Other Discoveries
Deborah Wheelock, letter to her brother Alpheus, August 9, 1788
Dear Brother,
It is now with pleasure and satisfaction I sit down to write to you to inform you that I am well, and I hope that you are enjoying the same. I can’t express the desire I have to see you, and hope that it won’t be long before I shall, although I had almost been expecting never to see you anymore. But your writing gives me a small glimpse of hope that I shall have the pleasure of seeing you once more. Dear Brother, write to me if you can’t come soon, and let me know your circumstances and the reason of your going away. I would inform you that I remain in a single state of life as yet, but I can’t tell how soon it will be otherwise with me. So I must conclude, for my paper grows short. So no more at present, but I remain your loving sister till Death,
Deborah Wheelock
Mendon, August 9th, AD 1788
P.S.: Don’t fail coming home as soon as possible you can.
[spelling and punctuation have been modernized]
It is now with pleasure and satisfaction I sit down to write to you to inform you that I am well, and I hope that you are enjoying the same. I can’t express the desire I have to see you, and hope that it won’t be long before I shall, although I had almost been expecting never to see you anymore. But your writing gives me a small glimpse of hope that I shall have the pleasure of seeing you once more. Dear Brother, write to me if you can’t come soon, and let me know your circumstances and the reason of your going away. I would inform you that I remain in a single state of life as yet, but I can’t tell how soon it will be otherwise with me. So I must conclude, for my paper grows short. So no more at present, but I remain your loving sister till Death,
Deborah Wheelock
Mendon, August 9th, AD 1788
P.S.: Don’t fail coming home as soon as possible you can.
[spelling and punctuation have been modernized]
The papers include just a handful of personal letters. This one was written in 1788 to Alpheus Wheelock by his younger sister Deborah in Mendon, Massachusetts. She asks the reason for his sudden and unexplained departure from home to start a new life in distant Maryland.
Among the documents are many that reveal details of women’s social and economic lives — including as workers, landowners, and slaveholders.
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