Letter from Sullivan's Island, July 5, 1853 — page 5 (Mrs. King, Pinck & Ben, Cypress Pond, Mrs. H. White, Ann Gourdin, Mrs. Gregg at Graniteville, Eliza, Geraldine Giddings & Dr. Lamb)
Book 1, Page 258 ·1853
Transcription
[Left page:]
to dine with Mrs. King, I don’t know what he is doing with himself today, a lot of fellows have to dine at the M[oultrie] House, perhaps hire me — He said walking over the Mr. H. — made him feel so badly — “every pillar puts him in mind of Miss W. She used to lean up against them all in town” & talk to him — he sends his best love to you — I think his nose is worse than ever & I don’t think him any more religious or settled than he used to be — All your friends inquire for you — Happy is well, Mrs. H. is not well, Pinck is just the same as usual, but I have come to the conclusion that I don’t like him as much as I used to — he is not kind to Dora & Pinck is going to spend all his money in fixing Ben & his family at Cypress Pond, where I am sure B. will never do anything, but drink and frolic with big neighbours. Dora is distressed to death about it, & so am I, as I can’t help sympathising with her — Every now & then we have an indignation meeting against B. which of course ends in nothing as P. — will not be advised by his friends
[Right page:]
or hear a word from I[?] — upon the subject I don’t know where it will all end — We have another new one, a perfect beauty. One of Mrs. H. White’s twins is dead, the girl. Ann Gourdin is in town as ill as she can be, & Claudian has gone up to Graniteville, near Aiken to stay with Mrs. Gregg, she is much worse, I don’t think she will live more than the summer — Eliza is married to her Dodge, & gone to her Northern home to look after her ready made children. He is not a bad looking man, & every one seemed pleased with him. I never saw her look as well as the afternoon of her wedding. She was married at half past six, and then went down to the Island with a select few in a boat of their own, at ten, the Steamer brought the select party home — I went down to the Island to see her after the wedding, they both urged me to come and see them at Salem when I come North — The only new engagement is Geraldine Giddings, to Dr. Lamb. The Lambs are in their glory as they have long been anxious for the match — Ellenor & Geraldine Bellinger remain in Stateburg & so does Mrs. B. & the rest of the family —
AI Notes
Fifth scan of the July 1853 Sullivan’s Island letter — two facing manuscript pages. Left page: writer is dining with Mrs. King while other fellows dine at the Moultrie House; gossip about Mr. H. and Miss W. (the pillar-leaning joke); status report on Happy, Mrs. H., and Pinck (well/not well/the same); Pinck’s unkindness to his wife Dora; Pinck planning to spend his money fixing up his brother Ben’s house at Cypress Pond instead of helping Dora; an ‘indignation meeting’ against Ben among the friends, who recognise Pinck will not be advised. Right page: news of a new baby (‘another new one, a perfect beauty’); the death of one of Mrs. H. White’s twins (the girl); Ann Gourdin gravely ill in town; Claudian gone up to Graniteville near Aiken to nurse Mrs. Gregg, also failing; Eliza’s marriage to a Mr. Dodge and removal to his Northern home with her ready-made step-children; full account of Eliza’s wedding — married at half past six, bridal party out to the Island by boat, the steamer fetching the select party home at ten; the writer urged to visit them at Salem; the only new engagement is Geraldine Giddings to Dr. Lamb, to the Lamb family’s satisfaction; the Bellinger sisters Ellenor and Geraldine remain in Stateburg with Mrs. Bellinger and the rest of the family.
Letter continues on the next scan.
Mrs. Gregg at Graniteville is the wife of William Gregg (1800-1867), the South Carolina manufacturer whose Graniteville Manufacturing Company (chartered 1845) was the antebellum South’s pioneering integrated cotton mill and the model company town for the Southern textile industry.