Kimber Letter 12: Aunt Sarah and the Electric Machine

The Kimber Letters are writings exchanged between the Kimber sisters and their mother, Keziah (Bennett) Kimber. The letters found their way to the sister’s descendants. I treasure them and am grateful to the late Edna Raymond for giving me transcriptions.

In today’s letter, 3^rd Great Grandaunt Sarah Bethia (Kimber) Mackney writes to her sister Abigail in Orange County, New York. Sarah and her husband William were living in Troy, Pennsylvania July 25, 1855. Of the nine Kimber sisters, I affectionately dub Sarah as ‘the one that can dish it out’. Aunt Sarah’s annoyed Aunt Abby hasn’t written and begins her letter with a zinger:

     “I am going to drop a few lines to you although I don’t know that is hardly my to duty to worry myself to do so for I have never had the scratch of a pen from you since I have lived in Pennsylvania”

She continues to scold her in a humorous manner throughout her letter.

In Sarah’s earlier writings, she describes health problems that trouble her. Just the previous week, she tried electrical shock treatments to improve her health.

     “I have ben trying the power of electricity 

      I have taken three or four light shockes the past week 

      it makes me feel rather nervous but the Doc thinks that it will be a benefit”

Some medical practitioners believed electricity could cure everything from constipation to rheumatism. Perhaps future letters will reveal how Aunt Sarah fared from the treatments.

The Detroit Free Press

Sunday, March 24, 1889 Advertisement

Aunt Sarah discussed Aunt Abby’s health with her doctor and planned to send her medicine to try. Aunt Abby was experiencing ‘difficulties’.

A little family news was exchanged about the nieces and nephews. Emily Decker, Phebe Kimber and John Decker’s daughter, wrote to Aunt Jane (Kimber) Seeley about James Clark’s marriage. James was the son of Charity Kimber and William P. Clark. The Aunts speculated that Charity and William’s daughter might someday marry Erastus Elston, the widower of their sister, Julia Ann Kimber.

Letter 12.

July 25th. 1855

Dear Sister Abby

I am going to drop a few lines to you although I

dont know that it is hardly my duty to worry

myself to do so for I have never had the scratch

of a pen from you since I have lived in

Pennsylvania    when I write to Mother I get

answered directly and I love to write to her and

Mother I shall write to you oftener if my health

gets better     it is very hard work for me to

write now    my health has somewhat improved

since I wrote you and I think it is still

improving although I have not been feeling quite

as well for a few days past     I have ben trying

the power of electricity    I have taken three or

four light shockes the past week     it makes me€

feel rather nervous but the Doc thinks that it

will be a benefit to me and I think myself that

it will     Abby if you was here I would give you

a shock and arouse up your sensibilities     for I

have got the machine here for perhaps it might

stir you up to write occasionly     the Doctor

thinks that I am going to have my health pretty

good yet     I asked him the other day if he

thought I should get smart enough to go th

Orange County this fall and he said he thought I

would     I hope I can come for I want to come

home so bad and see you all once more     Abby I

am going to send you some of my medicine and I

want you to be sure and take it     I will send

two kinds of pills enough to last 8 or 10 days

and when you have taken them up write to me how

you feel and just how the medicine affects you

if   it afftects you at all be very particular to

write how your health is and what your worst

difficulties are this summer    take them just as

I have directed on the papers the ______ on

going to bed and the beladonna twice a day

morning and nooe     the Doctor told me to send

you these two remedies and let you try them     I

described your case to him as well as I could

dont eat any pepper     allspice     or nutmeg while

you are taking them nor use any camphor     every

thing else you can eat as usual     dont neglect

to write when you have taken them up and you

will hear from me again    if the pills should be

jammed  fine when they reach you as perhaps they

may pick out 6 whole ones and jam them up and

then you can give a pretty good guess how much

you had ought to take     if you should find the

pills so large that you can not swollow them

with ease Father will have to make a little

puncher and punch them down     but laying all

jokes aside there is virtue in the little

critters     I assure you    but I must close for I

am so tired that I can not write decently     Jane

received a letter from Emly Decker last night

after she had done writing     she wrote they were

all well and that James Clark was married on the

4th to Harriet Wilson     Emly said that Erastus

said he would come out west this fall if Phebe

Jane will come with him and she said there

appeared some signs of her becoming the mother

of those dear little children    I have no

remarks to make only o dear you must all come

and see us this fall if you can possibly     no

more at present     write soon    with my love now

and ever good bye

to Abby L. Kimber from Sarah L. Mackney

To read earlier Kimber Letters click on the label 'Kimber Letters' at the bottom of this post.

Dancing On an Autumn Day in 1824

Dancing and socializing on an autumn day with friends sounds pleasant. Not quite for Great Grandmother Mary. Here’s the story.

