Richard Dana Morse to Georgiana Bowditch, 4 January 1920

[From Richard Dana Morse in New York, New York, to Georgiana Bowditch. He thanks her for the Christmas letter and gift; apologizes for not renewing the Sunday Tribune subscription for her more promptly; says he waited until January to close his Florham house for the winter, and cold weather resulted in frozen water pipes; and mentions various relatives.

Richard Dana Morse was Georgiana's second cousin; his father and Georgiana's father were first cousins.

This is one of three letters from Richard Dana Morse that were found in a single envelope addressed to "Miss Georgiana A. Bowditch, Morganton, North Carolina," and postmarked "Jan 16, 1922, New York, N. Y." They were dated "Sunday January fourth," "January second 1921," and "Sunday evening." Based on their content, the fact that 4 January was a Sunday in 1920, and 16 January was a Monday in 1922, it's likely that they were written on 4 January 1920, 2 January 1921, and 15 January 1922. All three were written on stationery with the printed letterhead "The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, 42 West 44th Street."]

Sunday January fourth [1920]

My dear Cousin,

Your letter with the seasons' greetings and very acceptable Christmas gift for which I thank you very much were received promptly. Much more promptly, I regret to say, than the Sunday Tribune has gone to you. I had made in my diary a memorandum that the subscription was expiring November fifth but waited for the expiration notice from the publication office in the form of a bill wh. they agreed to send to me. This they failed to do - on account of a change in their corps of clerks they say - and business was at that time and still is so engrossing, the matter was wholly overlooked until a couple of weeks ago when I stopped in at the office of the newspaper and was amazed to learn that no issue had been mailed to you after Novr 5th. I gave directions that all the missing editions be sent forth with and I hope you received them in due course. While the back numbers are now rather stale I thought perhaps they might contain some articles wh. were a continuation of previous ones and therefore might be desired.

Last year I closed my Florham house December first but this year I decided to wait until a month later before coming into town for the winter months. Consequently I have just been through a month of very cold weather and have with difficulty kept the water pipes from freezing many times. One night the thermometer went to ten degrees below zero and the water froze in the plumbing in spite of all I could do, but no especial harm resulted.

Last summer I farmed out my land to a neighbor and this solved quite a few perplexing labor problems besides giving me corn, potatoes and carrots for the horse.

Mrs. Henry C. Frosts1 address is No. 60 Thorndike Street Brookline (Mass). I hear from her occasionally. Her brother James Hutchins,2 who was living with her, died a few months ago, very suddenly from an apoplectic stroke probably. My brother3 misses him sadly; they were very good friends.

Did you see a notice quite a time ago in the newspaper of the death of Ellery Berg?4 It seems he left a widow5 and five children. Otherwise I don't know anything of the family.

With best regards and wishes for the new year, believe me

Sincerely your cousin,

Richard Morse6

  1. Amelia Miriam Hutchins (1858-), Richard's cousin, Georgiana's 1st cousin once removed
  2. James Dana Hutchins (1856-1919), Richard's cousin, Georgiana's 1st cousin once removed
  3. Francis Bowditch Morse (1862-aft 1933), Richard's brother, Georgiana's 2nd cousin
  4. Albert Ellery Berg (1855-1919), Richard and Georgiana's 2nd cousin
  5. Annie Campbell (abt 1869-), widow of Albert Ellery Berg
  6. Richard Dana Morse (1864-1933), Georgiana's 2nd cousin