My dear Aunt
Yrs of 14th March was received in due time, and
by way of following the good example which you therein set me as to answering
letters, I sit down to answer yours just three weeks after the reception, which
for me, is quite an improvement in regard to all my correspondents, save Lizzy,
to whom I always make a point of writing at least once a fortnight; and though
I cannot promise you to be by any means an interesting correspondent, or at all
times a very punctual one, yet, if you will only be as faithful in answering my
epistles, as you were in the last case, I will trouble you with them as often
as I can spare time and raise the energy; & tho’ more do I now wish you to
write to me, as I have no longer any one, as Lizzy, in Virginia to give me news
of my relations there, & consequently am kept in perfect ignorance of every
thing concerning them.
Speaking of Lizzy reminds me that she told in her last
(which I received only a day or so ago) that she had written you a long letter;
a thing I had been trying to get her to do for some time past, but the truth
is, that she is as lazy if not lazier about letter writing than myself, &
nothing is more difficult for her to do than to open a correspondence, &
you must by no means attribute her not having written sooner, to any want of
affection or love for Aunt Sarah or yourself, but simply to her aversion to
writing; for would you believe that I have been trying for upwards of two years
to induce her to write to Uncle Jo, whom she loves as much as any one in the
world, and she never did it until the other day, when suddenly a fit of reason
seized upon her, & she wrote to both of you about the same time; and I dare
say that if you answer her letter &
impress upon her your anxiety for her to continue writing to you, she
will not fail to do it. You must have received her letter before this, but in case
you have not I will give you her address, which is
“Care of Dr. E. Marks
Barnhamsville
Near
Columbia
S.C.”
She is much pleased with her school & shool [school]
notes – when she will come to Virginia, she does not know; she will either come
with Cousin Margaret, who will come in shortly to see Cousin Thom. married; or
if not then, Uncle Syd will bring her in about the 1st of June, the
latter, more probably, as she does not like to lose so much time as she would
have to lose, were she to come with Cousin Mary. In my last to her, I gave her,
as you desired me to do, your pressing invitation to come and spend her holiday
or a portion of it with you & Aunt Sarah.
Cousin Eliza still continues silent & I really do not
know where she is or any thing about her, I shall write again however to her,
& direct to Fincastle, some time this month. I have been much mortified at
her not writing to me, but I suppose that the settlement of the Gen’s affairs,
moving over to Botetourt, &c., occupy all of her attention & time. If
you ever see her I pray you do not fail to give her my best love & beg her
to write again to me.
Of cousin Sally McDowell’s separation from her husband, I
know nothing more than the mere fact that they have separated, & am not
aware of any of the reasons which caused it; it certainly is, as you say, a
“horrible affair,” but the marriage in the first place I have always considered
a very unfortunate one from what I heard of his character: of course, I take it
[for] [gr]anted, that “he is entirely to blame.”
I hope very much that Lizzy or Minnie will soon . . . to
write me a letter; nothing would please me more than to get one written in
their own hand; & tell Lizzy, that if she will knot me a pair of socks, I
will send her the next great big paper that comes out, all covered with
pictures as Susan Bowyer’s was.
Carlton comes on finely as usual, & no doubt will
continue to get along very well, though as well as myself he does get tired of
studying sometimes; in fact, his stay here has raised in him so belligerent
a disposition, that he is hot for joining the Texans to invade Mexico,
especially if he could get Winston to go out before-hand to see what
kind of place it is!! As for myself, I incline rather to entering the service
of the Grand Seigneur of Turkey, or of offering myself as Commander in Chief of
his forces to the Chief of the Celestial Empire; I have no doubt but that I
could cause the British to “clear out” in “Double Quick.”
I see that Wm Radford U.S.N. has been appointed to the
command of a sloop of war, & has lately sailed from New Orleans with the
American Minister for Mexico; last fall as soon as he was kicked by Miss Bruce
he came to New York, & got “ordered for sea” to cure his broken heart,
though Uncle Jo, who saw him there, says he didn’t mind it much. I hear, by the
way, that they (the Misses B) have been in Washington city for some time,
giving more magnificent & grand Levees, than even the President can afford.
