David Shelton Edwards, American, died 1874 Search this
Medium:
paper; ink / handwritten
Dimensions:
40.0 x 25.4 cm (15 3/4 x 10 in.)
Type:
Covers & Associated Letters
Place of Origin:
District of Columbia
Place of Destination:
New York
Date:
June 7, c. 1839
Description:
All the pencil numerical notations on the letter (front and reverse) have no postal meaning. They were written on the letter after it was received.
The letter was sent unpaid and marked at the Washington, DC post office in the upper right corner "18 3/4" for 18 3/4 cents postage due, the rate for a letter containing a single sheet of paper going a distance between 150 and 400 miles.
This letter was likely written while David Shelton Edwards was living in Washington, DC circa 1839 given that he does not reference any plans to leave or any ships that he has been traveling on. He begins telling his wife Harriet of his plans to visit the post office and check for any letters from her. He makes a vague reference to an event that happened nine years earlier relating to this errand, but assures Harriet that it is a positive memory. He received a letter from her at the post office and after reading it writes that she should send another. He references the death of a man named Lach[lan] and worries how their friends, the McIntoshes, will handle it. Apparently, Harriet's last letter contained much bad news and Edwards advises her to go to his sister Delia's to rest for a while before she makes a trip to Philadelphia. He closes with instructions for their clothing and furniture when she comes to Washington.
This letter is part of the correspondence of David Shelton Edwards between the years 1835 and 1848. The 48 letters from this period held by the National Postal Museum are primarily addressed to Edward's wife Harriet; in 1830, Edwards married Harriet Eliza Henry and they had two children, William and Harriet. They kept up a frequent correspondence when his naval service kept them separated. Between 1835 and 1848, Edwards served as a Surgeon at the hospital in the Pensacola Navy Yard, Florida; Fleet Surgeon to the West Indies Squadron; and Surgeon aboard many vessels engaged in the Mexican-American War. His naval career spanned from 1818 to 1861 and his last sea cruise ended in October of 1859 after which he retired to his family home in Connecticut except for a brief time spent at New Bedford, Massachusetts recruiting for the Union Navy during the Civil War. He died in Trumbull, Connecticut on March 18, 1874.
