Key Haven to New York folded letter
Collection: National Postal Museum
Object type: Covers & Associated Letters
Date: May 4, 1813
Place of Destination: New York
Medium: paper; ink
Dimensions: Height x Width (folded): 3 1/4 × 5 1/8 in. (8.26 × 13.02 cm) Height x Width (second page unfolded): 12 1/2 × 15 1/2 in. (31.75 × 39.37 cm)
Credit line: Bequest of Joseph J. Geraci
Description: Italy and the Old Italian States are one of the most important specialties in the field of philately, with deep roots in the classic period. International mail systems first emerged in Italy during the late Middle Ages as city-states including Florence, Venice, and Milan established organized postal services to facilitate the exchange of diplomatic and business letters and documents. Italy pioneered the use of postmarks, stamped paper, postal treaties, and the creation of an established itinerary of post offices and post roads. Later, Italy became one of the main theaters of the Napoleonic wars as French, Austrian, and Spanish armies fought for domination of the Italian peninsula. The Italian states began issuing postage stamps in 1850, just ten years after Great Britain and three years after the United States, making it one of the earliest stamp-issuing areas in the world. After unification, Italy became a founding member of the Universal Postal Union. Postal history and stamps from all of these eras are well-represented in the Geraci collection through high quality material.
Mr. Geraci also left substantial collections of archival documents and his research library of books, scholarly journals, and conference proceedings to the Smithsonian. These holdings together make the National Postal Museum an important center for study into philately of the Italian area.
['53\nSHIP\nM rs Graham Mess rs Dime Bethune & Co. New York.\nMon g June May 4 No 3 Free and August 1848'
 None 'Key Haven 1813'
 "Hey Haven May 4 th 1813\nMy dear Mrs Graham,\nI am very glad I did not write to you when first we arrived here, for I am sure I should have written such a melancholy letter, that it would only have pained you. I never recollect to have passed one day, in such extreme dejection as I did the first ten, we were here. All that I had suffered before, was as nothing to it. I had parted from you all, & I felt that we were separated, but till we got here, I did not know what it was to live without you. It did not seem such a total separation. While we were among our friends every thing was so new, & so entirely different from what we had been used to, that we did not seem to expect to find you there, but when we got home & found no dear Grandmama to advise us. I little expected ever again to have been as happy as I am now, & I am sure I still less deserve it, for I am ashamed to say that I absolutely fainted under the stroke, instead of looking upwards for support, & my only comfort was from the expectation that it would not be for long, for I was then, & have been till within the last week extremely unwell, with a return of my old complaint, tho' it has not been so severe, as it used to be. But, as tho' it were to shame me out of my distrust, we found many blessings in store for us, & one to which we were strangers, in America, a truly faithful minister. Poor Mr Harris I am sure meant well, & I think he had right views, but he was timid, & did not understand the art of application: but of Mr Evans, it may be said as of John Knox, he is one whom never feared the face of man. He sets his face as a flint, & neither fears the rich, nor flatters the poor. He is a thorough Calvinist, & often reminds me of what Mr Bethune once said, that unless a person held those opinions, his views of doctrine would be perplexed & disjointed. O my dear Grandmama, if you could but hear him, for what I can say falls so short of what he deserves. I have never yet heard him, without a sigh, that you could not know, how your prayers have been answered for your children. He is all you could wish for us, & better than all our hopes."
