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- Folded letter by US Navy Surgeon David Shelton Edwards
Folded letter by US Navy Surgeon David Shelton Edwards
Object Details
- Description
- The letter was sent unpaid to Bridgeport, Connecticut, and marked at Washington, DC post office for 18 3/4 cents postage due at destination. This was the correct rate for a single sheet letter going a distance of 150-400 miles. The manuscript postmark “Washington Aug 30” in the upper left corner is unusual for this period when circular date stamps were in use.
- At Bridgeport, Dr. Beech paid for and opened the letter, adding the short note at the bottom of the letter. He then reposted the letter to Brooklyn, New York, as Mrs. Edwards was no longer in Bridgeport, adding "Brooklyn N.York" above her name in the address. The Bridgeport postmaster marked the date the letter was forwarded, 11 September with the blue date stamp of Bridgeport, and marked the red manuscript "10" in the lower right corner to show that 10 cents postage was due in Brooklyn. This was the correct amount for a single sheet letter going a distance of 30-80 miles. Mrs. Edwards was not at Brooklyn. Apparently instructions had been left to forward her mail to Huntington, Long Island. The Brooklyn postmaster modified the address on the letter by crossing out the Brooklyn address and adding "Huntington L I." He struck the red dates tamp of 14 September and the red handstamp "10" to show that 10 cents postage was due and sent the letter unpaid to Huntington. The letter face is a mess of address corrections, but it demonstrates nicely how mail was forwarded.
- In the weeks before this letter was written the Edwards seems to have had trouble getting their letters through between Connecticut and Washington, and this is the first item David Shelton Edwards comments upon in this missive to his wife Harriet. Edwards recently heard news of his old classmates from Yale but thinks that the current students are not honoring the old traditions that they had there. He describes the death and well attended funeral of Com. Patterson. He describes having moved into their house in Washington, DC and having Com. Chauncey sleep over there the other night, "We slept together the other night - that is I took the bed + gave him the sofa alongside - but didn't he snore? I had to turn him over."
- There is a postscript written in another hand apologizing for opening the letter but wanting to hear news of Edwards' health. This was possibly done by one of his family members in Connecticut.
- 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.
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- August 29, 1839
- Object number
- 1978.0652.33
- Writer
- David Shelton Edwards, American, died 1874
- Type
- Covers & Associated Letters
- Medium
- paper; ink / handwritten
- Dimensions
- 39.4 x 31.8 cm (15 1/2 x 12 1/2 in.)
- Place of Origin
- District of Columbia
- Place of Destination
- New York
- See more items in
- National Postal Museum Collection
- Topic
- American Expansion (1800-1860)
- Covers & Letters
- Record ID
- npm_1978.0652.33
- Usage
- Usage conditions apply
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