Read the Letters
1860-10-07
To Henrietta from Mary Sanders, the wife of Joseph Hawkins Sanders. She writes that she would like for Henrietta to come for a visit and to “stay a day or two.” She wonders why Mary Charlotte, Henrietta’s sister-in-law didn’t come as expected. Henrietta’s son, Louis, would have been five months old and the baby that Mary refers to would have been about a year old.
1861-01-00
To Henrietta from her cousin, Bettie, Molly Ann’s daughter. It was very difficult to read this undated letter but apparently, the children have been very ill at Henrietta’s and Bettie is concerned about them. She mentions her son, Marquis [Macky], who suffered from some type of seizures, and also mentions Henrietta’s youngest son Lewis [Louis], who would have been about eight months old. She also writes that their cousin Sally Robertson, is going to get married in a month. Sally was married in February 1861; therefore, this letter must have been written in January.
1861-07-11
To John Anthony from LL Mason. This letter was, to date, one of the hardest to decipher! LL Mason, Bettie’s husband, the one who sold “Charles” to John Anthony, appears to have borrowed money from John and he is in debt. The handwriting was so illegible that deciphering Mason’s suggestion to John Anthony was challenging. However, it appears that Mason mentioned some outstanding claims owed to him, which he intends to forward to John Anthony for collection as partial repayment of his debt. He also refers to the political situation in the country and to Jim Lane who is a controversial figure. Lane was very close to President Lincoln but people around him were very suspicious of his relationship with the President and he was disliked and distrusted.
1862-03-04
1862 – March 4: To Henrietta from Elizabeth Brown. Elizabeth supplies plants and flowers for gardens. It appears that Henrietta has written to her asking for some:
“strawberry plants and other shrubs.”
Elizabeth takes the opportunity to ask Henrietta to join the Soldiers Aid Society, to either donate money or fabric for making clothes and things for the troops. I am assuming that this was for the Confederate army.
1863-08-18
To Henrietta from her first cousin, Henrietta Blackburn. She is writing about her family and how her brothers are fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War. One brother, Will, is incarcerated on Johnson’s Island, a prisoner of war camp for Confederate soldiers in Sandusky Bay, Ohio, located on the coast of Lake Erie. This camp held more than 3,000 men and according to Wikipedia, “more than 15,000 passed through Johnson’s Island until it was closed in 1865.” She says that Peter is in Virginia, Sam [Samuel] in Mississippi, and Jimmy [perhaps her husband?] in Arkansas. Her brother, George, is the sole person present at home with them. It also appears that she has remarried, as she mentions her young children. Her first husband, William Blackburn, was shot and killed in a fight in 1849.
1863-09-24
To John Anthony from Sallie Kearny. This letter is a response to John Anthony’s request for a governess for his daughters Mariam, nine years and Louise [Louly], six. She replies:
“I am, at present in receipt of one hundred and fifty dollars for ten months payable monthly, and my board and washing. This I believe is the usual salary for a governess and I will enter your family on these terms.”
Sallie is hired as there is a certificate to Louis [Bud] Mason, in 1866, for finishing his studies and for his good deportment. Louis, the youngest child in the family, was only three when she arrived and would have been six years old at the time he received the certificate. Therefore, we know that she was in John Anthony’s employment for at least three years.
1863-10-20
To John Anthony from William Spencer, Rebecca’s husband. He is looking after some of John Anthony’s affairs and warns him about a Mr. Sutherland who owes him some money. He also wants to know if John Anthony would like to have any of his pack horses.
1864-02-21
To John Anthony from [his brother] Louis. This letter was very hard to decipher and there are some words that I could not read. He writes:
“The people here are scared on account of the expected draft. Lots of them starting to the new gold diggings I think to avoid the draft – what would you advise me to do, stand or run. (…)” He also writes: “I see in my last paper that Lincoln is going to issue an universal proclamation tomorrow of freedom to all even Kentucky the (?) Pet. How do you think she will stand it? I fear it will cause trouble there in many ways. God forbid that she should have to undergo what Missouri has.”
1864-07-11
To John Anthony from LL Mason. He is writing to John Anthony about the debt that he owes him. He also writes about his slaves who are escaping for ‘the camp’:
“I have 5 grown hands and 2 half grown boys, one man and one boy have gone to camp and just many women are leaving some neighborhoods for the camp. I think your Henry [hired from John] will be the last to leave you if not other persuaded but you must talk to them and tell them if they want freedom, they had better stay with you till the war is over and if any are freed those that stay at home shall be. That to go to the camp they will be put into the army and kept there the balance of their lives and that will be worse? story than they are in now. People here are very despondent and are looking ruin and desolation in the face, expecting to share the fate of Missouri.”