 "long account will not have been too long, but I am like you dear Grand mama, when I write, I like to say all, or nothing, & the other inhabi- tants of the place will be soon got thro'. There is a large society of rich & fashionable people here, who associate much together in the way of large dinner parties, 3 or 4 times a week, & card & supper par- ties in an evening. but very few of them have visited us, which as you may suppose is no very great mortification to us. Mrs Rockford whom I mentioned as agreeing with the Evans's in opinion, unfortunately lives at some little distance from us, & as she has very ill health I fear we shall meet but seldom. So that the houses where we visit familiarly are reduced to two, Mr Evans's & my Aunt Sumner's, whom I shall men- tion presently; a great change from Granwich, where there were so ma- ny families with whom we were on such an intimate footing. However our time is so taken up, that we do not seem to feel the deficiency. Twice a week we teach & catechise at the poor-house, & on the other days find full employment on Lima Common, where a colony of poor people have built themselves cottages of mud, commonly, on the outside, but boarded & white-washed within, & so nicely furnished with dry- ers with ranges of plates, &c. that you can hardly believe they will be willing to accept any thing: the poor here are much neater in their houses & clothes than with you, & they have also little gardens round their houses, & a bit of flower border. But I have not yet felt so inte- rested for any here as I did for the poor Richardsons, & my dear little Catechism in America, & I do not think I ever shall. — My Aunt Sum- ner lives a short mile from us with her only daughter, a girl of 19, who plays & draws very well & resembles her mother in possessing a very affectionate temper, a feeling heart, & in being very reserved. Some however she has not been so, & I trust the ties of blood will be streng- thened & sweetened by those of Christian friendship & confidence which of all others are the most endearing. But Oh how I wished for you to take her to, when she opened her difficulties, & I felt my own insufficiency, & inexperience, however I believe I was the means of giving her some satis- faction, & if I could persuade her to open her mind to Mr Evans I should be satisfied. — Thus, my dear Grandmama, we have again reason to set up our Banner. A faithful minister, pious friends, & opportunities more than we can embrace of serving our fellow-creatures both in temporal & spiritual matters, are blessings, the remembrance of which, will I hope preserve me in future, however dark may be the prospect, from again distrusting that hand which has bro't me safely on my way thus far. But I fear my conduct is a sorrowful proof, that I have depended much more on outward things for happiness, & less on God than I imagined."
 "long account will not have been too long, but I am like you, dear Grandmama, when I write, I like to say all, or nothing, & the other inhabitants of the place will be soon got thro'. There is a large society of rich & fashionable people here, who associate much together in the way of large dinner parties, 3 or 4 times a week, & card & supper parties in an evening, but very few of them have visited us which as you may suppose is no very great mortification to us. Mrs. Rockford whom I mentioned as agreeing with the Evans in opinion, unfortunately lives at some little distance from us & as she has very ill health I fear we shall meet but seldom. So that the houses where we visit familiarly are reduced to two, Mrs. Evans & my Aunt Sumner's, whom I shall mention presently; a great change from Greenwich, where there were so many families with whom we were on such an intimate footing. However our time is so taken up, that we do not seem to feel the deficiency. Two a week we teach & catechise at the poor-house, & on the other days find full employment on Lima Common, where a colony of poor people have built themselves cottages of mud, commonly on the outside but boarded & white-washed within, & so nicely furnished with dressers with ranges of plates, &c. that you can hardly believe they will be willing to accept any thing: the poor here are much better in their houses & clothes than with you, & they have also little gardens round their houses, & a bit of flower border. But I have not yet felt so interested for any here as I did for the poor Richardsons, & my dear little Catechism in America, & I do not think I ever shall. — My Aunt Sumner lives a short mile from us with her only daughter, a girl of 19, who plays & draws very well & resembles her mother in disposition, a very affectionate temper, a feeling heart, & in being very reserved. Some however she has not been so, & I trust the ties of blood will be strengthened & sweetened by those of Christian friendships & confidence which of all others are the most endearing. But O how