Letter to Amy, page 2 — congratulations on Dee's marriage to a doctor

Scanned page 545 of Book 1 — Scan of original. Open full size →

2

you to excuse my procrastination in answering your greatly appreciated letter of June 4th.

I congratulate you on Dee’s marriage. The gentleman, I understand, is a doctor. That is splendid. A good physician makes a real worthwhile son-in-law, and that is the way you have the right to feel about it, A ^your^ grandfather was a doctor and proved himself to be a fine husband and father.

I wish that I could give you the information you ask ~~for~~ about our family. My memory, however,

AI Notes

Second sheet (numbered “2” at top centre) of a multi-page letter to Amy FitzSimons (Mrs. James Pickens Walker). Page 1 is not preserved in the album; pages 546 (“3”) and 547 (“4”) continue and close the letter, with page 547 signed G.S.F. — i.e., Gaillard Stoney FitzSimons (“Gaillie”, b. Oct 1864), Amy’s paternal uncle (the youngest brother of her father Samuel Gaillard FitzSimons Sr.). Writing in a faded fountain-pen hand, he apologises for his procrastination in answering her letter of June 4th, congratulates her on “Dee’s marriage” — the marriage of her daughter Emma Dee Walker to a doctor (later Emma Dee Walker Corbell, wife of Dr. Robert Lawrence Corbell Jr. of Portsmouth, VA, and mother of Pickens Walker “Puck” Corbell b. 13 Nov 1944) — and draws a parallel with Amy’s own grandfather, who was also a doctor (i.e., Dr. Christopher FitzSimons 3rd, G.S.F.'s father and Amy’s paternal grandfather, who died in the May 1866 Moss Grove tornado). Promises to send information about “our family” in the next paragraph, which continues on page 546.

The writer is identified as Gaillard Stoney FitzSimons (“Gaillie”, b. Oct 1864) by his signature on p547. “Dee” is Emma Dee Walker Corbell (Amy’s daughter; her son Puck Corbell was born 13 Nov 1944, so the marriage falls c.1942–1944, narrowing the letter’s date). The writer began “and that is the way you have the right to feel about it, A grandfather was…”, then crossed through “A” and inserted “your” above with a caret, yielding “your grandfather was a doctor”; “for” in “you ask for about our family” was also cancelled with a strike.

Continuation on page 546 (“3”) and page 547 (“4”); signed at the end of page 547 with the initials G.S.F. — i.e., Gaillard Stoney FitzSimons, the compiler’s paternal uncle. “Dee” is Emma Dee Walker (Mrs. Robert Lawrence Corbell Jr.). “Your grandfather was a doctor” refers to Amy’s paternal grandfather Dr. Christopher FitzSimons 3rd (G.S.F.'s own father), the Charleston physician who died in the May 1866 Moss Grove tornado in St. John’s-Berkeley parish — see p279 for the Charleston Courier obituary “Fatal Tornado”.