My 3^rd Great Grandmother Mary A. (Case) Peck was born Jan. 23, 1800 in Norwich, New London Co., Connecticut. Mary was the fourth child of Asahel Case and Rosanna Sloan.

It’s likely the Case family attended the First Baptist Church in Norwich since two daughters were baptized into the congregation. Great Grandmother Mary was baptized when she was 17 years old on Nov. 12, 1817. Eleanor Case, Mary’s older sister, was baptized the same year. Baptists generally didn’t believe in Sunday school or baptizing infants. They felt it was the parents’ responsibility to teach their children the Christian faith. On her baptism day, Mary was immersed in water according to First Baptist traditions.

Church meetings began with singing and prayer. I can’t say if this was the case with Great Grandmother’s church but some Baptist churches wouldn’t allow musical instruments at their services.

Apparently, the Baptists frowned on dancing. At an unknown locale in the fall of 1824 Mary enjoyed a little dancing with the young people. You know how word gets around; someone told the Church Elders. At the Oct. 5, 1824 church meeting, the fifth order of business directed Elder Palmer to call on Mary Case.

Three days later, Friday, Oct. 8, 1824, Sister Mary Case appeared at the meeting house and admitted “she has done wrong” and appeared contrite.  Afterward she was warmly accepted by the church community.

Image from Connecticut State Library Microfilm Collection

                               Friday, Octr. 8^th 1824

                                                    Met pursuant to

                               adjornment opened the Meeting by Singing

                               & prayer and proceeded to business - - - - -

                               1^st Sister Mary Case being present manifested

                               She had done wrong in joining with the youts

                               in dancing manifested repentanes of past  Gave

                               Satisfaction to the Chh. & was cordially received

You can read more about Mary Case’s married life at blog post Bester B. Peck, Husband and Father, 1798-1863.

Sources:

   Vital Records of Norwich 1659-1848, pub. Hartford; Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut; 1913, Part II, Page 628

   First Baptist Church Records, Norwich, Connecticut, 1800-1889, Microfilm Reel #64, 65, LDS #0005066 housed at the Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut

My Ancestry

3^rd Great Grandmother Mary A. Case and husband Bester B. Peck

2^nd Great Grandmother Mary M. Peck and husband Walter S. Wilson

Great Grandfather Jerome W. Wilson and wife Grace Lee Clark

Grandmother Viola L. Wilson and husband Frank Leroy Doty

My Mother

Myself

Anton Romako's Watercolor, 1889

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

KIMBER LETTER 11: POTATOES, PEAS AND A PLUM TREE

The Kimber Letters are writings exchanged between the Kimber sisters and their mother, Keziah (Bennett) Kimber. The letters found their way to the sister’s descendants. They’ve been saved and shared among us for over 150 years. I treasure them and am grateful to the late Edna Raymond for giving me transcriptions.

“It is with much pleasure that I set down this afternoon to wright you a letter” begins Jane Eliza Kimber’s letter to her mother, father and sister Abigail back home in Orange County, New York. Keziah and Benjamin Kimber must have found comfort in her words. During the last nine months Jane Eliza and her husband, Moses Seely, endured difficult times. In November of 1854 their home burned to the ground, and they lost nearly all their belongings (see Letter 6). Hardship turned to heartbreak the following month when Jane and Moses’ baby boy Willie Emit passed (Letter 9).

Moses and Jane Eliza left Orange County and moved to Troy, Bradford Co., Pennsylvania around spring 1855. I’m certain Jane Eliza’s sister, Sarah Bethia, and husband William Mackney were happy to have the Seely family join them in Troy.

As I read Jane’s letter, I heard enthusiasm in her words describing her peas and beans, Isabel’s schooling, the wheat fields and even the price of potatoes, butter and milk. She’s hoping her brother-in-law, Erastus Elston, will visit and bring one of the Kimber’s with him. Sister Phebe Decker owes her a letter.

Jane Eliza has news she didn’t tell but I’ll share. She was expecting a baby. Six months after this letter was written, a baby girl, Sarah Alice Seely, joined the family in January 1856.