I wished for you to take her to, when she opened her difficulties, & I felt my own insufficiency & inexperience, however I believe I was the means of giving her some satisfaction, & if I could persuade her to open her mind to Mr. Evans I should be satisfied. — Thus, my dear Grandmama, we have again reason to set up our Benzer. A faithful minister, pious friends, & opportunities more than we can embrace of serving our fellow-creatures both in temporal & spiritual matters, are blessings, the remembrance of which, will I hope preserve me in future, however dark may be the prospect, from again distrusting that hand which has bro't me safely on my way thus far. But I fear my conduct is a sorrowful proof that I have depended much more on outward things for happiness, & less on God than I imagined.\nHey Haven May 4 th 1813\nMy dear Mrs. Graham,\nI am very glad I did not write to you when first we arrived here, for I am sure I should have written such a melancholy letter, that it would only have pained you. I never recollect to have passed one day, in such extreme dejection as I did the first ten, we were here. All that I had suffered before, was as nothing to it. I had parted from you all, & I felt that we were separated, but till we got here, I did not know what it was to live without you. It did not seem such a total separation. While we were among our friends every thing was so new, & so entirely different from what we had been used to, that we did not seem to expect to find you there, but when we got home & found no dear Grandmama to advise us. I little expected ever again to have been as happy as I am now, & I am sure I still less deserve it, for I am ashamed to say that I absolutely fainted under the stroke, instead of looking upwards for support, & my only comfort was from the expectation that it would not be for long, for I was then, & have been till within the last week extremely unwell, with a return of my old complaint, tho' it has not been so severe, as it used to be. But, as tho' it were to shame me out of my distrust, I have found many blessings in store for us, & one to which we were strangers, in America, a truly faithful minister. Poor Mr. Harris I am sure meant well, & I think he had right views, but he was timid, & did not understand the art of application: but of Mr. Evans, it may be said as of John Knox, he is one whom never feared the face of man. He sets his face as a flint, & neither fears the rich, nor flatters the poor. He is a thorough Calvinist, & often reminds me of what Mr. Athune once said, that unless a person held those opinions, his views of doctrine would be perplexed & disjointed. O my dear Grandmama, if you could but hear him, for what I can say falls so short of what he deserves. I have never yet heard him, without a sigh, that you could not know, how your prayers have been answered for your children. He is all you could wish for us, & better than all our hopes."
 "Last Sunday was Sacrament Sabbath at one of his churches & we had two as excellent Sermons as I ever heard the one in the morning on the privileges of believers, & that in the afternoon from 2 Cor. 16. 31 on their duties for with him one is never far behind the heels of the other, & he is so careful to guard his people against self-deception & self-righteousness & must be all in all or nothing. I often think of what you used to say, that tho' we had great pleasure in hearing Mr. Romayne, if we had a pious minister in our own church, we should enjoy it much more, & it is very true. And Mr. Evans is as exemplary out of the pulpit, as he is in it. He has a large parish, 24 miles in circuit, & a population of above 1200, & two Churches (one of which is one of the oldest in England having been built in the reign of Edward the Confessor) to attend to, & he not only visits & prays (extempore) with the sick, but steadily visits 3 Cottages every day, to enforce the lesson of the Sunday by private admonition. One part of the parish is so distant that the people cannot attend Church. He wrote to the Bishop for leave to assemble them on a week day in some house & read & preach to them. This being refused on the ground of irregularity he makes it up as far as he can by devoting to them one day in a week when he & Mr. Evans who is his assistant in all his labors of love go from cottage to cottage among them. There is a work house both here & at Rordle, but very differently managed from that at New York. The children, 25 in number, having mostly lost one or both parents, are constantly employed, in spinning, knitting, or picking oakum, go to church 2 ce every Sunday, are taught to read, & kept as clean in every respect, as at the at New York Rordle. Every Wednesday Mr. & Mrs. Evans visit that at Milford, & on Friday that at Rordle. She hears the children read, & catechises them, while he speaks individually to every grown up person, & prays with them. They are taught entirely