Letter Number 49--From the Mary/Sue Collection--Robert to Sarah--21 March 1867 (Date Provided in Letter)

 

Letter 49 Original Page 1

 

Letter 49 Original Page 2

 

Letter 49 Original Page 3

                                                             Letter 49 Original Page 4

 

Letter 49 Enhanced Page 1

 

Letter 49 Enhanced Page 2

 

Letter 49 Enhanced Page 3

 

Letter 49 Enhanced Page 4

 

 

THE CORRESPONDANCE BETWEEN ROBERT BOND JR. (1819- 1894) AND WIFE SARAH ANN (MAIDEN NAME “FISK”—1823-1909) BETWEEN 1862 AND 1868

 

From the Mary/Sue Collection.

Transcription of Letter “49”—from Robert to Sarah

12 March 1867—Date Provided in Letter

Transcribed by William B. Bond—November, 2013

 

Page 1:

                   March 12^th 1867

          Wood. Co. Camp Tigre

In thee pines

Ever Dear Wife I take

my pen in hand to let

you no¹ that I am well

and hope thee² lines will

find you the same

 

Mr. Hall as com³ into

Camp with thee⁴ tote tame⁵

you did not send me one

word I du⁶ not no¹ wey⁷

 

my Love to you

          Sarah. A. Bond

          my trust is in the

                   Lord,    Pary⁸ for me

your truly

 

          Robert Bond

NOTES:

1.  know

2.  these

3.  come

4.  the

5.  tote team? Unsure of these words. Perhaps a “tote team” is a horse

drawn wagon that transports material from Lyndon, Wisconsin

where Sarah is living on the farm to Wood County, Wisconsin where

Robert is presumably working.

6.  do

7.  why

8.  pray

 

LIST OF FAMILY MEMBERS MENTIONED:

There are no family members mentioned in this letter.

 

LIST OF OTHER INDIVIDUALS MENTIONED:

 

A. “Mr Hall” There is an “Oscar Hall” mentioned in letter #9 dated March 8th, 1863 and a “Mr. Hall” mentioned—along with this letter--in letter #46 dated February 1^st, 1867 and letter #47 dated February 26^th, 1867. The Mr Hall mentioned in this letter and in the February 1^st and February 26^th letters is clearly the same person—who seems to deliver mail and other materials back and forth from Lyndon, Wisconsin to “camp.” But it is not known whether or not this is the same person as “Oscar Hall” mentioned in the March 8^th letter.

 

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

NOTE 1: It should be noted that Robert’s handwriting and spelling in this letter are much improved over that found in letters 2 and 3—but is still irregular. 

 

If anyone who examines a scan of the original letter can better make out what the words are or can see anywhere that there is an error in the transcription, I would welcome their input.

 

The following is my attempt at a transcription of the letter with spelling and grammar corrected:

 

FRONT:

March 12^th 1867

          Wood. Co. Camp Tigre

In thee pines

 

Ever Dear Wife I take

my pen in hand to let

you know that I am well

and hope these lines will

find you the same.

 

Mr. Hall as come into

Camp with the tote team.

You did not send me one

word. I do not know why.

 

My love to you

          Sarah. A. Bond

          My trust is in the

                   Lord.    Pray for me.

Yours truly

 

          Robert Bond

NOTE 2:  Questions about this letter are (1) Why was Robert away from home during February of 1867 long enough to necessitate letter writing--and (2) Where is “camp”? From other letters written during the same winter, “camp” seems to be Wood County, Camp Tigre, “In the Pines”, Wisconsin. Wood County is about 50 miles northeast from Lyndon, Wisconsin where Sarah is living on the family farm. So what was Robert doing there in February, 1867? Possibly it was to earn money by chopping winter wood. In a letter dated December 18^th 1863, Sarah writes: “…I have got J Vail to get my wood  I have to pay him seven shillings per cord stove wood cut ready for the stove in the wood so I get no chips” From this it sounds as if winter wood is cut “in the wood” (Wood County?) and then sold. But 50 miles is a long way to bring wood for heating—especially since the wood would probably have to be transported by horse drawn wagon.

But there must have been some reason for men to go into the woods to work in the winter. In a letter dated December 20^th, 1963, Sarah writes: “Mr and Mrs Cowan have broke up keeping house for the winter she and the girls is going to Michigan and he into the Woods…” Why Robert—and others--would be in Wood County away from home during the winter of 1867 is uncertain.

 

NOTE 3: This letter was written on a single sheet of paper folded in half to make 4 “pages.” But there is writing on page 1 only. Robert possibly left the other 3 pages blank intentionally so that Sarah could respond on the same sheet of paper—like the letter Robert wrote dated February 12^th, 1867. In that letter, Sarah wrote back on the same sheet and said:   “paper is scarce.” The paper on which this letter was written is of “heaver stock” than earlier letters. There is an “embossed seal” at the upper left of the first page as was common for the time, however I am unable to make out what the embossed seal represents.

 

NOTE 4:  This letter was found loose and not in an envelope.

 

NOTE 5:  This letter starts with Robert assuring Sarah that he is well and his hopes that Sarah is also well. It continues with his disappointment that he did not receive a letter when Mr. Hall “came into camp” and a loving closing. It is interesting that this letter closes with Robert assuring Sarah of his trust in the Lord. This closing is found in Robert’s letters dating February 1^st, 1876, February 26^th, 1867, and March 12^th, 1867—all letters written from Wood County, Wisconsin nearly 2 years after the finish of the Civil War. This closing was not found in any of letters we have that Robert wrote during the Civil War.