Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1897-10-14
A ROMANCE OF LONG AGO.
Peggy Hutchinson's Admirer OF Noble
Birth Whom Her Father Turned AWAY.

n ASNHlNSG VI GSiN0 ACO.
Peggy Hutchinson's Admirer of Noble
Birth Whom Her Father Turned Away.
Among the thousands of docu-
ments stored in the statehouse in
Boston are three letters and part of
a journal that outline a romance of
the days when Massachusetts was
a province governed by Thomas
Hutchinson. 1t is a story that has
not been known to the world and
not even to the personal friends of
those interested. The characters in
this romance are titled lover, a
father who refused his sanction to a
proposed marriage and New Eng
land maiden who died in ignorance
Of both the love and the lovers vain
plea. Some letters are missing.
The first document in the story is
a letter to Governor Hutchinson,
dated April 6, 1771. The writer was
William, son of Lord Fitzwilliam,
and in this letter he recites his love
for the governors daughter, telling
his story with old time courtesy.
He says: II have had the honor of
seeing Miss Hutchinson, but have
never spoken to her. I need not tell
you admire her when say that
wish to call her mine" The lover
pleads for the fathers consent to
visit the daughter ''as the most
honorable method of proceeding to
getting acquainted with her." Gov
ernor Hutchinson's methodical re-
ply in duplicate, in his own cramped
handwriting, is preserved. In it he
says:
"In my station should, from re-
spect to my Lord Fitzwilliam, think
it my duty to do all in my power to
discourage his son from 30 unequal
a match with any person in the
province, and should most certain
ly be highly criminal if l should
countenance or encourage a match
with my own daughter. trust you
will-think this a sufficient reason for
my not acceding to your proposal,
and sincerely wish you happy in a
person more suited to your birth
and rank, and who may beapproved
Of by your honorable parent"
At this point there is gap in the
story. The young man evidently
wrote second time, but neither the
second letter nor the governors re-
ply is in the archives. It is certain,
though, that the governor did not
relent, and in third letter the young
man craved personal interview, as
the ship to which he was attached,
the Boston, was to sail that day,
not, as he says, "that I shall desire
you to give me the least encourage
ment with regard to my former let
ter, but as ] think it necessary to
wait on you" There is no record of
the interview, but it must have been
q sad one if held, for the governor
was kind hearted man and a de-
voted husband, who never forgot to
celebrate as the happiest day of his
life the anniversary of his wedding.
The beautiful Miss Hutchinson for
whose hand the young man was su-
ing was the governors second
daughter, Margaret, Of whom the
father always speaks in his letters
and journal as Peggy" Peggy was
but II years old when the letters
were written, and she died of con-
sumption at Chelsea, England, when
she was 20. The delicate beauty
which young William admired so
much arose partly from her con-
sumptive tendencies. For several
years the family was in England.
According to the fathers journal,
he called upon the queen on Aug.
%, 1777. 1.-THE queen asked where
had been," he writes, "and l told
her had been six months in the
country with my sick daughter. The
queen expressed the hope that she
would soon recover" But Peggy
died on the 21st of the following
month. Almost on that same date
her father wrote in his diary that
her majesty's ship the Boston was
again on the Massachusetts coast.
There is nothing in any of the gov.
ernor's journals to show that Peggy
was ever told of young Fitzwilliam's
love for her and nothing to show
that the young man ever saw the
girl of his early love after the father