Letter Number 5--From the Mary/Sue Collection--Sarah to Robert--30 January 1863 (Date Provided in Letter)

 

Letter 5 Original Front

 

Letter 5 Original Reverse

 

Letter 5 Enhanced Front

 

Letter 5 Enhanced Reverse

 

 

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 “5”—from Sarah to Robert

30 January 1863—Date Provided in Letter

Transcribed by William B. Bond—Sept., 2013

FRONT SIDE:

          Lyndon Juneau Wis.     Jan 30^th, 1863

ever Dear husband

                   I seat myself to write you a few

lines and let you know how we are we are all well except

bad colds which we all have got I have no particular

news to write and shall have to be brif¹ as I expect the boys to

take it to the station every minute little Willie^A has had

the croup about two weeks ago is as well as usual

now Sarah^B and Luella^C are at school Louisa^D has gone

to visit the Galispie² District school³ so Willie & I

are alone Louisa^D is living at home again now I

have paid and taken up two of her notes and am

now paying the third, or fourteen Dollar one have paid

six or seven Dollars on it she is helping some about the

house work and pays 75 cts per week for her board

I have paid Mr Cowen five dollars twards⁴ that plowing

on the Kingsbury place the whole bill is nine Dollars

12 acres 75 cts per acre I have taken up the Raney²

REVERSE SIDE:

or mortgage Note and Mr Davenport wrote a satisfaction on the back

of the mortgage I have not had any clothes since you

left scarcly⁵ & you know I must need some and expect

to have some soon I expect my folks to send me

out a box of clothing soon the express Agent there

told William^E it would cost ten Dollars to send I

told them to send and I would pay the freight if

they wished to make me a present of some things

I have had your mittens done some time But they

say I cannot send them or any pacage⁶ to you with

safly⁷ so have not sent them they say I cannot send

anything in papers but I shall try those pills

you see we have got the letter Alvaro^F wrote

Jan 12^th & hope to get one from you as soon as you get

this certain my pork come to over forty four Dollars but

the money is all gone I have drawn 15 Dollars from

the state I forgot to say I saved one hog for my own

use I have paid my taxes which were lighter

FOOTNOTES:

1.  brief

2.  uncertain of this word

3.  I can find no record of a “Galispie (or Gillespie) District School” in Wisconsin. The name may have been changed in the 1930’s when Kilbourn City had its name changed to “Wisconsin Dells.”

4.  towards

5.  scarcely

6.  package

7.  safety

LIST OF INDIVIDUALS MENTIONED:

A. William Othello “Willie” Bond (1860-1928)—Fourth oldest child and only son of Robert and Sarah.

B .  Sarah Elizabeth Bond (1847-1912)—Second oldest child and daughter of Robert and Sarah

C.  Luella Hortense “Leellie” Bond (1856-1893)—Third oldest child and daughter of Robert and Sarah

D.  Louisa Maria Bond (1845-1896)—Oldest child and daughter of Robert and Sarah Married to Alvaro N. Griffin who is away from home serving the Wisconsin Volunteers during the Civil War.

E.  William O Fisk (1816-1903)—Brother of Sarah

F.  Alvaro N Griffin (1838-1916)—husband of Robert and Sarah’s daughter Louisa who is away from home serving in the Wisconsin Volunteers during the Civil War.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

NOTE 1: This letter was written on the front and back of a single sheet of paper. There is no “embossed seal” indicating the paper manufacturer at the upper left of the front side as was common on many papers of the time.

NOTE 2: This letter ends abruptly without a closing indicating that there must have been at least one additional page that is now missing. It is possible that letter 15 is a continuation of this letter. The paper for letter 15 is a different size, and letter 15 has an embossed seal from the paper manufacturer which letter 5 does not. But letter 15 starts with page 2 and considering context, the two letters may fit. Together they would read as follows: (Letter 5) … I have paid my taxes which were lighter… (Letter 15)… for me I want to finish this and take it over…

More study of letter 15 needs to be done to see if the two fit together.

NOTE 3:  In many cases the writing in the letter is difficult to read. In some cases I had to take a “best guess” as to what was written. If anyone who examines a scan of the original 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.

NOTE 4: The spelling and grammar in this letter are reasonable so I do not believe an overall transcription is necessary.

NOTE 5:  This letter describes daily life on the farm of Robert and Sarah in Lyndon, Juneau County, Wisconsin while Robert is away serving in the Civil War. The major topics are the health of each other and the children, activities of family members, housework, family finances, clothing to be donated by Sarah’s family in Connecticut, sending mittens and pills to Robert, correspondence between each other and food.