Frances Steptoe Johnston Royall to Sarah Tate Steptoe Massie, August 20, 1827

[Frances Steptoe Johnston Royall at Botetourt, Virginia, to Sarah Tate Steptoe Massie at Rose-Mills, Nelson County, Virginia, August 20, 1827. Massie Family Papers, Virginia Historical Society. This is my rough, annotated transcription from a copy graciously provided by William Myers. Extra paragraph breaks inserted for easier reading.]

                                                             Botetourt August 20^th 1827

My dear Aunt

I have no doubt but you will be surprised and disappointed at our not coming by your house on our way home as we intended and partly promised but various circumstances which I will relate to you convened to determine us on a contrary plan.

In the first place Julius whose feelings are extremely mortified, was desirous to reach home without seeing any of his friends which perhaps might have produced unpleasant recollections and papa wished his sentiments in that case to be consulted.

Again we found that by going through Lynchburg that it would retard our arrival at home at least three or four days and the Dr. was anxious to be at home as soon as possible as the season was very inconvenient at any rate for him to be about so you are fully convinced that it was not from want of inclination to see you for nothing would afford me more satisfaction than to spend a few weeks with you and it is my determination to do so if possible this fall or winter.

We had a most intolerable time of it for three or four days after leaving your home travelling constantly through the rain and mud and arrived safely at Mr. Ambler’s on Thursday. I staid [stayed] there eleven days and passed my time delightfully. The trip altogether was quite a treat to me and I felt quite melancholy at leaving my dear sister who I may perhaps never visit again.

Mary and Martha were not willing to come as their mode of life at Fauquier was far more consonant with their feelings than being at home in the midst of noise and tumult. However I hope they will try to content themselves with their lot as it is perhaps ordered for the best.

Papa has had very poor success so far with the springs this summer which makes him very low spirited. I am informed that the white sulphur springs are thronged with the rich and the fashionable.

I expect the Dr. [Dr.’s] Sister & her family in a day or two to spend several weeks with me and anticipate much happiness in their society for she is certainly one of the best women in the world and I feel as much attached to all his relations as if they were my own dear brothers and sisters.

It is growing late now and as I have already written to sister Lucy tonight I think it high time to finish my letter, though it would give me pleasure to write now if I had sufficient material but I have been in the neighborhood too short a time to gather any news.

The Dr. desires to be remembered to you and Mr. Massie. I hope our correspondence will be now continued for I am sure I never had the disposition to leave off and I cannot tell why it happened that I did. Farewell my dear aunt and believe me your truly affectionate niece.

                                                    Frances S. Royall

P.S. This is miserable writing to be sure but I can do no better with the pen I have and it is not a very easy matter for me to have a good one as I never could make one myself and I don’t like to be always troubling other people. Write soon if you please as you cannot conceive how much I like to hear from you. Direct to Salem Botetourt.              Kiss Thomas if he will let you.

[Papa = Charles Johnston (1769-1833); "his springs" = Botetourt Springs. 

Dr. James Townes Royall (circa 1797-1860) had married Charles Johnston's daughter Frances Steptoe Johnston (circa 1807-after 1850), in Botetourt County on December 27, 1825. Dr. Royall graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1818. Charles' nephew John Warfield Johnston (1790-1818) graduated from there in 1814. (Hence, references to “Dr.”). Frances' mother was Charles' second wife, Elizabeth Prentiss Steptoe (1783-1820). 

Sarah “Sally” Tate Steptoe Massie (1796-1828) was married to William Massie (1795-1862) and was the daughter of James Steptoe (1750-1826). There is a massive Massie collection at the University of Texas here.

Thomas = Thomas James Massie (1817-1877), born on March 23, 1817.

Julius = Julius Dandridge Johnston (1811-1851), another mystery. He apparently took off for Missouri, where he married Neville Constance Christy (1810-?) on December 10, 1834, in St. Charles. But they were back in Virginia when their children were born: Virginia Neville Johnston (1835-1869) and Martha Louise Johnston (1837). The older daughter married Beverly Holcomb Robertson (1827-1910), a US Army officer, in St. Louis in 1856. Robertson joined the Confederacy and became a brigadier general in the cavalry. As for Julius Dandridge Johnston, after the death of his wife, he became a Jesuit and died at the age of forty in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he is buried.

Lucy Hopkins Johnston Ambler (1800-1888) had married Thomas Marshall Ambler (1791-1875) on April 14, 1819.

Mary = Mary Morris Johnston would marry Dr. John Gillam Dillon (1806-1835) on October 9, 1832.

Martha = Martha Butler Johnston (1814-1836) later died on the Mrs. E.R. Tucker plantation near Natchez, Mississippi, aged twenty-one. 

The Dr.’s family = Siblings included Mary Allen Royall Holcombe (1785-1868), who had married Thomas Anderson Holcombe (1785-1843) in 1810; Judith Archer Royall (1788-1867), who had married William Royall (1780-1817), a cousin, in 1805; and Joseph Edwin Royall (1792-1829), who had married Mary Elizabeth Gwatkin (1805-1893) in 1821.]

[Many thanks to Sue Davis, William Myers, Mary Davy and Sally Young for their ongoing research collaboration.]