1831.09.07 - Elizabeth Huntington to John Huntington, Sep. 7th, 1831

1831.09.07 - Elizabeth Huntington to John Huntington, Sep. 7th, 1831

This letter is your typical letter from your mother updating her child of what is new at home. Here we see Elizabeth Huntington update Whiting about what is happening at home: the store is going through some modifications, Elizabeth and Miss Vanderkemp of Trenton wrote to the family, and Elizabeth Whiting Phelps Huntington is still suffering from her stomach illness. The topic of faith and the practice of faith is also very present in this letter, as seen through Elizabeth’s approval of fasting. It is interesting to see how the talk of God is just as normal as sending Whiting his shirts the next week. Additionally, it is quite clear to see Elizabeth is a mother with how she writes about her children being in school and how Mary was preparing to leave home for school and the use of “Pa and I.” Something else that is interesting to note is the use of quoting in this letter. There are two instances in which a text is referenced: the popular phrase from the book of James in the bible of “do unto others what you want done upon you” and a quote from the poem “Night Thought” by Edward Young.

Elizabeth Whiting Phelps Huntington

Porter-Phelps-Huntington Family Papers (Box 12 Folder 11)
Amherst College Archives and Special Collections

1831-09-07

Courtesy of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation
For permissions contact Amherst College Archives and Special Collections

Correspondence