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CSHR 9/61

Lancaster Ohio;
1859 June 1st
[1859/06/01]

Dearest Cump-
[WTS]

Your letter of the 25th recd last night has given me a doleful fit of despondency. If you cannot come home and you are not making a living in Leavenworth how can we ever hope to be settled again. It it so very expensive keeping a family in Leavenworth that I think unless you are beginning to make something it is scarcely worth while for us to expect to settle there. What will we have to pay fuel home rent wages Doctors shoe & hat bills next winter if you are making nothing now? Although I am not as weak as when I parted from you I am still far from well. I think it is my pregnancy that has arrested the progress of my disease & I believe that it is bearing children alone that saves my life. I never expect to be capable of living as you have always desired that I should live, without servants. If I were physically able -- God who reads my heart, may condemn me if the will be wanting. My wants are more numerous & expensive than a ploughman's, and owing to the physical debility of both parents (and not to the fact of Father's house being sometimes their home) our children are more tender & require more care than young squaws. How can we hope to find the means of procuring necessary comforts where every thing is so expensive if your business does not prosper. I must own that I am in a sad state of despondency & feel now more than ever that I would gladly meet the summons to death were it not for my little children.

With what money I have due me in the fall & with my ten thousand dollars invested safely we could live in a less expensive place, but not in Leavenworth. May God strengthen me to hear whatever he may direct. I have no hope & less strength for another move.

The children are all well. Minnie is at school. By this time you have received & probably answered Lizzie's letter. I cannot imagine how my letters from April 29th or May 1st to May 16th should be lost. Did you go into the country without leaving any directions as to whether they were to be sent or retained? Father is quite provoked about Walker & Luke. He says Luke must stay where he is and be

Does it ever occur to you, ****, that the pangs of labor are terrible & that from the oppressive weight of child bearing I shall find releif only in agony & infrequent debility of child birth? Have you ever thought or wondered what the child might be -- have you no preference as to the name it may bear? I think it is truly, as you often remarked, a "good thing for children that they have mothers".

I am doubtful about Sis's going out if you cannot return with her - Father may go out & Charley says he is determined to go. If they do Sis will go with them. All send love.

(signed)

Ellen
[EES]

Lancaster, Ohio:
Jan 14th 1861
[1861/01/14]

Dearest Cump
[WTS]

I wrote you rather hurriedly on Friday last and after all I believe my letter was too late for the mail. On Saturday I received a draft from New Orleans for $293.31 cts. I will hereafter economise to the best of my power in everything. Indeed it amazes me to see how the money melts away. In the first place I will economise in dress for myself & the children. But to tell the truth I spent more for my own dress in the fall than I need have done could I have known that I would not go South. But I thought I would certainly go down perhaps for a long visit perhaps to stay & I prepared a wardrobe accordingly. Then the fruits tomatoes &c that I put up cost me a great deal & the bills I have just paid for cans tumblers &c. &c. &c. If you do not have the benefit of eating those things yourself, which I sent, I hope you will reckon well the cost of them in selling. Every quart can cost 13 cts - every tumbler more than the fruit itself cost considerably the sugar more the transportation something & the fuel time & trouble to prepare them. Also I paid three cents for each can that was soldered by the tinner & I had those soldered I sent to you - then the barrels & the packing cost something. The apple butter cost 12 dollars, kegs & all, I can see a thousand ways in which I can retrench expenses & yet in which it was not extravagant to indulge when we had means & cheerfully will I make every effort to reduce expenses. The home rent where I am going will be something more than this but I will spend nothing for furniture except what you see yourself & approve.

[EES]

Lancaster, Ohio;
Jan 14th 1861
[1861/01/14]

[WTS]

I wrote you rather hurriedly on Friday last and after all I believe my letter was too late for the mail. On Saturday I received a draft from New Orleans for $293.31 cts. I will hereafter economise to the best of my power in every thing. Indeed it amazes me to see how the money melts away. In the first place I will economise in dress for myself & the children. But to tell the truth I spent more for my own dress in the fall than I need have done could I have known that I would not go South. But I thought I would certainly go down perhaps for a long visit perhaps to stay & I prepared a wardrobe accordingly. Then the fruits tomatoes &c that I put up cost me a great deal & the bills I have just paid for cans tumblers &c. &c. &c. If you do not have the benefit of eating those things yourself, which I sent, I hope you will reckon well the cost of them in selling. Every quart can cost 13 cts - every tumbler more than the fruit itself cost considerably the sugar more the transportation something & the fuel time & trouble to prepare them. Also I paid three cents for each can that was soldered by the tinner & I had those soldered I sent to you - then the barrels & the packing cost something. The apple butter cost 12 dollars, kegs & all, I can see a thousand ways in which I can retrench expenses & yet in which it was not extravagant to indulge when we had means & cheerfully will I make every effort to reduce expenses. The home rent where I am going will be something more than this but I will spend nothing for furniture except what you see yourself & approve.