Do make Uncle Radford write me a letter; I should so like
to get one from him, or aunt Sarah, or Uncle Bowyer; & if in no other way,
the next let[t]ers I write to Greenfield, shall be directed to Aunt Sarah, for
I consider that when I write to one, I write to all, & indeed it is
equivalent to it.
Nothing of any interest is now occurring, save that from
the last advices there appears a little more hope of War, a very pleasing thing
to us.
Give me love most affectionately to Aunt Sarah, & the
whole of her family, forget not to remember me also to any of my relations or
acquaintances in that pat of the world whom you may from time to time come
across. As I have very little spare time, any letters have to be written by
snatches & piecemeal, & I doubt whether they are very commendable for
accuracy, so you must excuse them.
Yr. nephew
J. Preston Johnstone
[p.s.] Carlton sends h[is love] to the whole of
Greenfield, & so do I; oh [how we] wish we could only have a chance to
co[me] see you this summer; but, at any rate, ther[e] is very little over one year more & then Lt.
Johnstone U.S.A. is his own man. JPJ
[Susan = Susanna (Susan) Smith Preston Radford (1805-1857).
Preston = John Preston Johnston/aka Johnstone (1824-1847), eighteen-year-old cadet
at the US Military Academy (Class of 1843).
Lizzy = Eliza Mary Johnston
(1825-1909).
Aunt Sarah = Sarah Radford Preston Bowyer (1806-1848)
Uncle Jo = First Lieutenant Joseph Eggleston Johnston
(1807-1891), US Corps of Topographical Engineers.
Dr. E. Marks = Elias Marks (1790-1886), head of Columbia Female
College, known variously as Barhamsville Academy, Barhamsville Collegiate Institute
and South Carolina Female Collegiate Institute. Lizzy was a boarding student there
at the time.
Cousin Margaret = Margaret Buchanan Frances Preston Hampton (January
13, 1818-January 27, 1852); she had married Wade Hampton III (1818-1902) in
Abingdon, Virginia, on October 10, 1838.
Cousin Thom. = Thomas Lewis Preston (1812-1903) married
Elizabeth Watts (1822-1843) on September 18, 1842.
Uncle Syd = Algernon Sidney Johnston (1801-1852).
Cousin Mary = this could be one of several people, unless he
means Margaret above.
Cousin Eliza Carrington = Elizabeth (Eliza) Henry Preston
Carrington 1796-1877).
General Carrington = Edward Codrington Carrington (1790-1855).
Cousin Sally McDowell = Susanna “Susan”
Smith Preston McDowell (1800-1847), was married to James McDowell (1795-1851).
But how Cousin Sally McDowell fits into the puzzle, I’m not sure.
Lizzy = Elizabeth “Lizzy” Radford (1832-1898).
Minnie = Mary Anne “Minnie” Radford (1833-1878).
Susan Bowyer = one of the Bowyer clan.
Carlton = Richard Carlton Walker Radford
(1822-1886), West Point Class of 1845.
Winston = Edmond Winston Radford (1820-1861), who married Ann
Maria Norvell on October 2, 1844. He was later killed at the Battle of First
Manassas / First Bull Run.
William Radford, U.S.N. (1809-1890). The sloop was the USS Ontario with sixteen guns. Radford
had a storied career with the US Navy, siding with the Union during the
American Civil War.
Miss Bruce = either Sarah “Sally” Bruce (1822-1882) or Ellen
Carter Bruce (1820-1862) of Halifax County, Virginia, daughters of James Bruce
(1763-1837), third wealthiest man in the USA at the time of his death. Sally
married James Alexander Seddon (1815-1880) on December 23, 1845. Ellen married
James Marion Morson (1817-1868) on September 13, 1843.
Uncle Radford = William Moseley Radford (1810-1873), husband of Susanna
(Susan) Smith Preston Radford.
Uncle Bowyer = Henry Morton Bowyer (1802-1893), husband of Sarah
Radford Preston Bowyer.]
[Many thanks to Sue Davis, William Myers, Mary Davy and Sally Young for their
ongoing research collaboration.]
From Sally Young, see: Sally Campbell Preston McDowell & Thomas Miller (1821-1895) MSA SC 3520-2259 First Lady of Maryland, 1842
ReplyDeletehttp://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/002200/002259/2259extbio.html