on the Lancaster plan, as are also the children in the Sunday School, 100 in number, to which Mrs. Evans gives her personal attention. On Thursday evening, from 6 when the farmers boys leave off work, till 8, they also catechise the children. I have already given you a very long account of Mr. & Mrs. Evans, but I remember you told us we could not be too particular in our accounts of our friends, & these are our friends. It is impossible to have been more kind & attentive to us than they have been. Their Library is\nopen to us, they frequently come to see us, communicate their plans to us, & try to engage us in them. I am sure Christians have larger hearts than other people, & I think they open to one another sooner. We often laugh to think how intimate we are become in so short a time, & I believe they are as well pleased to find us what we are, as we are thankful for such a Minister. For in the higher classes in this place, there is but one other Lady, that agrees entirely with them in opinions. They would be quite trampled down by the rich, if they were not happily of very respectable families, & did not possess a very handsome property, for the Curacy is but £80 a year, without a house. I often think how happy he would be in such a parish as New York, there would be so much society he would like, & so many good people to encourage him, but he is more wanted here, for there has not been a serious minister here before within the memory of man, & the people were in the grossest state of darkness & ignorance, so that it must take some time for them even to understand his preaching, tho' it is exceedingly plain. He has been here but two years, but tho' he is by no means without faults to his ministry, he has not been blessed in the degree one might expect, tho' I hope the work is progressing, as a very serious person told me the other day, she tho't there were many seeking. There are three prayer-meetings in the parish, which tho' he cannot attend, he encourages. A dissenter in the Village told papa, that he liked Mr. Evans, because so that the Lord's work did but go on, he did not care by whom it was carried on. He is very much beloved by the poor, as might be expected, for he gives away a great deal, as you can hardly enter a Cottage which has not received a Bible from him, in large octavo, for he distributes none of inferior size & print. All the poor women they can persuade, who do not know how to read, Mr. Evans gets to come to her house & teaches them. Henrietta has told Jessy of the Dorcas society, so I shall not mention that. They never give or enter into parties, tho' very willing to associate in a family way, but he thinks that where many are assembled, even tho' they should be religious people, it is difficult to keep the conversation from degenerating. She is a perfect mistress of music, sings delightfully, & paints very well, but the latter pursuit she has given up. Mr. Evans has also an uncommon taste for music, & plays on several instruments. So the world may see it is not for want of being qualified to adorn its polite circles, that they abandon them. They have both a great deal of conversation & have more rational curiosity about America than anybody else we have met with. He is 28, & she about 26, they have had one child & lost it, but I hope will make up their loss in August. I hope this"
 'Law of gratitude should be written in our hearts. Pasha has set up family-prayer since we have been here, and we join her devotions for you & mine. Quakerians have not the gift of prayer & I think they are beautiful. Good bye, dear Grahams, for us, & for our dear Mr. Ewing, that he may see the pleasure of the Lord prosper in his hand. My heart is full of love to you all, pray express it for me, & remember me kindly to dear Mr. Scott & her children, Mr. Boorman, & Mr. Whiting. Elizabeth is very\nSHIP\n3\nM rs Graham\nMessrs. Dowie Bethune & Co. New York.\nMary Bond Nov. 4. No. 3\nRecd. August 1849\nMay 1849\nmuch grown & improved. She desires her love to dear Fanny & Bella. She is very happy here but not quite as happy as she was at Greenwich. She has not little playmates. George is as great a favorite here, as he used to be at New York & has not forgot you. Believe me to remain my dear Mr. Graham Your grateful & affec. etc. Mary Bond'
 'in up, that we do not seem & catechise at the poor-hou ment on Lima Comman, w themselves cottages of mud white-washed within, & so m of plates, &c. that you can at any thing: the poor here an with you, & they have a it of flower border! But I as I did for the poor Richa ica, & I do not think I ever mile from us with her ohl s very well & resembles her emper, a feeling heart, & in ot been so, & I trust the ties'
