Documents associated with: Whistler, Henry
Record 1 of 2
System Number: 12616
Date: 2 September 1887
Author: William McNeill Whistler[1]
Place: [Scheveningen, Holland]
Recipient: Rose Fuller Whistler[2]
Repository: Private Collection
Document Type: MsLc and AS
Hotel d'Orange
Scheveningen
Sept. 2nd 1887.
My Dear Mr Whistler
Your kind Letter has been forwarded to me, first to Ostend & from there here, or I should have answered it by an earlier post. Thank you very much for it, and for the pamphlet you have been so good to send me. It has not yet got here sent on from London, but I am looking forward to reading it.
All family traditions appeal very much to me, and I remember reading with very great interest the manuscript sent us by your brother the late Mr Henry Whistler[3] whom I had the pleasure of knowing, as well as Mrs Whistler[4] and her children. Miss Whistler[5] of Hastings was a much valued friend of my mother[6] who, during the last years of her life lived in Hastings where she died & is buried. I have always felt that there could be little or no doubt that our branch of the family comes from the same origins as your own. My grandfather Major John Whistler[7] was the first representative of the family in America he having come there from Ireland towards the end of the last century. After the Revolution he entered the United States Army. It was as a retired officer in that service when he died. Many of the family, including my father[8] who was the youngest son [were?], like their father, in the United States army. As my grandfather died before I was born, and as none of his elder children are living, I have only been able to collect certain data from younger members of the family. My Grandmother Whistler was Miss Bishop[9], a daughter of Sir Edward Bishop[10] who I believe was also from Ireland, & not England, but of this I am not certain.
The crest taken from old silver of my grandfather's is a Harp & not a Talbot's Head, but the coat of arms from a stamp in my possession is the same as that on your seal. I shall have much pleasure in lending you a copy of my father's life[11] which I received not long since from America, if you would find any interest in reading it. I will send it to you on my return home. I regret that I am unable to present you with a copy as I should like to do, but I have only the one copy.
[p. 2] When you come to London I shall be much pleased if you can find time to come to see me that I may have the pleasure[12] of knowing you personally.
Believe me
Yours sincerely
W. MacNeill Whistler.
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Notes:
1. William McNeill Whistler
William McNeill Whistler (1836-1900), physician, JW's brother [more].
2. Rose Fuller Whistler
Rev. Rose Fuller Whistler (1825-1894), clergyman [more].
3. Mr Henry Whistler
Henry (d. before 1887), brother of Rose Fuller Whistler.
4. Mrs Whistler
Mrs Henry Whistler, sister-in-law of Rose Fuller Whistler.
5. Miss Whistler
Miss Whistler, relative of Rose Fuller Whistler, and distant relative of AMW, living in Hastings ca 1875/1880 .
6. my mother
Anna Matilda Whistler (1804-1881), née McNeill, JW's mother [more].
7. Major John Whistler
John Whistler (d. 1829), father of George Washington Whistler [more].
8. my father
George Washington Whistler (1800-1849), engineer, JW's father [more].
9. Miss Bishop
Anna Whistler (d. 1826), née Bishop, JW's paternal grandmother [more].
10. Sir Edward Bishop
Sir Edward Bishop, JW's paternal great-grandfather.
11. copy of my father's life
Vose, George Leonard, A Sketch of the Life and Works of George W. Whistler, Civil Engineer, Boston and New York, 1887.
12. the pleasure
'the pleasure ... Whistler' is in the original handwriting, the rest has been copied by a later hand.