[EES]

Lancaster, O.
Nov. 21, 1860
[1860/11/21]

Dearest Cump
[WTS]

I have neglected to supply myself with paper & am thus reduced to foolscap a sheet of which I have torn in two for present writing. I hear from you but seldom but I do not feel so anxious now that you assure me your health is better. I am truly thankful to hear that. I am suffering very much from nausea & the other horrible feelings attending the earlier months of pregnancy. But I am resolved to keep up my strength & therefore I go out every day and keep up as much as possible. At last I have got Elly weaned. She has a pretty good appetite but she is always crazy for meat, even when she scorns other foods. Putrid sore throat or diphtheria has prevailed in town and there are still some cases but I do not feel any particular uneasiness about the children as they are all so well. Saturday was Lizzie's birthday & her Grand Ma made her happy by some presents of dolls &c. I hope I will soon receive some money from you and at least three hundred dollars - I have a serious complaint to make to you against the school. Minnie has been in the class often next to a boy named . The children sit on benches during recitation & in such a way that the teacher can see only their heads. Minnie told me yesterday that the boy I have named has many times made the most indecent exposure of his person whilst sitting next to her, that it occurs frequently & lasts a considerable length of time. She says also that he has had a sore on his foot & that he is in the habit of lifting it up & wiping it on the girls dresses. Also that during recreation the boys (who are in another yard) make holes in the fence & wet on the girls as they pass to the necessary. Now what do you think of submitting your daughters to such degrading companionship. My first impulse was to keep them all at home hereafter & say nothing about the matter, but I have concluded to wait to hear from you & I hope you will write to me promptly in the subject. I have the prospect of a better house if I stay here & when I have another room I could get some one like Miss Bartley to teach the children & sew. I went yesterday to Miss B & told her the complaint Minnie had made but how can she correct it entirely. In the first place she cannot see them & in the second place she cannot prevent it - for if she whips the boy for it he will seek other occasions of insulting the child who told on him & she cannot send him from the school. Had I known these schools to be, as I am now convinced they are, schools of immorality I never would have suffered my children to have gone to them. But now that they are there by your act, I wait out of deference to you for your command to take them away. And in the meantime I will look up some willing person who will be more competent than Mr. Russel or else I must send to Miss D or teach them myself - You cannot be willing that they should continue to be exposed to such vile companionship. At the school on the hill where the girls go, one of the teachers has been dismissed because he has been in the habit of making love in the grossest manner to the girls:- sitting in their laps was the least of his familiarities. It is generally beleived that Essy Kreider is in the family way by him. Schools of corruption! I feel mortified & distressed that my children have ever gone to them & that I have done anything to encourage the system.

We have had very cold weather for a day or two & we feel it sensibly as the weather for some time before was so spring like & mild. What do you think of the political horizon? Father is still at Chauncey. He is expected home in a day or two. Also Boyle & Henrietta & Sis tell Joe his friends are all well. I am sorry poor Clay is so thin. Return my best regards to Dr Clark & tell him I am ready to come down & to do all in my power to contribute to the pleasure of you & your friends. -

(signed)

Ellen
[EES]

Lancaster, O.
April 9, 1863.
[1863/04/09]

[WTS]

Yesterday dearest C, I received your long & very interesting letter describing the defense of the gun boats and your hard march through mud & mire rain & wind. Charley's letter of same date 30th March had reached me the day before and given us a graphic picture of scene and of your personal exertions which Charley this no other General in the country would have made. I got your report too which I read with great interest but I did not like to see Capt. Washington mentioned & not Charley. I am sure if any one is serving the Government faithfully & with a pure intention Charley is and doing good service too, poor fellow on foot always through mud & mire & in all kinds of weather, no matter what his health. I want you to name him when you can in your reports & to give the 13th the praise I know they have earned and will continue to earn. Remember that is my Regiment and I will be horribly jealous of it is not well rewarded by a proper degree of praise after the next skirmish fight or battle.