He also urges John Anthony to sell everything and return to:
“the land of his father’s, Switzerland.”
1864-07-22
To John Anthony from LL Mason. Again, Lewis is writing about the slaves who are leaving to join the Union Army. They are going to Camp Nelson and joining companies and regiments which leave the farmers without help to bring in their crops. Camp Nelson, located near Lexington, was an “emancipation site and refugee camp” for slaves and their families, and became a large recruitment and training center for new soldiers for the Union Army. He then apologizes for suggesting in his previous letter that they leave the United States and return to Switzerland.
1865-04-22
To Annie from Louise [Luly]. Luly is writing to her cousin Annie, the daughter of Silas Craig Gex, John Anthony’s brother. She is eight years old. In the letter, she asks Annie how she likes her new Ma. This would have been Eliza Orr, Silas Craig’s third wife, married in 1865. He was married three times and had children from each wife, a total of eight in all. In 1863, he had a son from his second wife who perhaps died at birth, named Stonewall Jackson Gex.
1866-01-11
To John Anthony from his brother, Louis. This appears to be a very confidential letter between the brothers. Louis is answering one that John has sent him and they are discussing family situations. It seems that the person in the letter, “Doct” is their brother, Luke. He seems to be someone who misbehaves, “cuts up” and appears to be viewed as a bit of a problem. They also discuss inheritance issues and refer to paying off the “Negroes.”
1866-01-27
To Warren Frazier from his nephew, Robert Brooking. This is the first letter in the collection from my great-great-grandfather. He is writing to his aunt Laura’s husband who apparently promised to send him a ‘guinea’ and Brooking hasn’t received it yet. He also asks his uncle:
“How are you on the Darkey question? Are there any of yours staying with you yet? All of ours are with us. We are hiring them by the year. Pa says he would rather have them than white men.”
The Civil War is over and their slaves have been freed. From this letter, it seems that Brooking’s dad, John Anthony, has hired his slaves to continue working for him.
1866-05-11
To Louis Mason Gex from Sally [Sallie] Kearny. This is the certificate that the governess, Sallie, gave to Louis for his “superior attainments.” He was, in 1866, six years old.
1866-08-00
To John Anthony from his niece Cyrene Peggs, his sister Sarah’s daughter. She apparently promised to pay her aunt, Lucille [Lilly], and her husband “Pullen” for something when ‘they’ went to Kentucky. She writes:
“They have shown so much obstinacy about the matter that I no longer feel to be at all generous.”
She doesn’t want her uncle to pay them as they had previously arranged for him to do.
1866-12-03
To Henrietta from her son, Robert Brooking. He writes to his mother with postscripts to his father, John Anthony, to his two sisters, Mariam and Louly, and his brother, Bud Lewis. He is at boarding school and is anticipating his return for Christmas. He also expresses a wish to go to the new school near home instead of returning to boarding school.
1867-03-10
To John Anthony from Sallie Kearny, the former governess. Apparently, she is no longer employed by the Gex family and is now working for Mr. and Mrs. Brown. She wonders what it looks like in their home “without the darkies.”Therefore, the slaves that were once an integral part of the Gex household are no longer there, and she is particularly wondering how “Mrs. Gex” [Henrietta] is managing without them.
1868-00-00 ?
To Henrietta from Nannie Hamilton. Most of the letters that refer to Nannie were written between 1865 and 1869. Because Nannie is in school, I assume that this letter was likely written in 1868. Nannie is the orphaned daughter of John Anthony’s sister, Mary Charlotte, and Oscar Hamilton. She was under the care of her various aunts and uncles, although her reference to ‘Cousin Mary’ is not clear who she means.
1868-01-12
To her cousin [John Anthony?] from Sallie Brown. The only Brown family that I can find that is related to John Anthony is his mother’s sister, Jane Price who married James J Brown. The author of the letter is writing about Nannie and her school expenses. There appears to be a misunderstanding between those who are taking care of Nannie. The “Grandma” who provided the $50 would then have been Cyrena Price Gex, John Anthony’s mother.
1868-05-29
To Brooking from his mother Henrietta: This undated letter must have been written on Friday the 29th of May, 1868. She refers to going to Warsaw to get raspberries with his sister Louly [who dies on August 19th,1869]. Brooking is obviously in school, whether he is at the Kentucky Military Institute or somewhere else is unclear.
