Documents associated with: Winans, Thomas de Kay
Record 6 of 82
System Number: 07632
Date: 20 June [1849[1]]
Author: Anna Matilda Whistler[2]
Place: London
Recipient: Sarah Harrison[3]
Place: [Alexandroffsky[4]]
Repository: Library of Congress
Call Number: Manuscript Division, Pennell-Whistler Collection, PWC 34/21-23
Document Type: ALS[5]
62 Sloane St
June 20th
All in good time I expect my dear Mrs Harrison you will more than repay me for my hurried scrawls by sending me details of the up stairs & down stairs, which will be so interesting to me! perhaps dear Mrs Leland & Annie[6] are among the group in the garden today! if so "Aunty Maria[7]" & Miss Schofield [8] will add their notes upon the Summer scenes at the New Works. I used to think in my yearnings to return to my native land when the future looked most enticing there that I should leave Russia without one lingering look, but ah I did not know how sacred would become my association with it! now I feel an intense interest in the dear circle I have left & shall as long as I breathe.
[p. 2] So all my friends remember me. I hope ere you receive this Mr Harrison[9] may one I sent yesterday via Hamburg mail & I desire to have his reply as soon as possible, in case of mischances, I will mention now - its subject was the precious remains[10] which I continually think of as still in the vaults of the church. I would be in N York to receive them, or at least have them deposited in the Stonington church[11] vault until myself & boys[12] could reach there to be present at the burial[13]. I shall make up my mind when I go to LPool about the middle of July whether to take passage in a sailing packet or Steamer for N York - and shall be grateful for Mr Harrisons advice as to the propriety of either. It is decided that my dear daughter, her babe[14], & nurse accompany me on the visit to Preston[,] this enables me to leave London sooner & by this day fortnight we shall be back at Uncle Winstanleys[15] if God will. My kind Sister Alicia[16] offers to accompany my boys to Scotland for a week & to meet me in LPool with [p. 3] them a week before we must embark. I felt, upon reading the first letters, Mrs Sandlands & Eliza [17] addressed to me, a wish that you should know how truly they appreciate your husbands worth, & now enclose them, you need not return them. as I have had several since. Has your mother[18] arrived? Mr Prince[19] is taking the pretty hood & cloak for Mrs Winans baby[20] from Aunt Julia[21], dagereotypes[22] from Mrs Eastwick[23] & Willie & a small parcel from me to Miss Schofield really for her little cousins[.] I hope to see Mr Ellerby[24] ere he leaves town
And now having others to write to I only add love to your circle, tell me about each of your children when you write, & think of me as
your attached & grateful friend
Anna M Whistler
I conclude Mr Ingersoll[25] must have started for London - Mr Bagby[26] is in town, but that's all I 've heard
This document is protected by copyright.
Envelope:
Mrs HarrisonAlexandroffsky
Attention of
Mr Prince
Tell[27] Christina[28], her pet Willie is well & Jemie grown up in comparison. Mary[29] does not forget her & I shall always feel interested in all our good servants of Dom Ritter[30]. I hope you like her
Notes:
1. 1849
Dated with reference to George Washington Whistler's death on 7 April 1849, and the transfer of his remains (see below).
2. Anna Matilda Whistler
Anna Whistler (d. 1826), née Bishop, JW's paternal grandmother [more].
3. Sarah Harrison
Sarah Harrison (1817-1906), née Poulterer, wife of Joseph Harrison [more].
4. the precious remains
GWW's coffin; see AMW to Joseph Harrison, 19 June 1849, #07629, and 13 August 1849, #07637.
5. Alexandroffsky
Name of the firm and house owned by Harrison, Winans and Eastwickl; see AMW to JW, 15, 16 and 18 September 1848, #06363.
6. ALS
There are the remains of a black wax seal.
7. Mrs Leland & Annie
Mrs Leland, Joseph Harrison's sister, and Annie Harrison (1839-1915), daughter of S. and J. Harrison [more].
8. Aunty Maria
Probably Marie Olga Harrison (b. 1847), daughter of S. and J. Harrison.
9. Miss Schofield
Miss Schofield, friend of AMW.
10. Mr Harrison
Joseph Harrison (1810-1874), jr, partner in Eastwick and Harrison, locomotive manufacturers, and later in Harrison, Winans and Eastwick [more].
11. Stonington church
Stonington Cavalry Church.
12. boys
James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), artist [more], and William McNeill Whistler (1836-1900), physician, JW's brother [more].
13. burial
The burial of George Washington Whistler (1800-1849), engineer, JW's father [more].
14. dear daughter, her babe
Deborah ('Debo' or 'Sis') Delano Haden (1825-1908), née Whistler, JW's half-sister [more], and her daughter Annie Harriet Haden (1848-1937), later Mrs Charles Thynne, JW's niece [more].
15. Uncle Winstanleys
John Winstanley (1776-1859), solicitor, JW's uncle [more]; he lived at Preston, Lancashire.
16. Sister Alicia
Alicia Margaret Caroline McNeill (1786-1863), JW's aunt [more].
17. Mrs Sandlands & Eliza
Betsey Sandland of Liverpool, friend of AMW, and her daughter Eliza, wife of Thomas Boyd (b. 1821).
18. your mother
Sarah Poulterer, Sarah Harrison's mother.
19. Mr Prince
Probably George H. Prince, engineer.
20. Mrs Winans baby
Celeste Winans (1823-1861), née Revillon, wife of Thomas De Kay Winans [more], and their son George Winans.
21. Aunt Julia
Julia de Kay Whistler (1825-1875), née Winans, JW's sister-in-law [more].
22. dagereotypes
Daguerreotypes, untraced; see AMW to Joseph Harrison, 11 June 1849, #07627.
23. Mrs Eastwick
Lydia Anne Eastwick (1810-1890), née James, wife of A. M. Eastwick [more].
24. Mr Ellerby
Rev. Thomas Ellerby, clergyman, in charge of the British and American Chapel at St Petersburg.
25. Mr Ingersoll
Colin Macrae Ingersoll (1819-1903), secretary of the American Legation at St Petersburg [more].
26. Mr Bagby
Arthur Bagby (1794-1858), senator and U. S. minister in Russia from 1848-1849 [more]; he had resigned on 14 May 1849.
27. Tell
'Tell ... her' written on inside flap of envelope.
28. Christina
Christina, AMW's servant at St Petersburg.
29. Mary
Mary Brennan (b. 1825), AMW's servant [more].
30. Dom Ritter
AMW's residence in St Petersburg, situated across the river from the Academy of Fine Arts.