I think with you that Lincoln is dishonorable in sending down that contemptible correspondant. It is an insult to you and I hope you will resent it properly but be careful to do it properly. Do not commit any act of violence that would bring remorse. You would not wish to be charged with the life of a poor wretch unfit for earth even. If he does not come into your camp it would be too much of a condesention for you to notice him. If he does come into it -- do not hold any personal communication with him but let them notify you of the fact - or rather give general orders before-hand that if he come into your camp he is to be instantly taken to the guardhouse & you are to be notified of the fact. Then when notified have him publicly drummed out of camp with as many ignominious circumstances attending the ceremony as are ever devised. But do not on any account allow yourself any communication with him. It would be a degradation. To drum him ignominiously out of Camp to the rogue's march would be the best return you could make Lincoln for his insult to you. My conviction is that he has gone back there with the connivance of your friend Grant. They are intimate friends Hoyt Sherman tells me & it was on the representation of Generals down there (& not Frank Blair either) that he was sent back. Keep cool & do not let Grant or any body else know that it worries you but give strict orders to have him clapped in the guardhouse the instant he makes his appearance across your lines. Then trust Sargeant Clark with a Squad to drum him out. He & Lincoln both will hate that worse than anything else and so will the Generals down there who wrote a request that he might return. I am sorry you feel so about Frank Blair and you must allow me to say that it is from early prejudice that you entertain that opinion of him. I am sure that he would like to see you in Grant's place & I think that as you are certainly more competent you cannot reproach him with unworthy motives in it. Do not, I beg you, dear Cump speak of him to any one but me as you have done but try & use him as a friend. You are strong enough in will & intellect to use Frank Blair to your country's good and if you come in contact do not let your feelings of personal prejudice drive you to an undesirable course. I do not agree with you about him. I beleive he is patriotic & I know he is brave - You are the only man who has not a desire for personal aggrandisement then why should you blame it in them? Your friends & men whom you sustain has shewn it in a degree infinitely more disgusting.

I did not & will not send your letter of Halstead, not because I think he cannot be trusted but because the letter is a poor one & does not do you justice. He would be greatly flattered by a letter from you but he is a shrewd man & I would like your letter to him to be a good one. You will see from the enclosed letter that I was mistaken in my conjectures about John. Elizabeth is so very artful that I really thought she might have poisoned his mind against I am glad it is not so for I really love John as a brother. I feel a very tender regard for him. He is very much like you. Tell Charley I will answer his letter soon. Sis wrote to him yesterday. Give my love to him & to Hugh. Tell Capt. Dayton I will also write soon to him. Lizzie is waiting to take my letter to the office.

As ever your truly affectionate

(signed)

Ellen
[EES]

Lancaster, Ohio:
Feb 16th 1864.
[1864/02/16]

Dearest Cump-
[WTS]

One day last week I wrote to you and today I feel that I must write again although it seems useless to send letters when you are so far out of reach of the mails. Yesterday we received the first news of you since you left Vicksburg but we never know whether to credit the first newspaper reports. They say that you entered Jackson on the 5th inst without having encountered much opposition. There is also a reference to a little fight which some of your forces had with the gun boats participating up the Yazoo river. I did not know you had left any forces for an expedition up there. Father feels the most unbounded confidence in your superiority that he says the rebels will not attempt to give you battle. I feel confidence also that you will soon come out of this victorious and I even beleive that you will take Mobile before you are through. Why did you go without the 15th Army Corps. You ought to have it with you, when you attempt anything like your present work. God's mercy is over you still and Willy is now your guardian in heaven so I cannot but hope and believe that your life will preserved for you have not yet prepared your soul for death. Father is much better than he was but I look upon his improvement as merely temporary. All the boys are at home now. Charley came last and consequently has longest to remain. Father telegraphed them when we supposed Mother could not possibly live but a few days. That was more than two weeks since and she still lingers in the most terrible state of helplessness and pain. She is unconscious the most of the time and cannot raise her hand to her head. We have to have her lifted like a little child and the least motion induces an agony of pain. Death to her would be a relief to us, as it is a sad trial to see her in such a state for so long a time. Father Lange gave Mother the last sacraments and anointed her for death on the 27th of Jan. He was taken sick the next day and on the 9th of Feb he himself died in great agony. He was a holy good man; renounced the world and all selfish pleasures to serve his Lord & Saviour and he has gone to his reward. It is a great loss to us and the Arch Bishop will find difficulty in well supplying his place. Father Lange always entertained the highest opinion of you & felt for you the warmest regard. Father was very much attached to him and feels his death very much. Hugh says that Genl Grant offered him command of the district of Louisville and after consultation with Father he is determined to accept it. He and Father have come to the conclusion that no matter what his merits or claims or the length & value of his services he can never obtain promotion under you because of his relationship with me. He is not willing to serve under Logan, a man inferior to himself, when he must share in any disgrace or disaster consequent upon Logan's inefficiency, and when at the same time he is out off by your fastidious views from all prospect of honourable promotion and must submit to see men hereafter, taken from an inferior rank and placed over him. Much as I regret the step and badly as I feel about it I can say nothing. It must seem hard and ungrateful to Father that you should withhold a well earned recommendation from a good officer because he is his son but I cannot say or do anything to palliate the feeling. He knows that Hugh took to you a splendid brigade and that he has participated with that fine force in all the brilliant struggles which have resulted so magnificently to the country & which have won for you and Grant promotion in the regular army. He knows him to be a good officer & to have discharged his duty perfectly and he feels that promotion is due to him now and that a recommendation cannot be withheld from any but personal motives. The fact of his having once or twice indulged in too much liquor cannot be urged as a reason when Grant has been in the same condition quite as often and when it is well known that Hugh has never any more failed in duty than Grant. He and his mean have been foremost in the march in assaults & in pursuits yet men who will not face a storm of bullets have had recommendations for Maj Genl from you & Genl Grant. Mr. S. Smith for one --

