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The Philander Chase letters were written in the 18th and 19th century and therefore may contain language that we understand today as harmful or offensive. You may encounter paternalist descriptions of Native Americans, racial slurs, or sexism. For more information, see our policy page.
Description
Philander Chase writes to his granddaughter Mary Olivia before he and Dudley set off for a missionary tour in Ottawa, Illinois, noting the cold weather elsewhere which Jubilee has apparently avoided.
Date
3-5-1845
Keywords
Philander Chase, Mary Olivia Chase, Louisville, Ottawa, Illinois, tour, farming, winter, weather, health
Recommended Citation
Chase, Philander, "Letter to Mary Olivia Chase" (1845). Philander Chase Letters. 1242.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/chase_letters/1242
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Transcript
5 Mar 1845
Jubilee
My dear Grand Daughter:
It gives me great pleasure to learn that your loved Mother has enjoyed good health for so long a period. It pleases me also to lean that you have been quite well-- and that you love your dear home too well to be enticed by any offer from Granville. Never do I wish you to stray from your home in search on uncertainties from…….
Give my best love to your hon’d Grand Father Wells: Tell him I am very anxious to hear from him. Tell your Aunt Ann that I highly esteem her for her good works especially for taking so good care of her aged Father in his late sickness.
My kindest regards to your good Father
Tell him that Dudley (now an excellent preacher) tomorrow sets out with me on a visit to Ottowa[sic] about 80 miles from this. Oh how this reminds me of the times long gone by when he went with me on Missionary tours for the good of souls. I hope to be here at Jubilee on Easter Sunday. After that I shall, (I think), go south: sh’d the weather continue mild and dry. How different our wither past from that which we hear of in the Atlantic states. Even in Europe the cold has been intense. What will our friends in England say when they hear we ploughed our grounds for a kitchen Garden on the 20th of Feb--and that we have culinary roots now growing in the open air.
Our Spiritual Garden seems also to flourish. Our School increases and bids fair to be very useful to the Far West in training ministers of the Church. We are quarrying stone for a new building[.] We are out of debt except that we owe all to God thro Jesus Christ.
Our number of Communicants is 106 67 of these were present and took the sacrament on the occasion of an ordination on the 2’d Sunday in Lent.
Ought we not to pour our hearts in grateful acknowledgments for these blessings Constant our present state with the insignificant condition we were in when you [were] [here]!
My dear Wife your best of grand mothers is quite recovered from her late indisposition and once more is at the head of our affairs.
As to myself you see I am but a poor letter writer. The truth is I have been hard at work this day and am egregiously Sleepy. But I shall have no time tomorrow before I set off: therefore you must take this, or wait till I return from Ottowa[sic]!
I grow old--but old as I am I think I may truly say that I love you my dear Mary better & better.
Ph’r Chase