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Primary document
Title: Letter from Peter W. Hairston to Ruth S.
Hairston, February 3, 1835: Electronic Edition.
Author: Hairston, Peter Wilson, 1819-1886
Editor: Erika Lindemann
Funding from the State Library of North Carolina supported the
electronic publication of this title.
Text transcribed by
Erika Lindemann
Images scanned by
Mara E. Dabrishus
Text encoded by
Sarah Ficke
First Edition,
2005
Size of electronic edition: ca. 13K
Publisher: The University Library, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
2005
© This work is the property of the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and
personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the
text
The electronic edition is a part of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American
South.
Languages used in the text:
English
Revision history:
2005-03-15, Sarah Ficke finished TEI/XML encoding.
Part of a series:
This transcribed document is part of a digital collection, titled True and Candid Compositions: The Lives and Writings of Antebellum Students in North Carolina
written by Lindemann, Erika
This transcribed document is part of a digital collection, titled True and Candid Compositions: The Lives and Writings of Antebellum Students in North Carolina
written by Lindemann, Erika
Source(s):
Title of collection: Wilson and Hairston Family Papers
(#4134), Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill
Title of document: Letter from Peter W. Hairston to Ruth S.
Hairston, February 3, 1835
Author: Peter W. Hairston
Description: 2 pages, 3 page images
Note:
Call number 4134 (Southern Historical
Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Topics covered:
Education/UNC Buildings and Grounds
Health and Disease/General
Health and Disease/Deaths of Students and Faculty
Examples of Student Writing/Letters and Letter Writing
Education/UNC Buildings and Grounds
Health and Disease/General
Health and Disease/Deaths of Students and Faculty
Examples of Student Writing/Letters and Letter Writing
Editorial practices
The text has been encoded using the recommendations for Level 5 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines.
Transcript of the personal correspondence. Originals are in the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Original grammar, punctuation, and spelling have been preserved.
DocSouth staff created a 600 dpi uncompressed TIFF file for each image. The TIFF images were then saved as JPEG images at 100 dpi for web access.
Page images can be viewed and compared in parallel with the text.
Any hyphens occurring in line breaks have been removed, and the trailing part of a word has been joined to the preceding line.
Letters, words and passages marked as deleted or added in originals have been encoded accordingly.
All quotation marks, em dashes and ampersand have been transcribed as entity references.
All double right and left quotation marks are encoded as ".
All single right and left quotation marks are encoded as '.
All em dashes are encoded as —.
Indentation in lines has not been preserved.
For more information about transcription and other editorial decisions, see Dr. Erika Lindemann's explanation under the section Editorial Practices.
The text has been encoded using the recommendations for Level 5 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines.
Transcript of the personal correspondence. Originals are in the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Original grammar, punctuation, and spelling have been preserved.
DocSouth staff created a 600 dpi uncompressed TIFF file for each image. The TIFF images were then saved as JPEG images at 100 dpi for web access.
Page images can be viewed and compared in parallel with the text.
Any hyphens occurring in line breaks have been removed, and the trailing part of a word has been joined to the preceding line.
Letters, words and passages marked as deleted or added in originals have been encoded accordingly.
All quotation marks, em dashes and ampersand have been transcribed as entity references.
All double right and left quotation marks are encoded as ".
All single right and left quotation marks are encoded as '.
All em dashes are encoded as —.
Indentation in lines has not been preserved.
For more information about transcription and other editorial decisions, see Dr. Erika Lindemann's explanation under the section Editorial Practices.
Page 1
Chapel
Hill
February 3d 1835
My dear Grand Mother
Although the time since I saw you has been very short, yet the
anxiety of hearing from you and Grand Pa2 has
prompted me to write you a few lines. I suppose you will hear before this
reaches you of the melancholy circumstance of the death of our venerable
President
Joseph Caldwell
3 who expired on tuesday last the 27th of
January with the disease of which he has been afflicted for many years past.4 In my opion there is no man who can fill this office in the
manner in which he has. He bought a bell that can be heard three or four miles
at his own expense for the use of the
College and had various other improvements made upon
the buildings for which he never was refunded.
