Typed letter from W. Huger FitzSimons to his sister Ellen, 5 November 1918 (Mills River Farm; Mr Osborne; visit to Gaillie)

Scanned page 287 of Book 1 — Scan of original. Open full size →

[Printed firm stamp, upper left:] Fitz Simons & Fitz Simons / Charleston, S.C.

LAW OFFICE OF W. Huger Fitz Simons 63 BROAD ST. CHARLESTON, S.C.

November 5, 1918

Miss Ellen M. FitzSimons, c/o Mr Gaillard S. FitzSimons, 545 South Church St., Spartanburg, S.C.

Dear Sister:—

On my return here yesterday morning after a week’s absence I found my desk covered with an accumulation of work as usual in such cases. I did not have time to get to the Bank of Charleston yesterday and today is a legal holiday — election day and Banks closed. However I will see Mr Pringle in the morning and arrange that your deposit of $5500.00 shall draw interest as soon as possible. I enclose deposit slip of the Bank of Charleston under date of October 28th, 1918, crediting you with ~~this~~ $5500.00 and also, some blank checks; perhaps you had better send me your signature on a slip of paper if you have not already done this for the Bank of Charleston as it is usually required. I have your notes and mortgage on the Farm at Mills River for the sum of $10,000.00 in my safe and will hand them to you on your return. The Mortgage was recorded on the 28th October 1918 in the Office of the Register of Deeds, Henderson County, N.C., in Book 46 page 310. I am quite sure Mr Osborne will pay you the rent for this year when his crop is gathered for he understands it was a part of the agreement of sale. I estimate my travelling expenses for you at $15.00, I paid for the U.S. documentary stamps upon your deed required by Law $15.50, for recording your Mortgage $1.50, and for my services as a Lawyer in connection with the title and sale of the Farm to Mr Osborne for $15,500.00 at $150.00 or $182.00 in all for which I enclose a memorandum. I believe it would be wise and prudent for you to purchase not less than $5000.00 in U.S. Government Bonds even though you do not get as much as 5%; but you can decide this later.

Certainly enjoyed my visit to Gaillie’s home on Sunday and was delighted to see him apparently so much stronger and in such a nice home so prettily fixed up by his two charming and beautiful daughters; and you can tell those kids I mean what I say and that they make me feel a trifle shy and bashful in their presence and they have such natural “grown up people’s” ways about them. Tell them not to forget my sandwich and I will meet them on the train due to arrive in Spartanburg Sunday morning next about 10 o’clock and we will all go to H’ville as per agreement and inspect and quarrel over that Mulberry furniture. Reg is at home today because his one pair of trousers is at the tailor and he says I surely cannot expect him to walk down Broad St without them.

Yours aff’l’y,

[signed in ink:] W Huger Fitz Simons

AI Notes

Typewritten letter on the printed letterhead ‘LAW OFFICE OF / W. Huger Fitz Simons / 63 BROAD ST. / CHARLESTON, S.C.’ dated November 5, 1918. The ‘Fitz Simons & Fitz Simons, Charleston, S.C.’ line at the upper left is a printed firm stamp (not a pencilled annotation). Addressed to ‘Miss Ellen M. FitzSimons, c/o Mr Gaillard S. FitzSimons, 545 South Church St., Spartanburg, S.C.’ Recipient is the writer’s sister Ellen Milliken FitzSimons (the future Librarian of the Charleston Library Society); ‘Gaillie’ is brother Gaillard Stoney FitzSimons of Spartanburg. Letter business covers a $5500 deposit at the Bank of Charleston, return of mortgage and notes for Ellen’s Mills River farm ($10,000), the recording of the mortgage in Book 46 page 310 at the Henderson County (NC) Register of Deeds on 28 Oct 1918, sale of the farm to Mr Osborne for $15,500 (the deed-stamp fee of $15.50 and the recording fee of $1.50 confirm the $15,500 figure), lawyer’s fees totaling $182, and advice to purchase NOT LESS than $5,000 in U.S. Government Bonds. Closes with a warm description of Sunday’s visit to Gaillie’s Spartanburg home, his two ‘charming and beautiful daughters,’ a charge to ‘tell those kids… they make me feel a trifle shy and bashful’ and not to ‘forget my sandwich,’ plans to meet on the Sunday train to Spartanburg and ride together to H’ville (Hendersonville) to inspect-and-quarrel over the Mulberry furniture, and a wry note that Reg is housebound because his trousers are at the tailor. Signed ‘Yours aff’l’y, W Huger FitzSimons.’ Sideways-written pencil marginalia along the right margin annotates ‘Enclose Huger’s letter / [?] / Gallie [?]’ — placement / wording uncertain in the cursive.

Sideways pencil marginalia along the right margin (likely the compiler’s hand later filing the letter): apparently ‘Enclose Huger’s letter… Gallie…’ — the cursive overlaps the typed text and exact wording is uncertain.