Tom Ewing will probably return to Kansas next week. After his unfeeling conduct in regard to our darling Willy I cannot feel any regard for him and will be glad when he is gone. Henrietta will be here today. Hugh has gone to Zanesville to meet her, having heard by telegraph yesterday that she had started alone, or rather with the children without an escort. Her house is being warmed and fitted up today. Minnie has been here two weeks and will return tomorrow to the school. I would have sent her two or three days ago but I have been waiting for an escort. Frank Harris and his wife are going down tomorrow. She has been visiting here and he has come for her. Abby has been up and returned home again. She will come up the last of this week to remain as long as Mother lives which cannot now be many days. Mrs. Reese called about two weeks ago and enquired for me & for Father. I had gone out riding and she saw Father. When she sent over a day or two afterwards to enquire about Mother I sent her word I was sorry I did not see her when she called. All the children are well. Lizzie & Tommy regularly at school. Trusting soon to hear from you*******

(signed)

Ellen
[EES]

[1800/00/00]

[WTS]

*****property as I can. I am almost too unwell from a severe cold, to venture down this week. I hope if you have really returned to the river that you will come immediately north in which event I wish you would meet me in Cincinnati where we could together see that property & see Minnie and decide upon future arrangements.

Tom Ewing when here talked of being ordered to you. He is a supremely selfish man and has failed in my affliction to treat me even as an ordinary friend. I warn you if you wish to contribute to my happiness to keep my affairs & yours from him & extend to him no confidence founded on the fact of his being my brother. The life or death of one of our dear children is a matter which he treats with such perfect indifference that in all his long letters of four & six & eight pages to Mother & Father & Sis he did not once find it in his selfish heart to remember dear Willy or to name his poor Mother in her sorrow. This selfish change has been wrought in him by his wife and I hope to see them but seldom again in my life & I wish my affairs kept from their observation & criticism. I can no longer hear what I have hitherto done - namely to se see you treat me slightingly or talk of or refer to my faults freely before members of my family any more than before strangers. Henceforth I must have not only your sincere & heartfelt affection but I must have the outward manifestations of it. I have more trials than you are aware of. Had a religious life been my vocation I could have foresworn human consolation but with the cares and of family upon me I am entitled to all that I claim from you. I cannot tell certainly but I presume Smith's cowardly retreat to Memphis has frustrated your plans. Boyle said when he heard Smith was going that he would never reach you. All the children are well and send best love to dear Papa. Do let me meet you if only for a day or two.

(signed)

Ellen
[EES]

Lancaster, Ohio:
April 9, 1864
[1864/04/09]

Dearest Cump-
[WTS]

Your letter of the 5th which I received last evening afforded me great pleasure. I am so dependent now upon your letters for my happiness that I trust you will never neglect me notwithstanding your multiplicity of vastly important duties. I find myself fast losing that purer patriotism I had in the beginning, and sighing for the end of the war and the dawning of that blessed peace that shall reunite us in a quiet cheerful home to ourselves. I am not well this morning. The weather has been rainy and bad for weeks and I cannot therefore get the exercise necessary to keep up my strength. I ride between showers and sometimes in them rather than be shut up entirely. I told you in my last that I had let Carter go. It is too expensive keeping two men about & even if it were not, Carter is too frifling to answer my purpose. Men, for every kind of day labor, are in great demand and he will have no difficulty in supporting himself and earning high wages if he really is willing to work. Old Sam has got brisk and frisky. He cut up quite like a gay young colt yesterday when we were driving him & really fancied he would like to run off. I would rather ride in the pheaton than in the carriage -- the motion is so much easier. Father will not be home until the early part of May and after that it will not be very busy that I will be able to ride so I shall not miss Carter or need any one in his place for the present.

I have sent $1500. for five per cent Government Bonds which Mr. Martin gets me without cost. The six per cent ones Philemon tells me cost much more than three per cent & John Sherman he thinks could not get them any less or any easier than parties outside of Washington. When I get Hugh's other thousand dollars I will try and have some proceeds of the sale of the Leavenworth lots to add to it and I will either get more five p. ct. bonds or lend it on improved farms. Mr. Martin says he can find a responsible farmer who will take it with mortgage on his farm -- Or rather a farmer has bought a farm adjoining his own & the parties who hold his notes for second & third payments secured by mortgage would be glad to get the money & transfer the mortgage to me. Which had I better do? I think I had better take the mortgage.