 'to fill the deficiency. I write to you now, & on the other days when there a colony of poor people lived, commonly, on the outside, but nicely furnished with dry wood hardly believe they will are much neater in their all little gardens round have not yet felt so into hardsons, & my dear little shall. — My Aunt Sum daughter, a girl of 19, mother in possessing a being very reserved. Some of blood will be strong'
 "May 5 th We have just returned from spending the Evening with the Evans? How can we be thankful enough for such a Minister & such a friend He is so open, so spiritually-minded, so clear in all he says & seems so anxious for our good. I am afraid you will think me wild to say so much, but indeed if you knew him, you would not wonder. He has done more towards reconciling us to England than any-thing or any-body else, tho' perhaps these war times we should not have been so happy in America, as we used to be.\nYou may imagine with what impatience & anxiety we look for the arrival of the Pacific which we hope will bring answers to our first Letters. I hope there will be very minute. It is now near six months since we last heard from N York & catechise at the poor-house. Dear Grandmama, no from the Fews which mention Lima Common, we will be so good as to tell Frances, that I will tell themselves cottages of many long paper dated Jan 8 th & another white-washed within, & so many dates Jan 18 th which I intended of plates, &c. that you can see Papa thought a vessel he heard from with you, & they have it to don't the Capt refused it of flower border. But I in March that\nwere still in Lond as I did for the poor Rich gone now. I wrote two very long Letters, & I do not think I ever again, on my first arrival here, which mile from us with her only Ray. I wrote to you by the Penn very well & resembles her I wrote the first time to Frances & I have a feeling heart, & in Robert when we were at N York, it been so, & I trust the ties of his Letters, in accounting for our not hearing from him, but now I can quite enter into his feelings, for when it has not been the case, you cannot bear your friends should think you neglectful, or forgetful of them. Pray tell me how my poor book goes on, or rather goes off, Did Mr Lipell ever call on Mr Bethune about it? & how the Societies go on How your health has been this winter & Mr & Mrs Bethunes? Thank God we are all well & contented, & in good spirits. My Aunt Rebecca, my Mother's sister, is with us & Edward was here for a fortnight at Easter, & will be with us again in June. On Easter Sunday My mother & her three sisters after a separation of 13 Years, all met again at the table of their Lord, attended by her husband & 4 of her Children. It was very affecting & required as Dr Romayne prayed, that"
 "May 5 th We have just returned from spending the Evening with the Evans. How can we be thankful enough for such a Minister & such a friend. He is so open, so spiritually-minded, so clear in all he says & seems so anxious for our good . I am afraid you will think me wild to say so much, but indeed if you knew him, you would not wonder. He has done more towards reconciling us to England than any-thing or any-body else, tho' perhaps these war times we should not have been so happy in America, as we used to be. You may imagine with what impatience & anxiety we look for the arrival of the Pacific which we hope will bring answers to our first Letters. I hope they will be very minute. It is now near six months since we left you, & in all that time have only heard once from NYork, & not at all from you dear Grandmama, nor from the Faus which surprises me. Will you be so good as to tell Frances, that I wrote her a letter of 7 pages long paper dated Jan ry 8 th , & another to Charity Clarke of 5 pages dated Jan ry 18 th which I intended to go by the Minerva, but Papa thought a vessel he heard of, would sail first, & sent them to London the Capt n refused to take them, & I heard in March that they were still in London, but I believe they are gone now. I wrote two very long Letters to Frances & Charity again, on my first arrival here, which went by the Catharine Ray. I wrote to you by the Pennsylvania, & again when I wrote the first time to Frances & Charity. We used to laugh at Robert when we were at NYork for taking up so much of his Letters, in accounting for our not hearing from him, but now I can quite enter into his feelings, for when it has not been the case, you can not bear your friends should think you neglectful, or forgetful of them. Pray tell me how my poor book goes on, or rather goes off, Did Mr Lipell ever call on Mr Bethune about it? & how the Societies go on. How your health has been this winter & Mr & Mrs Bethunes? Thank God we are all well & contented, & in good spirits. My Aunt Rebecca, my Mother's sister, is with us & Edward was here for a fortnight at Easter, & will be with us again in June. On Easter Sunday My mother & her three sisters after a separation of 13 Years, all met again at the table of their Lord, attended by her husband & 4 of her Children. It was very affecting & required as Dr Romayne prayed, that"]