Washington, Eleanor Love Selden, 1824-1860

Sunnyside. Louisa was sick; drought; family matters.

Autograph letter signed with envelope. Jane congratulates John Augustine and his wife Nelly on the birth of their son Lawrence Washington. She also writes about the murder of her relative, Thomas Blackburn. Blackburn was fatally stabbed by another student while a cadet at VMI in Lexington.

Includes negotiations for purchase of negro boy that was delayed. Instructs West to make a strong box for sending plows to Waveland and to mend the windows of the hot beds.

A.L.S. 3 1/4 pages. Copy. Mount Vernon. John gives his cousin calculations on the future value of her servants. He advises her not to sell them now. 1st page has cover embossing W. H. Harrison log cabin - 1840.

Addressed only to "Mrs. Washington." Unclear whether it is addressed to Mrs. Jane C.B. Washington or Mrs. Eleanor L.S. Washington. (Typed transcription included) Has heard that Mount Vernon is for sale, possibly to northern people. Feels the Ladies of the South might instead procure it and wants to know the price.

A.L.S. 3 pages. Baltimore. Personal letter with updates on family health, etc.

A.L.S. 3 pages. Baltimore. Personal letter. She has been sick before now and couldn't write. Updates of family, etc.

A.L.S. 3 pages. Personal, family letter. Sorry her letter to her at Mount Vernon will be missed since she left to go "over the Ridge" early.

The collection contains correspondence between John Augustine Washington III and his wife Eleanor Love Selden. The letters begin during the Washingtons’ engagement and continues through eighteen years of marriage, ending with a letter from John Augustine to Eleanor composed the day prior to her sudden death. The letters contain information on family matters, the management of the Mount Vernon estate, and plantation life prior to the Civil War.

A letter to Nelly from her sister about purchasing clothes for Lawrence and the children.