3 who expired on tuesday last the 27th of
January with the disease of which he has been afflicted for many years past.4 In my opion there is no man who can fill this office in the
manner in which he has. He bought a bell that can be heard three or four miles
at his own expense for the use of the
College and had various other improvements made upon
the buildings for which he never was refunded. I apply myself to my studies as well as my
Page 2
health will permit as I have been plauged
continually with the head ache ever since I have been in this place.
Page 2
I set in my window one night in last week and heard a fox chase,
they caught the Fox.5 But he lives eight or ten miles from this place. Write to me
soon.
Give my Love to Grand Pa and Aunt Charity and receive the same
from your
Most affectionate Grandson
P. S. They took
Dr Calwell
up three days after they had had buried him to
take his mask.6
up three days after they had had buried him to
take his mask.6
Envelope page
Endnotes:
1. Wilson and Hairston Family Papers, SHC. The letter is addressed
to "Mrs Ruth S Hairston/
Dick,s store/
Henry
County/
Virginia." Though it has been stamped with a circular
postmark in the upper left corner, the date is too faint to read. The amount of
postage, "12 1/2" cents, has been superimposed in ink on the same
amount written in pencil in the upper right corner. Someone also has written in
pencil in the lower left corner "Mail" and at the top center of the
envelope face "Single."
2. Probably
Robert
Hairston (1783-1852).
3.
Hairston
wrote "Joseph Caldwell" on top of
Caldwell.
wrote "Joseph Caldwell" on top of
Caldwell.4. Sources claim that in about 1829
Caldwell
contracted a "chronic disease,"
apparently kidney stones. In 1833 he visited doctors in
Philadelphia, who pronounced the disease incurable and
"advised against lithotomy" (Battle 1:353), surgery to remove the
stones from the bladder. Professor
Walker
Anderson
, euologizing
Caldwell
during the 1835 Commencement describes the last
three days of
Caldwell's
life: "By the exercise of prayers and
other acts of the holy religion he professed, he strengthened himself for the
last conflict, and spoke words of consolation and hope to his sorrowing
friends. But death was yet to be indulged with a brief triumph, and for three
days his sufferings were protracted with such intensity that his vigorous and
well-balanced mind sank beneath the contest" (Battle 1:416).
contracted a "chronic disease,"
apparently kidney stones. In 1833 he visited doctors in
Philadelphia, who pronounced the disease incurable and
"advised against lithotomy" (Battle 1:353), surgery to remove the
stones from the bladder. Professor
Walker
Anderson
, euologizing
Caldwell
during the 1835 Commencement describes the last
three days of
Caldwell's
life: "By the exercise of prayers and
other acts of the holy religion he professed, he strengthened himself for the
last conflict, and spoke words of consolation and hope to his sorrowing
friends. But death was yet to be indulged with a brief triumph, and for three
days his sufferings were protracted with such intensity that his vigorous and
well-balanced mind sank beneath the contest" (Battle 1:416).6. According to
Battle
,
Caldwell's
body was first buried in the village cemetery,
then was exhumed in November 1835 so that
Alfred
S. Waugh, an artist, could cast
Caldwell's
features in plaster to make a bust. On October
31, 1846,
Caldwell
was reinterred beside his wife near
Person
Hall and a monument was erected in honor of both
Joseph
and
Helen Hooper
Caldwell
. On June 2, 1858, a new monument was dedicated, and on August
19, 1876,
William Hooper
,
Helen Hooper
Caldwell's
son, was interred next to his mother (Battle 1:414, 503,
692).
,
Caldwell's
body was first buried in the village cemetery,
then was exhumed in November 1835 so that
Alfred
S. Waugh, an artist, could cast
Caldwell's
features in plaster to make a bust. On October
31, 1846,
Caldwell
was reinterred beside his wife near
Person
Hall and a monument was erected in honor of both
Joseph
and
Helen Hooper
Caldwell
. On June 2, 1858, a new monument was dedicated, and on August
19, 1876,
William Hooper
,
Helen Hooper
Caldwell's
son, was interred next to his mother (Battle 1:414, 503,
692).
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