(The original page size of this letter is 5 inches by 7 1/2 inches.)
(This letter was written by our Hester Ann Selser Richards Currie to her youngest child, our Annie E. Currie, who from all indications was living at Neely when this letter was written. Hester would have been 73 years old at this time and Annie, 32. So, now, Hester is back in Goldman. The year before she was at Neely, I think. Pat Currie)
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Goldman, Ark
March 28, 1893
My Dear Annie
I have misplaced yours
& Alice's letters to me & have a bad pen to
write with this morning; but as "Nathan"
said unto David, "Thou art the man"
So I say unto you, thou art the child
of my old age, the little Benjamin & conse-
quently the most beloved - If you remem-
ber I told you once I would leave every
child I had, and go with you to parts
unknown if you would leave La - I
can not say that to-day - I would not
leave Mary in her widowed condition now
to go any where - I have received my
church letter form Pecan Grove Church &
will join here the first opportunity -
I expect to spend the remnant of my
days here in Goldman -
(end of page 1)
As I knelt by Uncle's corpse, while Bro
Mills prayed, I felt impressed that mine
would be the next laid out in that parlor.
Yesterday I walked up to see Mrs Lu Lynch
she was just recovering from one of her "spells"
as she calls them - Our two weeks washing
has been thru about ten days & she does
not know that she can wash this week or
not - I called at Kate Coffield's, her babe has
something the matter with its left eye, looks
like an ulcer on the ball, she expects to
take it to Stuttgart to-day - Mrs Vickars
lost one eye when a girl, a horse kicked
it out, and now she has neuralgia so
badly in the other eye that she has to be
kept in a darkened room, & Dr Vesey
thinks the only remedy will be to take
out that eye - Oh, the suffering in this
world, "Who would live away, away
from his God, Away from Heaven that
blissful abode" etc
(end page 2)
As I came home I thought of the lines,
When e'er I take my walks abroad,
How many poor I see;
What shall I under to my God,
For all his gifts to me -
I am so happy, so blessed, so many
comforts, so much to be thankful for,
"Surely my lines have fallen to me in
pleasant places" I have a goodly heritage
Well, I suppose you all read Leila's
letter and know I am being treated
by Dr Vesey for eczema - And although
this is the tenth day, I am far from well
of the eruption, & sent by Lee yesterday for
another bottle of the wash -
Lee went after his strawberry crates etc,
so as to be making them up in rainy
weather - He got his hand sprained a
week ago & Jim got his foot hurt last
saturday; but they have gone for the
day to the Mouser Place to plow -
(end page 3)
I have such good quiet times all day
long by myself - Thank Huldah for
the papers I read the sermons to Mary in
the evening and then sent them to others
to read -
Miss Helen is quite sick, I
sent Little Jim a leaflet to keep for "Helen's
sake - Mary has been sick; but keeps on
teaching - She was crying the other night
in bed and Will said "you'll meet again"
She told me about it and said, it was
so sweet of him and he never said
another word; but went to sleep -
May the Lord bless you every one is my
constant prayer
Your Mama
H A Currie
Have had letters from Ada, Gardner & Mary
Currie written last week - Mrs Fairly
that used to be, wrote to Mary, seeing Mr
Lynch's obituary in the Ark Methodist, she
inquired after every one of you, calling you
"ana baby" H A C
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("Alice's" - This could have been Cousin Alice, Sister Scholastica. She would have been 18 years old at this time.
"if you would leave La" - I wonder why she didn't want to live in Louisiana? She died there at Neely Plantation, 6/10/1909.
"Mary" - What Mary was this? It could have been Mary Esther Richards (?). I don't know whom she married; but, she was Hester's daughter; if so, Mary Esther would have been a 44 years old widow.
"Pecan Grove" - Here it is again! Cousin William, now 93 years old, says he never heard of "Pecan Grove"; but there is a pecan grove on the site of what was Neely Plantation. I saw it just this past May, 2001. Maybe a hundred trees.
"Uncle's corpse" - Apparently, this was Mary's husband; but I don't know the name. "Brother Gary", I think.
"Mrs Lu Lynch" - I suspect that this is Lucy Jane Lynch Currie's mother. Lucy Jane married Hester's son, Howard Cromartie Currie. Both Lucy and Howard were dead at this time.
"Kate Coffield's" - Have no idea who this was. Just a neighbor,perhaps.
"Mrs Vickars" - ditto for this one, too.
"Leila's" - She was Hester's daughter, Leila Ada Currie Riley. She would have been 38 years old at this time and living with her husband, John H. Riley. They would have been living on Neely Plantation in their own house, not the Neely House. The location of their house is on one of our 93 year old Cousin William Gilfoil's sketches.
"Lee" - I think this may have been a Lynch. Perhaps Lucy's brother.
"Jim" - Don't know who this is;
"I have a goodly heritage" - I like this one, for thus, so have we all.
"Huldah" - Of course, this is our Aunt Tee, Huldah A. Devine Currie, who would have been 45 years old at this time. As far as I know, she always lived at Neely.
"Miss Helen" - I don't know who this is. Howard's daughter, Helen C. Currie, had already died 5 years before the writing of this letter.
"Will" - He may have been my grandfather, William Cromartie Currie, Sr. and would have been 8 years old at this time. If he is consoling Mary, he probably consoled himself with the same words every time he lost one of his family. His father, mother, and two sisters had already died.
"Ada, Gardner & Mary" - Hester's grandchildren by her son and my great grandfather, Howard Cromartie Currie. Ada is Aunt Leila Ada.
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