Letter describing Mother's last illness, pages 8 and 9
Book 1, Page 140
Transcription
A handwritten letter spread, two facing pages numbered 8 and 9 at the top center.
Left page (8)
Sometimes she would turn her wedding ring round & round just as you have often seen her do. When she died I asked Tody to take her ring off & put it himself on Kate’s hand — He said you know it is Susan’s right — I said Yes I had not forgotten it, but I felt you would do it your self — The next day he called me & told me he would write to you about it, & make some arrangement that it should go to Ellen in case of Kate’s death — I mention this at once to tell you, that I did it, & also to show you how you were in his thoughts all the time — I see Kate often touching it, & if I have done wrong to you, you will pardon me for the sake of the comfort it now is to Kate —
Right page (9)
I cant remember exactly those words, but as well as I can I give you the idea — Once when Auntie was looking at her she said “there is a look of Sis in her face” — She took every spoonful of medicine with the patient obedience of her nature — She took leave of us on Sunday afternoon — She had tried to get an opportunity several times to speak to me about it but the Doctors were so hopeful of her, that they advised a cheerful tone should be kept up — She told Tody on Friday that she thought she had better go, & he begged her to try to stay & asked her to take the medicines & try to stay with us —
AI Notes
Two facing handwritten pages of the same long letter on the writer’s mother’s final illness. Internal page numbers “8” (left) and “9” (right). Mentions a wedding ring being passed to Kate, with Ellen named as next recipient. Continues from prior scans (pp 136–139) and onto p141.
Attribution: this letter cluster (pp 136–148, including the “Sunday” letter and the “Thursday June 12” continuation) concerns the death of Ellen Milliken Barker (Mrs. Samuel Gaillard Barker; family nickname “Maim”), mother of Theodore Gaillard Barker (“Tody”/“Toby”), Susan Milliken Barker (“Sis”), and Ellen Milliken Barker Porcher (“Aunt Ellen Porcher”, the letter’s addressee). Writer is most likely Susan Milliken Barker. The “Kate” who is given the ring is Theodore G. Barker’s wife (Louisa Preston King); “Susan” is the writer herself. The hand and address pattern match the broader Barker correspondence in the album. The handwriting, ink, and named persons all place this in the 19th century — not the Mary Anne Perry FitzSimons death (1934).
Letter continues on next page.