no one whom it will give me more satisfaction to see than Mr. Ambler. Bring him with you if you can. If not your brother Edward will attend you and he will follow as soon as convenient. You must calculate upon staying some time with me.
Farewell till I see you.
Ch. Johnston
[Charles Johnston
(1769-1833)
New London, Bedford now
Campbell County, Virginia. Probably at Federal Hill.
Lucy Hopkins Johnston Ambler
(1800-1888) had married Thomas Marshall Ambler (1791-1875) on April 14, 1819.
Your mother (stepmother)
= Elizabeth Prentiss “Betsey” Steptoe Johnston (1783-1820).
Her daughters = Frances Steptoe Johnston (circa 1807-after 1850), would marry Dr. James Townes Royall (1797-1860) in 1825; Mary Morris Johnston (1810-1884) would marry Dr. John Gillam Dillon (1806-1835) on October 9, 1832. Martha Butler Johnston (1814-1836) later died on the Mrs. E.R. Tucker plantation near Natchez, Mississippi, aged twenty-one.
Her daughters = Frances Steptoe Johnston (circa 1807-after 1850), would marry Dr. James Townes Royall (1797-1860) in 1825; Mary Morris Johnston (1810-1884) would marry Dr. John Gillam Dillon (1806-1835) on October 9, 1832. Martha Butler Johnston (1814-1836) later died on the Mrs. E.R. Tucker plantation near Natchez, Mississippi, aged twenty-one.
Francis = Frances
Duchouquet Johnston (1814-circa 1833?), named for a French Canadian trader connected to
Charles Johnston’s frontier adventures. He may have died in Cumberland,
Maryland. Information about his life and death is sketchy.
Charles = Charles Pickett (or Picket) Johnston (1802-1852), died near Church Hill, Mississippi. Details shaky.
Edward = Edward Pickett (or Picket) Johnston (1798-1893), would marry Anne Smith Chilton (1810-1893) on January 5,
1832.
Mrs. Martin = not sure who this is.
Dr. Steptoe = Betsey's father, Dr. James Steptoe (1750-1826), or perhaps her brother, Dr. William Steptoe (1785 or 1791-1860 or 1870)]
[Many thanks to Sue Davis, William Myers, Mary Davy and Sally Young for their ongoing research collaboration.]
Mrs. Martin = not sure who this is.
Dr. Steptoe = Betsey's father, Dr. James Steptoe (1750-1826), or perhaps her brother, Dr. William Steptoe (1785 or 1791-1860 or 1870)]
[Many thanks to Sue Davis, William Myers, Mary Davy and Sally Young for their ongoing research collaboration.]
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