Abbot/Bowditch Family Letters

Elizabeth (Woodberry) Story to Elizabeth (Abbot) Bowditch, September 1887

[From Elizabeth (Woodberry) Story in Somerville, Massachusetts, to Elizabeth (Abbot) Bowditch. She tells Elizabeth about her sons and their families; talks about her failing health; and mentions her (step-)mother's death.]

Somerville Sept, ‘87

My Dear Sister Lizzie,

It is a long time since I wrote to you, and I thought now you might like to hear from me and see my hand writing once more.

I have had my oldest son Will¹ with his family at home this summer and we have all enjoyed the visit very much.

Our second boy Fred² was married two years ago & now has a baby boy.³ They think they cannot come on this summer. She⁴ cannot bring the baby & he cannot leave them so we have to feel satisfied to hear of their well doing and wait for another season to see them. We had two delightful visits from them last year & the year before. She is a Baltimore girl and was never north before, and she was so much pleased to see everything that we really enjoyed taking her round and shewing her what there was to see.

My boys are all married now and I can truly say that I am much pleased with my daughters and think they are pleased with their "Mother in Law," but I never think of myself as that. They all call me "Ma." My youngest son Isaac⁵ is at a Quarry in New Hampshire and his family are with him. He has two boys 6 & 4⁶ and a little girl nearly 2 years old.⁷ So you see I am grandma to five children & they are a very great pleasure to me. Folks do say I am proud of them, but I say, one may be proud if one has anything worth being proud of.

My health is no better than when I wrote last, in fact I am gradually getting more and more feeble. I find it hard to walk even a very short distance. I could not possibly walk a quarter of a mile. Indeed I am quite lame even on the floor at home, but I live near the horse car track and so I occasionally get out for a ride & sometimes make a call on a near neighbor. I suppose this is what I ought to expect, but last summer I was so smart & could walk a quarter of a mile, now & then, so that I felt quite encouraged about myself, but now I seem to be losing every way. Still I am not altogether cast down, as you will think when I say that I have promised my boys in Baltimore to come and see them next January if I can. I cannot tell how I may be by that time, but it is something to even think of it.

Whatever may be before me, I know it will be just what a wise & loving Father sees best for me, and surly I am willing to take what love selects for me. Next December I shall be 70 years old and it cannot be many more years now before I shall go to be with Him; looking forward to that happy time, makes the trials & troubles we have here, seem small & of little account. They will soon be over & we shall be in a state of happiness that we can have no conception of here.

I suppose you have heard of Mothers⁸ death. She lived to a good old age 85, and enjoyed more than most I think in the closing years of her life.

I hear occasionally from Georgiana⁹ and am always pleased to get a letter from her. It seems so much like hearing from you. I have a good many correspondents and so cannot write often to any one. I suppose you will think this letter is all about myself & my children, but really I did not know anything that I thought would be more interesting to you.

As ever, lovingly your Sister Lizzie

 

Copyright Charles Towne. Usage of this work is licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0
Compiler: Charles Towne

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