I do agree with you entirely **** that Boyle made a great mistake in leaving his Division & taking the position he has. Both Philemon & I earnestly advised against the step when he first proposed it here. After I wrote to you and before Father left I talked to him about it and explained to him that you knew Boyle was sure of promotion eventually, if he only persevered and I hinted to him why you thought best not to be in haste about recommending him. Since I saw you in Cincinnati I feel more fully the force of your reasons and concur with you entirely. I do not beleive there is now one member of the family who agrees with Boyle in his present view & choice or who thinks that you failed to do him justice. His wife no doubt thinks so but she is best pleased with the present arrangement & congratulates herself that anything could bring it about. I think that you at first often wounded his feelings by a want of courtesy of manner & by preferring strangers to this socially -- I have experienced the same trial and know that it embitters. Why it is that in the presence of strangers you slight those near & dear to you & put petty mortifications upon them I cannot imagine, but when Boyle knows that even your wife has this to bear he ought to overlook it towards himself. We all feel anxious about him - no longer for his promotion - but beleive me we do not, or I do not, I can safely say, reproach you in the least, for his present unfortunate choice which I fear may lead to the evil we dread. I have not heard either from him or Henrietta since they left. Does Charley wish to come to you? He has said nothing to me about it. Philemon returns to Washington soon. The children are very well. Tommy complained that he was wakened, the other morning, "he was having such a pleasant dream about Papa". It is not that I think the dear children we now have will fail to take an absorbing & appreciative interest in your part of the present history of the country but it makes me heart sick to feel the sense of loss that every such momento awakens in my heart.

(signed)

Ellen
[EES]

May 23rd 1876. Tuesday evening
[1876/05/23]

Dearest Cump-
[WTS]

I have today your letter from Mr. Daily's daughter about the terms at Oakland. They are less than I paid at Geneva Lake but more than we paid at St. Alban's. I would not like to bind myself to remain there all Summer. Berkeley is so much nearer to Washington and the baths are so delightful that I would prefer that place, were it not that the house is old and not well arranged for comfort. I shall write to Mr. Daily about the rooms at Oakland and shall make my arrangements to be there by the time you state or perhaps a day or two later. Rachel's exhibition is not until the 29th - By the bye, I am willing that Elly should miss her exhibition for the sake of attending Tom's, if she is willing and you are willing. Elly must get more dresses &c at Stewart's for the occasion.

I am glad John & Cecelia think of letting Pat & Emily take care of the house. They are very watchful & reliable and understand the duty well. Emily will stay awhile after Pat goes & you can telegraph me when you want her to come on - at least she had arranged to stay until we go on & let Pat go next Sunday night or Monday. On reflection, I think she had better go with Pat, because if John & Cecelia should want her there before we go on, she might be afraid to go alone. I suppose if they stay in the house John & Cecelia would not object to our stopping there when we go into the City.

This is the 24th & I shall look for a check by the 29th or 30th. Shall I have to save money for travelling or will you send out the B. & O. pass & will it pay for all the family, Rose included? I think I shall perhaps send the ponies to Tom Turner's place but I may send them with the horses, to Mr. Tausey's pasture or farm or whatever it is - I have been suffering from excessive debility but the weather is now cooler and I am taking iron. Cumpy is over his asthma - Lizzie is going Thursday (tomorrow) night to Leavenworth for ten days.

The more I think of the diamonds the more I am convinced that you should have them weighed & valued at once and divided before he has authority to select his pay or to set any of them. Fitch will be "diamond mad" again if you defer it long. I can see the insidious fever stealing on him now & it is not in human nature to resist it. He thinks they are theirs. He has yeilded but he may take another view of it - the temptation may be too strong -- the sophisms regarding them may overset his judgement. Let the division be an accomplished fact as soon as possible & give him possession of his share before he makes a dash for the whole. I am altogether opposed to their going on exhibition. Fitch now says that Tiffany told him last month - or the first of this month, when he was in New York, that they were worth only $25000 -- When he & Minnie came from N. Y. last year (soon after the diamonds arrived) Tiffany told Minnie that he would not even attempt to state their full value, lest he should have to value them for duty but he added they are worth not less than $100 000 - From this I perceive that Mr. Fitch is attempting some little game in regard to them - & this is only one of many signs - I think he will be unfit for the proper prosecution of his business unless this is settled and done and his mind allowed some rest on the subject. So please make a sharp bargain with Tiffany, have him value them within a specified time & give you a written description of the stones & value of each, then let him suggest or map out the stones for the four daughters & state & shew exactly what he would set aside for himself, for that much service & what amount he would take for setting each share, & what the aggregate to be his share should he make four sets.

