[Letter to] Dear Deborah
Contributors: Weston, Deborah, b.1814 recipient
Series: Deborah Weston Correspondence (1830-1879)
Published: 1861
Place of publication: New Bedford, [Mass.]
Language: eng
Format: [manuscript]
Subjects: Correspondence; Women abolitionists; Antislavery movements; History
Notes: Holograph, signed.

In this letter, Joseph Ricketson gives news of the death of his dear uncle James Thornton. Aunt Phoebe Horton, the sister of James Thornton, is the only survivor out of 13 children. Joseph Ricketson praises Mr. Potter's sermon on Mr. Morgan. Ricketson believes that "these are glorious times; we are all up to the mark here." The new Methodist minister "was all fight, was willing to go himself." In the Unitarian church, "Potter gave a Rouser of a sermon." Joseph Ricketson describes the military preparations: "Our guards went of [sic] in good spirits, and with determined looks and will undoubtedly do their duty--Mr. Clifford addressed them from the steps of the City Hall before they left." Ladies sewed seven days and nights. Joseph Ricketson, however, adhered more closely than ever to his non-fighting principles. Joseph Ricketson's nephew, Gilbert Thornton, has been driven out of Virginia. Business is good.