[Letter from Elizabeth Upshur Teackle to her sister, Ann Upshur Eyre, February 12, 1810]

Mentioned in this letter

Business, Economy, and Travel: Travel - Watercraft - Ships
People: Bowdoin, Peter, 1761-1825; Eyre, Ann Matilda Upshur, 1780-1829; Kerr, David, 1782-1814; Loockerman, Jacob, 1759-1839; Parker, George, 1761-1826; Teackle, Littleton Dennis, 1777-1848; Teackle, Lucretia Edmondson, 1766-1826; Upshur, Anne Billings Steele, 1791-1835; Upshur, Arthur, 1789-1830; Wilson, John Custis, 1761-1830; Wise, Tully Robinson, 1768-1812
Places: Haiti - Ouest Department - Arrondissement de Port-au-Prince - Port-au-Prince; United States - Maryland - Baltimore City; United States - Maryland - Dorchester County - Cambridge; United States - Maryland - Somerset County - Princess Anne; United States - Maryland - Talbot County - Easton

About this letter

Description: Letter from Elizabeth Upshur Teackle to her sister, Ann Upshur Eyre, discussing her plans to go to Baltimore to visit her husband Littleton Dennis Teackle, before he leaves for business in the West Indies. She tells her sister to remind their brother, Arthur Upshur, to repay his debt to her. She also expresses her hope that Littleton will be successful in his business.
Creator: Teackle, Elizabeth Uphsur
Creation Date: February 12, 1810
Subjects: Teackle, Elizabeth Upshur, 1783-1837; Teackle, Littleton Dennis, 1777-1848; Eyre, Ann Upshur, 1780-1829
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 - Maryland - Baltimore County - Baltimore; United States - Virginia - Northampton County

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Feby 12^th '10 P.A.

My dearest sister

I had the pleasure of receiving your charming rattle, enhanced by having it handed me by your friend Mr. Bowdoin. He was in town and sitting down to dinner before Mr. T knew of it, or he wou’d have sooner been with us than to supper, when we had the pleasure of his society, with doctor Wise and Colo. Wilson. They were here all night but refused to dine with us next day on a plea of an engagement at home. Be assur’d my dear sister I shall always feel proud to acknowledge the many politenesses I have receiv’d from my Northampton fds. amongst whom I think Mr. B. has greater claims on our hospitality than most others. He is a fine fellow at home, and has always taken the trouble to make strangers welcome there; the least his friends and they can do, is to

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make his time agreeable when he diverges from his own proper sphere of hospitality.

Tell my dear brother that however much we are indebted to you for your last summers visit, we have not entirely gotten over that stumbling block of Etiquette at wh he was brought up last summer. He has only half repaid our many favours. When he sent his half only to cancel the obligation, which cannot be done ‘till the other half comes, himself. This we insist on, but if he absolutely perseveres in refusing us justice, we’ll go down together and sue him in the county court. For which purpose, in case of accidents, I beg as a favour you’d speak to Mr. G. Parker as our counsel. We’ll pay him for his service, whenever he is so good as to call on us in P. A.

Will you not stare when you hear that I am on the eve of setting off for Balt? Mr. Teackle will have me with him all the time, he has to stay in the U.S. being about to make a voyage

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to the W. Indies, he sails from B. in his new ship which he has contracted for with the government of Hayti. I hope my dear fellow’s unremitting exertions may at last be crown’d with success. He has drudged all his life like a packhorse and like a poor maltreated packhorse has often met with nothing but abuse and ingratitude for those exertions which were intended as the united medium of serving others, as well as securing a reward for himself. This is the way of the world. Oh sister! sister! I am sick of this world. “I am sick of many griefs,” wou’d I were cured of them all or had been bless’d with a convenient callosity of soul, proof against them all. “But no more of “this.” This is childish. No. I am a woman, and as God is in Heaven, I have that within me which will bear me out! A little Philosophy and a great deal more Pride, and so “away with melancholy.” I suppose