Minnie asked me yesterday to say to you that she would prefer not to have hers set. Submit his report of value size & numbers, before you give further orders please.

I have just sent for Emily & she says she will remain here after Pat leaves but she will get ready to go whenever you telegraph her that Cecelia wants her, as she can go alone perfectly well.

I am very anxious to hear how the Cabinet change effect you. Grant is wonderfully jealous of you. Elly Ewing is to be married on the 26th of July.

Cumpy intends to square himself for a letter to you today - Our yard & flowers are looking sweetly. What shall I do about the broken plastering in the hall?

(signed)

Ellen
[EES]

St. Louis,
May 25, '76 Thursday evening
[1876/05/25]

Dearest Cump
[WTS]

I have yours of 23rd with check enclosed, for which thanks! I am sorry to find you as I supposed you would be, disturbed by the changes in the Cabinet. Do not worry, do the best you can for the Army & accept the inevitable with philosophic calmness & indifference. Please do not be hasty in any step - they may seek to make you resign, do not please them, for what you do to please your enemies cannot be to your own advantage. It will all come out right - Grant & his Cabinet have a very limited time - From your telegram & letter also I imagine that you have suspected that I am looking forward to a change before you may be ready for it. That is not the case. I have not even speculated upon the possibility of the family going to Washington before you call us there. All my arrangements have been made to return here in September & remain. Of course should you say you would like us to come to Washington we will go. Maj Turner told Minnie that he had written to you concerning your plan of being separated from the family but I assure you it was not dictated by anything from me & I have not spoken to him on the subject since. I have from the beginning been convinced of the wisdom of your arrangement & although it is a trial to have you away from us, still if it is for your interest & if your surroundings are pleasant I am satisfied especially as I know it is only for a year or so.

Pat will leave Sunday evening and Emily will be ready to go when you telegraph for her. She will pack her goods and leave them in our basement to be sent on, when John & Cecelia are done with her services. Should they not want her I will let her and Frank stay in our house & take care of it until we return in Sept.. Should she go on, which would be better, their goods can be sent on when they leave Johns, which would not be before December perhaps; & in case you do not stay they need not then pay transportation of their goods.

If John & Cecelia take Emily & Pat I will probably take Mrs. Lutz to stay here & air the house & keep it clean. She is begging for the place at much lower wages than I paid her before & I want a responsible intelligent person here. I had thought of leaving the colored woman "Martha" but I rather apprehend that her husband will take her away. As I wrote you, I shall leave you to make the bargain at Oakland. Daily is the name of Proprietor.

Now about the diamonds. Minnie and I had a talk about them today. She is not willing that hers should be set because Tiffany will take so many of the diamonds to pay for the setting which he can & will make very expensive. I agree with Minnie that none of them should be set. Minnie says that Mr. Fitch did not ask Tiffany this Spring about the price or value of them, but he volunteered the statement that they were worth $25000 - That looks badly for Tiffany, after what he said eighteen months ago.

If you pay Tiffany in diamonds he can & as he is human, he will take some advantage in selecting the best for himself.

He will of course sell those diamonds & he will doubtless advertise them as the Kedivo's diamonds & in that way there will be more noteriety given to it than in any other way. Suppose you simply have him value describe and suggest a fair division (into four) of the diamonds; then take them yourself & get his bill for services and select from each part diamonds enough to pay that bill & have a friend sell them for you to diamond dealers - different ones and not disclosing where they came from.

Do not put them into Tiffany's hands giving him power to make a set for sale "from the Kedivo's diamonds" -- and to make such a bill for setting as a would entitle him to the best of them.

For weighing valueing & dividing (without setting) he could not charge more than a couple of thousand dollars & I will pay that & take a diamond; when Dr - pays his note for the E lots I will have enough to pay for that. Now please Cump do not disregard this but let me hear from you again on the subject. If it will not cost too much for my purse, Let me pay Tiffany for valueing &c. and even for an imitation set and give me the equivalent in diamonds and not Tiffany - To save you the newspaper blasts, there should not be one of them sold where it could be recognised or known to be from that

Lizzie left this evening for Fort Leavenworth, good Mr. Jamison having given her a letter to the conductors besides the pass. Mr. Fitch is very unwell from ulcerated sore throat. He is very pleasant & good - my conversation with Minnie was very kindly today & we agreed entirely. The baby is the smartest little creature ever was - He neighs like the little colt and calls like the charcoal man & does so many sweet & pretty little tricks. The weather is now very cool and Minnie will be in no haste to leave - Cumpy can't stay in long enough to write but he loves his Papa dearly

