US West Townsend MA 10 SEP 1852 to Charlotteville, Schoharie Co. NY. 3c PAID in cash (1851 rate). Green West Townsend SEPT 19 Mass CDS, green circular PAID 3, manuscript Paid. Stampless Env. To Marcellus R. Warren, Charlotteville Seminary. Sister’s letter.

Summary

• Date sent: 10 September 1852. The postmark gives the day and month. The year comes from a pencil note “1852” on the front and from the letter.
  • Date note: The letter fragment is dated “West Townsend 27th 1852,” with no month. It mentions the school closing in three weeks, a large school expected “in the Spring,” and the singing school ending, all of which suggest late winter. So the letter may come from a different mailing than this Env.
• Country of origin: United States
• Sent from: West Townsend, Massachusetts (Middlesex County)
• Sent to: Charlotteville, Schoharie County, New York
• Distance: about 150 miles in a straight line, roughly 190 miles by road and rail
• Philatelic details:
  • Green circular datestamp “WEST TOWNSEND SEPT 10 Mass.”
  • Green circular “PAID 3”: the 3-cent rate for a prepaid single letter under 3,000 miles (1851 rate), paid in cash.
  • Manuscript “Paid” at the upper left.
  • Embossed seal on the back flap, with a small tear.
  • Later pencil notes “1852” on the front, and “0-30-gm 10” and “P18-1970” on the back.
  • Stampless Env, with two torn fragments of a letter.
• Sender: not named. She writes to her “Dear Brother,” so she was Marcellus’s sister.
• Receiver: Mr. Marcellus R. Warren of Charlotteville, Schoharie County, New York.
• Other people named:
  • Mother and Father
  • Henry Woods, recently married, who had left for St. Louis to settle there
  • An unnamed man who had come home “every night in the cars”
• Historical interest:
  • From 1850 Charlotteville was the home of the New York Conference Seminary, a Methodist school that took both young men and women. In the 1850s it had several hundred students, many from New England. A young man from West Townsend addressed there was very likely a student.
  • The phrase “come home every night in the cars” shows someone commuting by railroad. The Peterborough & Shirley Railroad had reached West Townsend in 1848.
  • The village school terms, the singing school ending with a concert, and a wedding with about a hundred guests are typical of small-town New England life in the 1850s.
  • Henry Woods’s move to St. Louis reflects the westward migration of young New Englanders at the time.
• Genealogical interest: The cover places Marcellus R. Warren at Charlotteville, New York, in 1852, with family at West Townsend, Massachusetts. It also records the marriage of Henry Woods and his move to St. Louis.

Transcription

Only two torn fragments of the letter survive, and the order between them is uncertain.

Fragment 1 (the beginning of the letter):

West Townsend 27th 1852

My Dear Brother
You are not forgotten by me, although I have neglected to write you for two or three weeks past. We have been without a girl to do the table work (reading tentative) for some time, and I have been obliged to... (the rest is torn away)

Fragment 2:

It will seem strange not to have him come home every night in the cars. I am looking anxiously forward to the time when you will be with us. What do you think about returning? Our school closes in three weeks. This term has passed very rapidly. I expect we shall have a large school in the Spring. Henry Woods is married, and has left for St Louis where he intends residing. Mother and Father were present at the wedding, and also about a hundred other friends and relatives. Our singing school closes in a few evenings. I believe they intend to give a concert at its close... (the rest is torn away)

Front of Env:

Paid
PAID 3
Mr Marcellus R. Warren
Charlotteville Schoharie Co.
New York

Pencil (later notes):

1852 (front)
0-30-gm 10 (back)
P18-1970 (back)

Notes on terms:

• “The cars” means the railroad train.
• “A girl” means a hired household servant.
• A “singing school” was a class that taught people to sing, usually held in winter evenings.