1868-06-20
To John Anthony from his niece Cyrene Peggs Freeman. She and her husband had just stayed at the Burnet Hotel, a famous hotel in Cincinnati, claimed “the finest hotel in the world,” by the Illustrated London News. They have traveled to West Virginia where she is staying with her sisters-in-law. She has not been well and is perhaps recovering from the birth of her first child, four months previously. There are some financial issues that she wants her uncle to take care of. An additional letter, from her husband John, is added at the end of her letter.
1868-07-01
To Henrietta from her niece Mary, the daughter of Virginia. There are two letters here. In the first letter, Mary is writing about Lulie, Henrietta’s daughter who is visiting her. The second letter is written by Lulie to her mother, she would have been 11 years old.
1868-12-14
To John Anthony from his brother Louis. Louis has moved to Missouri, as has Luke. Louis is responding to some questions that John Anthony had asked him in his last letter. They are basically discussing family news between them. Perhaps the reference to money might be inheritance issues from their mother who died on March 5th, 1868. He also mentions Lilly [their sister Lucile] and Rena Peggs, [the daughter of their sister Sarah]. From an earlier letter in this collection (June 20th, 1868) there appears to be some financial problem between them.
1869-00-00
To John Anthony from his son, Brooking. Brooking is attending the Kentucky Military Institute and is reassuring his dad that he is doing well in school and wants him to come to hear him debate. The letter may have been written in February because he tells his sister Mariam, he is sending her a Valentine, but then he twice talks about going home for Christmas. His sister Louise dies in August, so the letter has to be between February and August.
1869-03-30
To Mariam from T. Greenwood. This is a formal invitation from a “suitor” Mr. Greenwood to call on Mariam. She would have been 15 at the time.
1869-07-29
To Henrietta from their former tutor, Sallie Kearny. She has left the Gex’s and is now visiting relatives in New York.
1869-09-10
To Mariam from her brother Brooking. He is attending school and it appears that Mariam is also in a boarding school in Ghent. He doesn’t mention his sister Louise who passed away in August but alludes to her when he tells Mariam that she is now his only sister whom he can write to.
1869-09-29
To Brooking from Mariam and Henrietta. This consists of two letters, one from his sister and one from his mother. Henrietta continues to express her sadness over the loss of her daughter Louise [Louly].
1869-09-30
To Brooking from his aunt, Virginia. She tells him about the family and mentions that his mother is grieving due to the loss of his sister Louise [Louly]. She died on August 19th, at the age of 12 and the cause of death is unknown.
1869-10-03
To Henrietta and John Anthony from Rebecca and her husband William. This is a condolence letter over the death of Louise [Louly]. She died on August 19th and it appears that the Spencers didn’t hear of it until October.
1869-10-10
To Brooking from his father, John Anthony. I find it interesting that John Anthony addresses this letter to “Bob”. Most of the time, Robert Brooking is referred to as Brooking but it appears that they had more than one name for him. They are preparing a box to send to him with clothes and bedding. His mother has been in Cincinnati shopping for him. She is sad about the death of his sister Louly, as she remembers being with her the last time she went to Cincinnati.
1869-10-13
To John Anthony from Brooking. Apparently, he trying to decide what he wants to be called. In his closing to his father, he signs himself as Robt while in his closing to his mother, he is Brooking Gex. He writes that he received the box that they had sent and tells them that he is doing “admirable well” in his studies and that he is proud of the ten dollars that they sent him. He writes, “I know I am very near a man now (…)”
1869-11-00
To Brooking from his uncle, Lucian. Lucian was a graduate of the Kentucky Military Institute and he gives his nephew lots of advice about how he needs to study and make a good name for himself.
1869-11-12
To Brooking from his mother, Henrietta. She writes that she has just joined the church and is going to be baptized.
1869-11-13
To Brooking from Henrietta. Although this was an undated letter, it was written in November 1969 because it was added to a letter that Brooking’s Uncle Lucian wrote. In both letters, the recent baptism of Henrietta is mentioned.
1869-11-24
To John Anthony from Brooking. He wants to go home for Christmas and is trying to convince his father to agree.
1869-12-01
To Robert Brooking from Henrietta. Brooking is attending the Kentucky Military Institute and his mother talks about him coming home for Christmas, the first one since his sister Louise, [Louly] died in August that year.
KAREN GEX ASFOUR 