(signed)

Ellen
[EES]

St. Louis
May 28th 1876 Sunday afternoon
[1876/05/28]

Dearest Cump
[WTS]

Pat leaves this evening & I believe I shall send this by him. We just have yours to Minnie & me of the 26th, about the diamonds. Since writing you last I have become convinced, from a conversation with Minnie, that Mr. Fitch is determined to have nothing to do with them. Still there remains the fact that human nature must be subject to the temptation as long as the division is not made. Minnie is writing you now that she is willing for you to keep her share for her as long as you live, so that ought to satisfy you as far as that goes. We agree that you will be selling a part of the diamonds if you let Tiffany pay himself in a share of them. I can take Dr. Hawley's offer and can pay for the division taking a right to a diamond which shall be also kept by you as long as you live but which must be marked as mine.

We are opposed to the setting as too expensive. If you prefer to have them exhibited at the Centennial Tiffany will put the value at $25,000 & it may be that that was his motive in stating it $75,000 less than he did a year ago. I think they ought not to be exhibited unless two other diamond merchants agree as to their value before Tiffany give his for it.

As to the reduction of the salary - I would rather have it como & be done with than have the anticipation make my days miserable.

If you are unwilling we should leave St. Louis for the Summer you can say so -

You say to Minnie that if Tom boards & she boards & I "insist upon coming to Washington you cannot stant it" -- Now please understand distinctly that I do not insist upon coming to Washington -- also that I do not wish to go to Washington -- and if you are unwilling we should go to the mountains for July & August I want you to be candid & say so -- If any one has told you that I even wish to go to Washington they have told you wrong - If you have inferred that from anything I have said you are mistaken -- very much mistaken -- If you ask me to go to Washington I shall consider it my duty to go - but certainly I have not contemplated it. -

signed

Ellen
[EES]

St. Louis
June 4th 1876 Sunday evening.
[1876/06/04]

Dearest Cump-
[WTS]

Whilst we were at church this morning got the mail and Cumpy was very proud and happy to find a letter for him with it. He is remarkably well ever since his attack of asthma, & he evinces a not very remarkable repugnance to coming in the house, even hurrying through his meals to get to his play.

Rachel's examination are not yet over. Lizzie writes me that Charley Hoyt was thrown from his buggy and quite badly hurt.

I am distressed by news from Lancaster that Hugh's son Hugh was bitten by a dog quite badly on the arm & also on the leg. His Mother was dining in the country looking for a girl & she sent him to a farm house to make enquiries when he was set upon by a ferocious brute.

I have felt very sorry to see Blaine so harrassed by his enemies and I am more than ever sorry for him since hearing of his Sister & her husband.

I am much surprised that Ellen Lynch should have been in the City without seeing you. I am sure she must have expected to see you. *****

Minnie expects to leave on Tuesday morning & spend two or three weeks with Kitty Phillips & the and then go to Lancaster where she has engaged boarding with Mrs. B . Mr. Fitch will remain with us until we leave. I think he has not decided to keep his room here then or go at once nearer the works.

The question of the chain is this. The President presented Minnie a chain (no locket) which came to the house the morning of the wedding too late to be handed to her. She had a chain equally handsome & indeed handsomer, with locket, presented to her a few days before & that she wore at the wedding. It was sent without a name & Lizzie & I think Maj McGinnes sent it but Minnie does not think he did but she does not imagine who sent it.

When we went to Washington in '69 Miss Field presented her through Sue Scott a chain & locket worth $250.00 but it is not nearly as pretty a chain (the locket having diamond settings was the larger cost) as the two above named.

Lizzie with my advice has worn the chain the President sent - Minnie says she will let her have the Field chain but she wants that one because the President gave it to her. She will not give her the other handsome one but makes the excuse that she wishes to keep that, because she wore it the day of the wedding!! She says Lizzie can wear the President's chain (she does not say how long) but "she wishes it understood that it is hers!" -- I suppose she will have to have it, but considering that I & you have spent so much more on her, in every way, than on Lizzie, even in the purchase of jewelry, of which I have given her two expensive sets and none to Lizzie it seems very selfish. The only chain & locket Lizzie has I paid $25. for & Minnie's least pretty one was $250.00 It shall be made up to Lizzie & in ways that will cause Minnie to wish she had been less selfish. I have not said anything to Minnie since your letter. She told me what she had written you (at the time she got your reply to her letter about it. I told her it would rest with you entirely. I did not have any unpleasant feeling but asked her to give Lizzie the one that was presented anonymously & she said she wanted that but she would give her the Field one & I then told her that you would decide it. I think Lizzie had better hand it over to her.

Poor Maj. Tilford & Mrs. Tilford find it hard getting along on half pay & he is so very much out of health.

