[Letter from Ann Upshur Eyre to her sister, Elizabeth Upshur Teackle, February 20, 1812]

Mentioned in this letter

Business, Economy, and Travel: Finances - Debt; Travel - Carriage and Coaches
Historic Homes and Places: Eyre Hall
Home, Health, and Social Life: Fashion - Handkerchiefs; Health - Disabilities; Jewelry
People: Abel; Eyre, Ann Matilda Upshur, 1780-1829; Eyre, John, 1768-1855; Eyre, Margaret Taylor, 1739-1812; Lyon, Sarah Eyre, 1770-1813; Miss Gray; Stringer, Sally Bagwell Parker, 1789-1815; Teackle, Littleton Dennis, 1777-1848
Places: United States - Maryland - Somerset County; United States - Virginia - Northampton County; United States - Virginia - Matthews County

About this letter

Description: Letter from Ann Upshur Eyre to her sister, Elizabeth Upshur Teackle. She states that she will not be able to visit Elizabeth because of the bad state of the roads and she hears Littleton Dennis Teackle has returned home. She mentions her mother-in-law, Margaret Taylor Eyre, is ill. She says the girls will have to come visit Elizabeth soon and she will send Abel, an enslaved man, with them. She then talks about Elizabeth's finances, local gossip about the Tabb family, and an event in Norfolk. The last page(s) of the letter are missing.
Creator: Eyre, Ann Upshur
Creation Date: February 20, 1812
Subjects: Teackle, Elizabeth Upshur, 1783-1837; Eyre, Ann Upshur, 1780-1829; Enslaved persons; Eyre, Margaret Taylor, 1739-1812
Item Type: letter
Identifier: MSS 2338, 2338-a, 2338-b Box 1
Publication Information: Papers of the Quinby, Teackle, and Upshur families, 1759-1968, Accession #2338, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.
Institution: ASSSC
Collection: VOESH
Place Names: United States - Maryland - Somerset County - Princess Anne; United States - Virginia - Northampton County

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Page 1

February 20^th 1812

My dear sister,

No longer willing to support my repeated disappointments, I have availed myself of the next most consoling circumstance to being with you, that of hearing from you immediately. I was again, all ready to depart to you, this morning. Everything equipt, when Mr E, who waited at the courtyard for the arrival of the stage brought such intelligence of the badness of the roads, which we have every reason to dread in consequence of our heavy carriage, and heavy baggage we have. Abel was to have taken one of the girls in our gig. Notwithstanding, we should have a sufficient load for such deep roads. I should however have gone in despite of all their difficulties if Mr. E. had not heard also by a Mr. Beard, who says he was in Somerset last week, that Mr. Teackle had returned home. My anxiety on your account was of course lessoned by this intelligence, and I agreed to defer, or give up my jaunt, unless you will positively promise me to return with

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me. You must be brought to the point at once. Your evading won’t do any longer. The girls will have to go up soon, we shall send them. Abel will accompany, I conjecture, tho' I have not seen him since our last arrangement, but whether I go depends upon yourself, and now what will be your next demur. I shall stick to my point. I should find my ride home alone very disagreeable. Mr E. cannot possibly leave home. Mama is now entirely confined to her bed and it would be a monstrous act for us both to leave her. From the gradual sinking of her frame, we have no reason to apprehend an immediate period to her life. But you must be sensible, how wrong it would be for us both to leave her even though Sally Lyon and Sally Parker should be here. I am very anxious indeed to hear particularly from you. If you are still alone, and in want of any of my sisterly assistance all other considerations, I shall certainly forego on your account. The difficulties you have encountered, tho' you have the heroism to make a jest about them, have nevertheless been the subjects of my constant thoughts since I received your last letter, and under the influence of these and the uncertainty of my brother Littⁿ

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being really at home to supply your wants; I have enclosed you thirty dollars which you and I can settle about, when we meet. I already owe you three or four on account of the jewelry you had done for me. If you had been as magnanimous in friendship as you have shown yourself skilled in doing without it, you would not have had the necessity of “raising the wind”. You must have known where you could have applied, with the most perfect propriety, for any assistance of that kind. Then learn my dear girl, how to receive acts of friendship, as well as to confer them. It is in my opinion no proof of a well organized mind to be above these reciprocities. My means and yours have always been a common stock from our earliest years, and I am sure, our claims upon each other are no way lessen'd that I know of. I have also sent you a handkerchief which Miss Gray sent a present to me. You fall heir to it in consequence of its being entirely too small for me. I should not otherwise have so ungra[ciou]sly treated the young lady's present. [torn page] I can't say but I had as leave she had not