End of letter on Mother's last illness (page 12); start of new letter dated Thursday June 12 1874
Book 1, Page 142 ·1874
Transcription
A handwritten letter spread, two facing pages. Left page is numbered 12 at top center; right page is headed Thursday / June 12 at upper right, with a small numeral mark at upper left.
Left page (12) — conclusion of preceding letter
Kate will tell you about her remembering you all — While she was lying in bed on Wednesday she was thinking of you all the time for she asked me a dozen questions that I knew shewed her thoughts. She asked how many frills I had put in your cap box — & if you had said anything about Sams ear. She told me I would find two shirts of Tody’s that I could fix for Seaman — & that she was putting back all the work. I will write again dear Sis I have not told you half, but my head still feels so light I have done even this so badly I dont like to send it — only I dont like the day to pass & not send you something.
Right page — new letter
Thursday
June 12
Dear Sis — I tried to write to you yesterday, but it was not possible & at last Auntie sent you a note. I suppose perhaps we thought more of you, & felt more for your sorrow in parting with Mother, than if you had been with us — Tody’s one thought was to watch Mother, & consult the Drs so as to word the Telegrams for you, & he sent to Christie, to go to you — This morning he said with great emotion, what a hard time you had had — I know you realize so fully her entrance into another home, that your only grief is for your loss in her endless love, & tender thought, for you, & yours. I have been twice interrupted, but I will try to tell you all that you want to know, & if this
AI Notes
Two facing handwritten pages from the 1874 Barker family death cluster. The left page is numbered ‘12’ and concludes the long letter on Mother’s final illness. The right page begins a new letter dated ‘Thursday / June 12’ addressed ‘Dear Sis,’ written in the same hand and internally numbered (a small mark at upper left). The dying ‘Mother’ is Ellen Milliken Barker (1807-1874); the writer is her daughter Susan Milliken Barker; the recipient ‘Sis’ is Ellen Milliken Barker Porcher; ‘Tody’ is Theodore Gaillard Barker (the cursive ‘d’ is unmistakable); ‘Auntie’ is Susan Milliken Barker FitzSimons, the recipient’s sister-in-law who sent her a note in the writer’s place the day before. ‘Christie’ is the messenger Tody sent to the recipient. Mother’s bedside questions on Wednesday (about how many frills had been put in ‘your cap box,’ whether the recipient had said anything about ‘Sams’ ear,’ and Tody’s two shirts that could be fixed for ‘Seaman’) show her thoughts were with the absent sister to the last. Thursday June 12 fell in 1874. ‘Sams’ and ‘Seaman’ preserved as written (Sams is likely the recipient’s son, Seaman a young relative needing children’s shirts). Both letters continue.
Letter continues on next page.