Transcription Letter 11

July 25th.  1855

Dear Parents and Sister

It is with much pleasure that I set down this

afternoon to wright you a letter    you think    no

doubt   that   I have forgotten you but I have not

and now I would say to you that we are all well

and doing as well as we can    we received your

letter the 17 and was glad to hear from you    it

done  like seeing you and talking to you Mother

you wanted us to write if we wanted you to dry

us some currents    we should like to have some

if they are not all gone when this reaches you

as we have not any here    we havent any fruits

here but one plumb tree    our garden looks very

good what there is of it    it is very small so

we do not have much of a variety    we have had

no potatoes but soon will    we have had peas and

beans    Mr. Dobbins sowed a lot of peas a little

way from the house and they told us to go and

get what we wanted and I tell you that we have

almost fatten on them    Mother Isabel goes to

school now    she likes to go and learns very

fast    she reads in her AB  abs she says that

she is going to write grandma a letter some day

   she has good health and grown very fast    we

have had a sight of rain here and are still

haveing    they have commenced to get there

harvest around here but O Mother if you could se

the wheat fields around here it would do your

eyes good to look at them    there is a lot of

forty acers in it all wheat   I think it will make

some man sweat to get that   it looks as if

might be lowed than it is flour is selling at

eleven dollars a barrel here and young potatoes

at one dollar a bushel    we have to pay eighteen

pence a pound for butter    three cents a quart

for milk    that dont seem like going to our    own

milk pan and butter tray    I tell you I think if

we can get a farm we shall go on one another

year    we shall build our house and rent it out

   we can make as much at that as any thing for

rents is so high here in Troy    O if I could

come home once in a while it would do me so much

good    Mother you said in the leter that you

sent to me that Erastus talks of coming out here

after haying

tell him to come and if he does come some one of

you must come with him for I do want to see you

so bad    now tell him if he comes to write what

time he will come    I dont know whether I shall

come out this fal or not    I will if I can

Mother you must tell me if Mr. P. comes to our

house yet   if he does it is time they put a

match to it and struck it of and come and see us

  I dont know as I have got much more to wright

at this time    I would like to know what has

becom of Phebe    I writ them a letter two or

three months ago but I have not heard from them

since    I am a going to write her a nother and

se if she will answer it    O Mother if I could

se you I could talk a week night and day    but I

must close for this time    give my respect to

all that ask after me and my love to Father

Mother and Sister and ever remain your

affectionate Daughter and Sister until Death

so no more

Wright soon

Good by

Jane Eliza Seely

Still life with peas and plums

Painted by Mateusz Tokarski circa 1795

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

To read earlier Kimber Letters click on the label 'Kimber Letters' at the bottom of this post.

Great Grandmother Catherine Sells Grandpa’s Whiskey Stills

4^th Great Grandmother Catherine (Thomas) Snyder became a widow Oct. 16, 1822 when her husband Martin Snyder died in Augusta County, Virginia.

Martin mapped out Catherine’s financial future in his will. See my post, I, Martin Snyder, of the County of Augusta and State of Virginia Make my Last Will and Testament for details. Grandfather’s executor, Joseph Brown, presented an inventory and accounts in Augusta County Court 1825, 1827 and 1836.

The 1836 accounting proved interesting and yes, that’s how I know Grandmother sold the whiskey stills Grandfather left her. You can see from the image below, she sold the stills along with ‘sundry tools and farming utensils’ for $104.78 on April 29, 1829.

I first noticed the stills in Martin Snyder’s inventory and wrote an earlier blog post Found Great Grandfather’s Whiskey Stash in the Estate Inventory. The Snyder’s kept the stills running after Martin’s death and Grandmother Catherine made some cash for herself selling whiskey.

Executor Joseph Brown noted the estate received a legacy owed 4^th Great Grandfather Martin from his father’s estate. 5^th Great Grandfather Michael Snyder died before Martin, but Great Grandfather Michael stipulated Martin’s $200 legacy would be honored only after the death of Michael Snyder’s wife. She must have died around April 1829. Great Grandfather Martin only expected $200, but the family received more--$515.02.

Grandfather wanted his 740 acre plantation sold 4 years after he died. His plan was that his 7 sons would get their legacies from the sale proceeds. This isn’t what happened.

Let me give you a little background. Martin purchased the land from Rev. William Wilson and his wife Elizabeth May 23, 1814 for 1,750 Pounds (Deed Book 39, pages 119-122).  The 740 acre tract didn’t sell for $7,000 as Grandfather hoped in his will. Two of his sons bought portions of their father’s land. Michael Snyder purchased 320 acres for $1,900 and brother John Snyder claimed 245 acres at a selling price of $1,470 Oct. 24, 1833.  A third grantee, Jacob Showalter, acquired 175 acres for $1,050 the same day (Deed Book 55, pages 265-268). Years later Martin and Catherine’s daughter, Sarah Snyder, married Jacob Showalter’s son Nimrod. The sales brought $4,447.40 to the Martin Snyder estate.

Joseph Brown attended to notes and bills as needed. During the years Great Grandmother Catherine received money for her support.

By August 23, 1836, the obligations on the land were met, and it was time for Martin’s sons to receive their legacies; John, Michael, David, Jacob, Martin, Joseph and Adam Snyder each got $615.34 ½ cents.

Partial Image from Accounting of Martin Snyder’s Estate

Augusta Co., VA Will Book 21, page 157

Family History Center, Microfilm #30323, Item 2