1870s ORIGINAL GROUP OF FOUR [4] PARTIAL MANUSCRIPT LETTERS OF LIFE, DEATH AND THE LEGACY OF HER HUSBAND

Katz Fine Manuscripts Verified independent store

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On offer is an interesting group of three [3] partial letters and one [1] complete, 12 pages in all, dated c1870s Lower Peach Tree Alabama. Two of the letters are addressed to 'Dea r Sisters' who we believe are Mary and Sarah McLauchlin. The others addressed to Annie. The author is we believe the wife, Kate, of Archibald 'Archie' McLauchlin [whose correspondence we list separately Seller Id# 0002376] passed away sometime in late 1875 or 1876. Archie who had done a good job keeping in touch with his siblings would have been pleased that his wife carried on and kept her sisters-in-law 'in the loop' as to the farm and schools and their important 'scholars' for whose success Archibald was responsible. Specifically the letters are: 1. Oct 11 1874 four pages, Dear Annie [Archie's niece] refers to him getting treatment in Jackson Wells among local news; 2. October 9th 1875?, four pages incomplete, refers to Mr. McLauchlin's death; August 23 1879, two pages, incomplete. The three letters while incomplete present a picture of life for the author teaching, farming, and holding the threads of her husband's and by extension her family's life. We note she refers to Archie as Mr. McLauchlin a few times as in Mr. McLauchlin going to hear General Morgan speak, or to Mr. McLauchlin's death, or to Mr. McLauchlin's treatment. Besides the details of her husband there are all the local catchup on the schools, farm and events. We note a super passage about a house on fire, the efforts to save the structure and how a Negro boy of nine carried more buckets than any one man and much more. Some splits among the folds but overall G. Show more