Letter to E T Throop from Augustus Benjamin Fitch
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- Title:
- Letter to E T Throop from Augustus Benjamin Fitch
- Collection:
- 19th Century Prison Reform Collection
- Date:
- 05-19
- ID Number:
- RMM01157_B01_F11_016
- Collection Number:
- 1157
- File Name:
- RMM01157_B01_F11_016.pdf
- Transcription:
- Darien May 19th [??]
Hon. E T Throop
My Dear Sir,
I requested Eliza to hear me a little sooner for a few words, but I find that these small sheets, like French beds, can not accommodate two-- Please therefore excuse my modest postscript, if it presents itself in the proportions of a letter.
We are now heartily enjoying our return home, and deem ourselves very fortunate that time has dealt in a loving manner with all our home circle during our long separation. Father and Mother never looked better and little Lilia's cheeks stand out like two full blown roses. It would do you good to see her.
I have however lost one very dear friend, my mother's last sister, my only Aunt. To me and to all her friends her loss is a severe one, but she faded so gradually that we all knew death was near, before I started for Europe.
Your letters to mother have been a source of great comfort to her, so great indeed, that I know you would have written more frequently had you known the pleasure you were giving. I am glad to hear by them that you have had some intelligence of a little parcel of mine which I hoped you would receive as a little present from one who would gladly have made a much larger one had not Naples been the finishing sight of our Italian tour.
Uncle Benjamin did not accompany us into Italy, and so Eliza and I had to take care of ourselves during our three months there. You must not therefore judge my gift either by the quantity nor yet by its quality for the [??] and others told me that the wines have depreciated very much since you were there, owing to the disease of the grape from which Italian vineyards have suffered so much for the last five years.
I wished you to have an opportunity to judge of the present state of the wines of Sicily, and also of [T??] to Brother's manner of sending them to you for I do not see how you can do better than buy. Through them, unless you send your money directly to Scala, and trust to him about the shipping. [T??] and Brothers are, I should think, good reliable bankers and they promised me they would attend carefully to any similar order. Any draft payable in England would suit them.
I selected half a [??] brands and ordered six of each kind for you, also that the bottles should be marked so that with the assistance of the enclosed bill of Scala's prices, you can judge pretty well about what you would like to order.
It seems [??] presently decided that Eliza and I are to go to Buffalo and Father and Mother remain here in Darien. If this arrangement stands, our family can offer you a welcome either at Darien or in Buffalo, whether business or pleasure shall call you in either direction. Please give my love to all our friends about you.
Yours Respectfully,
AB Fitch
This letter to Enos T Throop from one "AB Fitch" (written in full as "Augustus Benjamin Fitch" in his St. Luke's Church invitation) mentions an "Uncle Benjamin," likely referring to Benjamin Fitch (1802-1883) who was born in New Canaan Connecticut just northeast of New York City. He became a millionaire through a chain of dry goods stores and then a well-known philanthropist in his later years. During the Civil War, he was a devout supporter of the Union cause and raised a Connecticut regiment for their army. After the war, he built the Fitch Home for orphans of soldiers who had died in the service. The Home opened in 1867, but was soon transformed into a home for disabled veterans. The prison reform efforts of the 19th Century cannot be understood in isolation from the broader social movements of this period including the fights for slavery abolition, veterans' support, women's rights, and access to education. As this letter exchange makes clear, these reform movements were not only intimately connected by their shared principles but also through the affiliations between those people who invested in them. This personal correspondence brings to light these more intimate connections that are often lost in grand histories of social change. - Work Type:
- documents
- Cite As:
- Enos Thompson Throop. Papers, #1157. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
- Repository:
- Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
- Archival Collection:
- Enos Thompson Throop Papers
- Box:
- 1
- Folder:
- 11
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The content in the 19th Century Prison Reform Collection is believed to be in the public domain by virtue of its age, and is presented by Cornell University Library under the Guidelines for Using Text, Images, Audio, and Video from Cornell University Library Collections [http://hdl.handle.net/1813.001/CULCopyright]. This collection was digitized by Cornell University Library in 2017 from print materials held in the Rare and Manuscript Collections, with funding from a Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences Grant to Katherine Thorsteinson. For more information about these volumes, please contact the Rare and Manuscript Collections at rareref@cornell.edu. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.