Post, Joseph. Letter to Isaac Post.

Title

Post, Joseph. Letter to Isaac Post.

Creator

Post, Joseph W.

Contributor

Post, Isaac, 1798-1872

Date

[184--04-05]

Description

Handwritten letter from Joseph Post to Isaac Post, 184-?

Is Part Of

Isaac and Amy Post Family Papers

Rights

The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/

Identifier

531

Location

Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Transcription

(Page 1)

[Text in top margin, written upward]

The annual meeting
is appoaching [sic]
cant you come
up to ^the^ feast for
to me it is one
of fat things
Gary has given a
pressing invitat [sic]
for all to come
and help the
cause along
[Huldah?] has been
her and spent
two weeks she
has gone to New
Rochelle and set
up a school on
her own account
Caroline Post is
teaching in our
school house our
girls have wished
to go to her but
they go to Emma
yet do not know
how it may be
through the sum
=mer I like to please
them when we
can [illegible]
I think Joseph
will write some
and if he does not
fill his paper I may add to
this

[Text normal]
Westbury 4 month 5^th

Dearly Beloved

It is now evening and almost
too late to even commence writing and the day has passed
away as many have before without even an attempt to
write as I had intended in the first place meeting occ
-upied the morning then company immediately after
until now _ and previously I have been so much occup
ied with cares and company mantuamaker and more
than all have felt so little like making the attempt
that two month have rolled away without any commu
nication from us save that voiceless spirit communion
which we are permitted to hold with loved one’s far away
I have felt this to be a privilege in our loneliness and [aff
lective?] bereavement but Oh what a longing there is to
be with those who can sympathise and realize our feel
-ings as they are by which our hous of sadness are renda
=ed [sic] less painful than they otherwise would be I do not
wish to be understood that there has been any lack of
sympathy on the part of our friends far otherwise but it is
pwerhaps more natural to me more necessary to my happine^ss^
to be with congenial spirits than most others let that
be as it may I have wished for you here many many
times while passing through this ordeal four hundred
miles seemed too far away _____ there is now such a
balnk here we know not how to bear up we felt striped
and lonely before but Oh how much more so now
       I feel much for Edmund Julia and Isaac how can
they come to the home rendered so dear to them by the
presence of their affectional and truly gifted mother Oh
how desolate to miss her cheerful and benign countenance
she was in an eminent degree the center around which
all the joys of their domstic [sic] happiness clustered    still
I hope they will come it may be beneficial to Julia and it
is very desirable to reestablish her health we eared much
for the result of her illness    I must lay this aside for the
     presnt [sic] and bid you all an affectionate good night

(Page 2)

8 of 4 month several days have passed and no addition to my sheet clea
=ning house and company have occupied all my leisure it is now a
quiet rainy day just such an one as I should like if you were her to enjoy
it with us I have been listening this morning to the rain drops pattering
on the roof it ever has a charm for me it is “unwritten music” and
I love the remembrance which it awakens   We have had several
letters of condolence and one recently from George Truman he say’s
they too have been passing through just such a dispensation death and
disease have been hovering round their borders and has taken several
from their family circle Samuel Speakmans oldest son and two child
=en [sic] ^died^ in one week George’s own sister was very ill with Inflamation [sic] of the
lungs she has recovered his brother Joseph’s wife (Sarah) and George were
both taken down the same night he with Ilfamation [sic] of the Lungs
she with strangulated Hernia she lived about 5 days suffering
much a surgical operation was performed a few hours before her
death in hope of relief but it only tended to increase her sufferings.
George was very ill he says “I hasd not sen that any hour had come
yet I felt a degree of calmness under the prospect that necessa
=rily was forced upon me and I felt satisfied there could be nothing
wrong as respected the change” I would like you to hear it perhaps I
shall find room for further extracts from it speaking of our Beloved
sister he says “Altho we have all sustained a loss, we cannot mur
=mur because we believe a righteous south goeth not home to an
mpty mansion but in faith we have hope that her house was
ready her mansion full of those blessed realitives [sic] which the outward
eye hath not seen ear heard neither hath it entered into the heart to
conceive the good stored for those who love God. This is a blessed faith
and tends to soften in a great degree the feeling which would at times
well nigh overwhelm when sorrow presses home upon our hearts and trib
=ulation wrings our every fibre ____ he says he is not a believer
with the many that trials and afflictions are the necessary [Meted?] [outs?]
upon sanctified spirits or are the medium through and by which souls are
purified and brought nearer to Divine communion They may be instrument
=talities but are not necessarily so for he who loves will ^be^ purified by that
love connected with a faith living and pure Faith works by love to the purifying
of the heart” such love may be lived in enjoyed and distributed when the heart
is filled with the enjoyments intended by our all wise benefactor and which he
has so wisely engrafted upon all life To be thankful under every dispensation is an
all important position and then if trials are meted to us we shall suffer through
them “but shall continue to retain our peace such faith that neither heights nor

