Elizabeth (Abbot) Bowditch to her son Charles I. Bowditch, 10 October 1847

[From Elizabeth (Abbot) Bowditch in Micaville, North Carolina, to her son Charles in Urbana, Illinois. She tells about their Christmas, and who was there; talks about the cold weather; and mentions two weddings.]

December 30th 1880

My very dear Charlie,

I received your letter of the 8th of Dec. and was so glad to hear from you, and to know that you had heard from home. The first letter I wrote you must have gone to unknown parts. It was eight to ten pages, and I was sorry that you did not get it, as you must have wondered what was the matter.

Well Christmas has passed and you do not know how much I missed your face at the table on that day! All were here but you and Nat.1 If you both could have been at home, how happy I should have been.

Jo. and his wife2 came on the Friday night before, and also Fred3 and Landon Ray,4 so we had with Marion Hilliard5 quite a dining. Bob6 came home but was shooting several days for turkeys, and I do not think went home much of the time.

Last night Johnny7 and Fred went to Laura Hilliard's8 wedding. Johnny came home at midnight, and Fred has not appeared yet.

It is awfully cold today. Everything is frozen up. The snow is four or five inches deep, and Johnny says it is like weather "out West." I do hope you are well fixed for the cold & snow. Do be careful of yourself, and do not get frostbitten feet. I am knitting you some good warm socks, which I shall send in a week or two.

I had a letter from Uncle John9 from Milwaukee last night. He got caught in a snow storm on his way to Johnsons10 and had a tough time. I do not think he will stay so late in the mountains when he expects to pass his winter at the North.

I was delighted to know you are in such a good family, and that you attend church and Sunday school regularly.

Becky Gibbs,11 it is said, will be married tonight. She has an awful time for it, the travelling is awful. The bridegroom Oscar Wilson12 has to come a long way today in the snow.

I often think of you boys last winter. If you had had such weather as this, living in that open kitchen, you could not have stood it at all. Every thing seemed to favor us, certainly after the fire. Our house is very comfortable, and since Fred fixed up the kitchen, made a stove chimney, and we have a fire in the fire-place as well as in the stove, it is much more comfortable than the one in the house used to be. We have much to be thankful for.

I do not know that I told you that Johnny7 milks in the morning & Ga.13 in the eve'g, milk Lily and the Red Cherry [?] the same as when you were here.

I have not heard from Nat1 yet. Do you hear from him? I shall write him before long. He must not forget us.

I know you must have had a nice time Thanksgiving day & I suppose you did Christmas also. I wish I could have been with you.

The old man Robinson says it is the coldest place up the river he ever knew.

I came very near forgetting to tell you that Merritt Caraway14 was married one week ago Sunday. He married Nancy Gouge,15 sister to Thomas's16 wife,17 and lives with Thomas till he can finish his house, his mother being so opposed to it that she will not let him bring her home.

Write us often my dear boy, for you do not know how glad it makes me feel to see a letter from you. Pa18 says he wants to see "Chonkin" awfully.

Ga. sends much love & so does Johnny. Fred would if he were here. He wrote you in my letter that you did not get. Good bye my dear boy.

From your loving Mother.

[At the top of the first page the following is written sideways.]

Tell me if you can read my writing well.

[The following is written upside down at the end of page four.]

Sis13 will write soon.

[In addition, upside down at the end of page four is "Sis will write soon," and at the top of the first page is "Tell me if you can read my writing well."]

  1. Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch (1846-1913), Elizabeth's son, Charles's brother
  2. Joseph Bowditch (1858-1923), Elizabeth's son, Charles's brother and Martha Elizabeth Anderson (1856-1929)
  3. Frederick Darlington Bowditch (1859-1920), Elizabeth's son, Charles's brother
  4. John Landon Ray (1857-1922)
  5. Marion McDonald Hilliard (1851-1918), brother of Robert M. and Laura Matilda Hilliard
  6. Probably Robert M. Hilliard (1852-1926), brother of Marion McDonald and Laura Matilda Hilliard
  7. John Abbot Bowditch (1856-1933), Elizabeth's son, Charles's brother
  8. Laura Matilda Hilliard (1857-1932), sister of Marion McDonald and Robert M. Hilliard
  9. John Edwin Abbot (1831-1911), Elizabeth's brother
  10. Probably Johnson McClure (1837-1898), husband of Elizabeth's sister Ellen Louisa Abbot
  11. Susan Rebecca Gibbs (1862-1927)
  12. Thomas Oscar Wilson (1862-1946)
  13. Georgiana Abbot Bowditch (1848-1927), Elizabeth's daughter, Charles's sister
  14. Merritt E. Caraway (1858-1908)
  15. Nancy M. Gouge (abt 1856-1936)
  16. Thomas Parnell Buchanan (1852-1933)
  17. Mary Emaline Gouge (1866-1944)
  18. Joseph Henry Bowditch (1818-1900), Elizabeth's husband, Charles's father