Martha Wood Southall Stras to Ann Bernard Johnston, June 27, 1832

[Martha Wood Southall Stras at Washington City to Ann Nancy Bernard Johnston at Abingdon, Virginia, June 27, 1832.  Bernard Family Papers, Virginia Historical Society, Section 1. This is my rough, annotated transcription from a photocopy graciously provided by William Myers. Extra paragraph breaks inserted for easier reading.]

                                                        Washington June 27^th 1832

Dear Madam,

Amid the gloom & desolation of heart which the latest cruel catastrophe at Alexandria has brought to us all, I take a melancholy pleasure in offering you my condolences on the great loss that one family has sustained, a loss that will be felt throughout not only Virginia but the Union. Virtues the most endearing, the finest talents, a manner that elevated & conciliated all who approached him, the warmest affections & the purest taste; these formed the rare & perfect character of the friend, who has been torn from us, & who seemed to concentrate all love & hopes of that little band of attached hearts, to which his own clung so fondly. Never was there a relation more kind & considerate; he appeared to live but for those around him, always to think of himself last, & to find his highest enjoyment in ministering to the happiness of others.

Here his popularity was commensurate with his acquaintance; from the highest to the lowest, every body who knew him, loved him, & while a general sadness pervaded all Congress, there was not a messenger-boy about the Capitol, not a servant at his lodgings, who was not in tears at the deplorable event.

Recent as was my intercourse with our dear lost Charles, he was to me almost as a son – to his cousin almost a brother; & if such was the warmth of feeling that greeted almost his very appearance here, how must those who have regarded & appreciated his worth, among whom all his life was spent?

Bitter is the pang with which we bewail his early & sudden removal, on our own account, it sinks in affectionate sympathy for those nearer friends, on whom the dreadful blow is yet to descend – for the bereaved brothers, for the desolate female relatives – and above all for those dear children, on whom all his tenderest thoughts & emotions lingered - & who have now no parent. But the Lord himself has not disdained to say, “Leave unto me thy fatherless children, & I will preserve them alive;” & many are the friends that the father’s virtues & His providence have raised up for those poor little orphans. First among these is yourself, dear Madam; for well do I know that my departed nephew would have confided them to you as to his own mother; often did he dilate on your amiable cares for them, & on the happy chance that had blessed them with one so kind & so competent not only to watch over their health but to form their minds.

Once or twice when I proposed that the little girl (who, I am told, is very extraordinary both in beauty & intelligence) should be brought to town for the purposes of education, his reply was that he would never remove her from the advantages of such tuition as you & my niece would bestow, as long as she could possibly enjoy them.

I am sure, from all that I have understood of you both, as well as of Louisa Johnston, that Heaven has been has been especially gracious to our poor Charles in making you the guardians of those whom he valued more than life itself, & that under your affectionate charge, the interesting little creatures will scarce miss the parents, of whom the divine hand has deprived them. Nothing consoles me so much as this thought, & the certainty that they are surrounded in their uncles by the most jealous friends.

I am already your debtor, Madam, for your extreme kindness to my son, while he resided with his best friend, the late Judge, & I have often designed to write you my thanks for all those amiable attentions which you bestowed on his illness, & which have kindled in us both the liveliest gratitude. My very weak health & many other hindrances kept me silent for a long time; & where I was most anxious to address you on the late lamented death of your excellent husband, the loss of one of my daughters, that occurred not a fortnight before, at the house of her sister in Kennebunk, Maine, rendered me quite inadequate to an effort in the epistolary way, even though it was to express the sincere grief, with which I participated in your bereavement. Alas! I had scarcely recovered myself in some degree from those shocks, when called upon to undergo a third, if anything, more dreadful, because so totally unexpected.

I should like much to know when my dear Jane will be with you; poor girl! My best love & prayers are with her. My daughter, Emily, begs to be remembered with me most affectionately to Louisa & her little boy. Kiss your sweet little orphans most tenderly for us, & accept for yourself, dear Madam, our warmest wishes for your health & happiness.

                             M. Stras    

[M. Stras = Martha Wood (1768-1834), a daughter of Valentine Wood (1724-1781) and Lucy Henry (1743-1826) and sister of Mary Valentine Wood (1769-1825), first wife of Judge Peter Johnston, Jr. (1763-1831). Martha Wood's first husband was Stephen Turner Southall (1757-1799) and her second was George Frederick Stas (1746-1811).  Charles Clement Johnston (1795-1832) was her nephew.

Ann Nancy Bernard (1775-1865) was Judge Johnston's second wife from December 12, 1828, to his death on December 15, 1831.

Orphan children = John Preston Johnston (1824-1847) and Eliza Mary Johnston (1825-1909).
My niece = Jane Mary Wood Johnston (1811-1892).
Louisa = Louisa Smith Bowen Johnston (1800-1873)
Her little boy = John Warfield Johnston (1818-1889)
My son = either Valentine Wood Southall (1789-1861) of Amelia County, or Philip Turner Southall (1791-1857) of Prince Edward. 
Daughters at Kennebunk, Maine. The daughter who died at Kennebunk, 1831/1832, is unidentified by name, but the sister she was staying with was probably Lucy Henry Southall (1790-1868), who had married Charles Cutts (1769-1846) in 1812. 
My daughter Emily = Emily Catherine Stras (1803-1872).

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