(Page 3)

depths nor any power or cross arrangement will ever be able to separate
them from that love in Christ which is their true enjoyment     Afternoon
We have just returned from Preparative meeting I almost wonder at my se ^lf^
when I remember my former views the change between the two is consider
=able my friends may probably ^think^ it’s a retrograde change I have lost my reveren^ce^
for many things I once considered holy Jacob L Mott has been around (made
us a visit) at Westbury ^monthly meeting^ he said much advising friends to withdraw from the
society if they could not submit to the regulations and rules of society he
said a friend who once stood high among us had withdrawn “Said individual
had rights so had society that he could not approve of all the acts of the body
that he was occupiing [sic] a false position by appearing to be in unity that
he thought it best to resign since which he had felt greater peace and
satisfaction than he could do while remaining in it with his views” (I Archer
we expect it he alluded to) Jacob spoke of wild disorganising [sic] views which were
held by some in some parts of our Yearly [illegible] tho he did not know as there
were any such here ___ he does not preach as I used to think he did it seems
to me a great change has come over him Next week is Cornwall Quarterly m
I expect the committee will go powerfully strong to crush the Marlborough
people I thought peradventure in the will of man too some of them bu[obliterated]
that as it may they are to be laid down __   I am sick of all this [obliterated]
planning proscribing and sectarian religion Joseph has just come in and
invited me to go to Henry s this afternoon if so this will lay on hand
some time longer – first day just as I expected this is here still so I
believe I will stay at home this morning if I do not company or
some other hindrance may prevent its going tomorrow Charles
Post and wife have concluded to go to [Patrerson?] Charles goes tomorrow
Maria Amelia in tow weeks they have made us their farewell visit Charles
is going in business with his brother in law they expect to board for the present
     Do you hear any thing from the Coleman’s and [chary?] Underwood how
do they succeed and like? Last fifth day afternoon we heard a great
racket and winning to the window see uncle John’s horses with the roller
and great gate attached trying to run away Joseph gave chase also
a man from uncle John’s the horses ran in the fence and ^near Abraham’s^ they secured
them William was rolling the hill lot back of the house his seat broke
the roller passing over him broke his collar bone and bruising him

(Page 4)

considerably particularly his face he cannot lay down scarcely any but
seems tolerably comfortable most of the time Ann is rather feeble but
is about house   We found Henry’s family pretty well Henry has been
poorly most of the time for the last two months but her’s better
now also Catharine seems quite smart and much more comforta^ble^
than we could expect she has spent a month with us she has
began to knit lace which she has not been able to do in a long
while I spent week before there Lydia is there now. but
who there is to take her place I dont know John Ketchams
family have been and are unremitting in their kind attentions
and their sympathy ahs been very grateful they have indeed been
stricken by a succession of bereavements but have been sustained
in an iminent [sic] degree and have done all in their power to bind up
and alleviate the afflictions of others they doubtless have a rich reward

[Text in center of page, written upward]

                          10

       Isaac Post
14
                  Rochester
                              New York

[Text at bottom of page, normal]

John Ketcham purposes to go for [illegible] which I very much approve
Mary Jane Post has not been here yet I expect she is at uncle James now
the girls went to Glen Cove 6 day to carry Sarah Valentine she has been [illegible]
her annual visit and hty expected to bring Mary Jane back with them
Have you heard of Ann Lewis death also Catharine [Strongatharm?] and Phebe
Searing John Carle and Susan have Curied a child of promise and I see by
the Standard Hannah Keese too has gone to her reward which doubtless is the
engagement of real and unchangeable good   I hope she was improving in health

[Inserted sheet written by Joseph Post to Isaac Post and transcribed as 530_04_05_184•]

Collection

D.93 Isaac and Amy Post Family Papers

Citation

Post, Joseph W., “Post, Joseph. Letter to Isaac Post.,” RBSCP Exhibits, accessed November 25, 2024, https://rclomeka2.lib.rochester.edu/items/show/4387.

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