She came up today alone -- whilst he is at the Arsenal, to ask me to see if you will not let him be assigned on the Court here, or if Treadwell Moore's death makes that Board unnecessary let him go to Louisville -- for the Summer in the Place of Davidson who was assigned there as Recruiting officer. General Sturgis has recommended Tilford for this during the Summer, as Sturgis was applied to for an officer for that duty.

Mrs. Tilford says her husband has been twenty five years on frontier duty. I hope you can consistently help them now. I feel really sorry for the poor souls.

All send best love. Give my kindest regards to every member of the Staff.

(signed)

Ellen
[EES]

St. Louis, Mo.
June 8th 1876
[1876/06/08]

Dearest Cump
[WTS]

Please remember to tell me about the plastering in the front hall.

Mr. Fitch will keep his room here all Summer, but the he expects to be out of the City once or twice perhaps & for a fortnight at a time.

Minnie got off Tuesday 6th- In giving an account of the chains I said that Minnie had told me she would give Lizzie the Field chain & locket. When I told her the day before she left that she might give me that chain & locket for Lizzie & I would have Lizzie hand Mr. Fitch the Presidents chain, she said she did not propose to give the locket but only the chain. I suppose the best way is to let her have it. Lizzie does not care for it.

I beleive the deficiency for June has been made up, & that remainds me that I have never yet had my share of the June pay for 1875 - You have never yet drawn it I beleive. Maj. Johnson is now prepared to pay it and Major Grimes has got his - If you will send your I can get it & put your part to your credit. Maj Grimes told me yesterday that he had put your commutation of quarters to your credit. All are well. I hope you enjoyed the meeting in Philadelphia on the 6th.

This is Willy's birthday. He would be 22 years old today.

(signed)

Ellen
[EES]

St. Louis,
June 13th 1876 Tuesday afternoon
[1876/06/13]

Dearest Cump-
[WTS]

I have been quite upset by the news of Blaine & hope & pray he is now nearly well. I have the B. & O. pass, & shall send it to you as soon as we arrive. We may get there on the 2nd in which case you can let Tom & Elly come out & all can go together to the Centennial & enjoy it more. Rachel's heart is set on going with Elly. I shall duly apprise you as I progress in my arrangements. In order to get ready in good season I would like to have my money early to pay off bills (which takes time) if my July notes were only a few days earlier I could anticipate by using some of that money.

The President has signed the bill admitting the diamonds & I hope you will not act in the case without letting me know what you intend to do. Do not give Tiffany a share -- I oppose that in toto & so does Minnie -- If you pay him in diamonds you sell a part yourself & he will take the lion's share -- Minnie is greatly opposed to that -- Let Tiffany make a division & pay him from another fund for his services & do not set the diamonds - Let us have his description of them & their value before the division.

Lizzie had handed the chain to Mr. Fitch for Minnie --

The letter from the colored fellow in New Orleans is simply a fraud. He lived here for about two months in '68 and he has been writing me begging letters for several years. I sent him two or three dollars on two different occasions when I believed that he was sick but his letters came too often - Of course you know I do not owe him anything --

Emily has gone on -- She got off in good spirits but of course she felt badly at leaving Frank - She is rather doubtful of Pats ability to keep straight - During the last 26 months they were with me in Washington I paid Emily only a part of her wages & told her that I would let the rest stand to be drawn upon by them in time of necessity. Although Pat has been drawing his pay as Messenger & Frank has been earning $20. a month and Emily has had pay for the Sewing she has done for us & for chickens & eggs we have got of her, I still had to give Pat $35 and Emily $20 of those wages when they left --

I told them when they went that they must understand that if Pat loss his place there we were not in any way responsible for their getting back here or getting employment there.

There is very little more coming to Emily on the old account and they will by the force of circumstances so lean upon us someday, by reason of sickness or death that we will have to advance to them before they could draw what they have now at interest or even after they have squandered that & I am therefore opposed to paying them any more now. Should they ask you for any I wish you would tell them to write to me. Please do not advance it -- They need it less now than ever in their lives -- I really ought not pay her any wages for the time she had Pat & Frank boarding & lodging at my expense, especially as she also then drew quite a little sum. I have estimated her wages for the part of the time Frank was there at a moderate rate & I have the account all very plain & to be well understood were I to die.

Emily's services since she married have cost me enormously and I am unwilling ever again to employ her because of the expense so I hope you will not make any arrangement for building, as you suggested, a small house on the 14th St. lot & putting Emily & Pat there. Let them live now on what he earns & if he loses his place let them support themselves & should sickness overtake them we will then befriend them. If we are ever to economise I must reduce the number depending largely upon us -

(signed)

Ellen
[EES]