Clayton, Henry. Letter to Amy Kirby Post.

Title

Clayton, Henry. Letter to Amy Kirby Post.

Creator

Clayton, Henry

Contributor

Post, Amy Kirby, 1802-1889

Date

1838-12-22

Description

Handwritten letter from Henry Clayton to Amy Kirby Post, December 22, 1838.

Is Part Of

Isaac and Amy Post Family Papers

Rights

The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/

Identifier

518

Location

Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Transcription

(Page 1)

I forgot that Peter told me Jefferies Hallowell was married
I hope him and his wife will live all the days of their lives
give my best respects to him when you see him and kiss his
wife three big times for me – If I remember right she is your
sister – write to me as soon as convenient.
                                                                   Geneseo 22^nd Dec. 1838 –
My dear Friend
                             I received your letter dated the 16^th Nov
and willingly excuse you for not answering it [before] sooner
than you did. I assure you it met with a welcome reception –
You say “if you had thought it in your power to have communi=
=cated any thing that would in the least have interested me, you
would have written before” – I always thought and still think, that
a woman possessed the power of writing or talking, at any time she
choosed [sic] even if she had no particular subject to commence with, and
in this point I presume you do not differ materially from the rest
of your sex. I am sure any thing that a woman can say or do al-
ways interests me provided she be in a good humour and do’nt [sic] talk
about abolition. Scolding I never could endure, but I have little to fear
from you on that head for I do’nt [sic] believe you or Isaac were ever in
an ill humour in your lives, so admirably do you, and the members of
your society generally, command your passions that nothing seems
to disturb your equanimity –
                   I shall say no more about Abolitionism now you have
elected your Whig Governor – the whigs [sic] are going to apoint [sic] new Canal
Commissioners and discharge every [ad] Engineer belonging to the ad=
=ministration party, so says rumour – but it does not alarm me
much – I have had a situation offered me on the N. York and Erie R. Road but
shall not have occasion to leave this directly – for I can get on there any
time I please. I never need want employment in this country again.
                   My old complaint still continues, I do’nt [sic] know that it has
increased, but I fear that the specific you recommended would not

(Page 2)

relieve me much it might gratify your curiosity, but at
present you will please excuse my taking your advice as there
is time enough for me to be laughed at yet – wait until I see you.
          If E. P. Willis’s health has not improved and the rheumatism
still continues to afflict him, send him up here to me      You appear to
think it strange that steaming does not effect a cure, I should be
more surprised if it did, as well might you think of curing him by
following Doctor Sangrado’s advice in Gil Blas     viz making [him] ^the patient^ drink
hot water until he was full to the very Chin, and then bleed him till all
pulsation ceased/more likely to cure him that way, than by that ignorant
may=pole’s method (Gates of Rochester) – away with steam and all such
Quackery and trash          As I said before send him up to me, or rather
give my respects to him, and tell him I should be happy if he
could make it convenient to come and stay with me a short
time and abide by my prescriptions, and if I do’nt [sic] cure him in
two weeks I’ll never perscribe [sic] again, he shall take just as much
ex[c]ercise as I do and as much beef, strong beer, and Brandy and
Water as I may think proper to administer, and never lie in
bed after the Sun is up (he must not do as I do there) and I’ll] warrant
I’ll soon cure him – He must be one of the strangest fellows I
ever saw or heard of, for I am sure that nobody beside him could
have walked out with Miss          somebody (I forgot who you said)
and thirty or forty other Ladies, and then have the rheumatism
[after], I wonder they did’nt [sic] eat him up or squeeze him to death.
                   Isaac Post is still increasing his fortune I suppose,
I shall not give him such an elegant title as I did in a former
letter, but my head is so full of nonsense that I find it impossible
to refrain from it at times, my Grandmother used to tell me that
I should cough in my grave because I drank down my por-
ridge hot

(Page 3)

I received a letter from Peter the other day and as usual
he gives Woman the praise, he told me Isaac Post had been
unwell, and if I had only seen the attention you paid him, I
should never be happy until I had a Wife of my own –
                   It is a good thing for me that I did not see you,
for the late election had ruined me for a time, I happened to
bet heavily on Marcy’s election, consequently I should cut but
a poor figure with a wife just now
                   I have been out all day and am very tired, therefore I
must draw towards a close. I hope Isaac Post has recovered
from his indisposition, through your assistance and care – a[nd?]
if E P. Willis thinks change of air would benefit his health I [obliterated]
be happy to [obliterated] him here, only let him give me a few days n[otice?]
so that I [obliterated] prepared to receive him – I have got a good deal [to?]]
say to you Rochester folks when I see you which will not be [f] [before?]
the spring probably
                                      Give my Love to Mary Post, Mary
Dale and every other Mary, except the late Mary Smead (I do’nt [sic]
send my love to married Ladies) do’nt [sic] forget “cousin Eliza” tell
them when they see me at Rochester they may expect I am
come for the whole bunch of ‘em I’m determined to have
wives enough when I do begin       My respects to Peter
Christina &c and to Isaac Post and all my acquaintance
and permit me to subscribe myself
                                                Your’s [sic] Truly
                                                         Henry Clayton
P.S Keep all the Girls under
your own eye until I come
for them. Kiss ‘em all for
me and when I come to Rochester
I will kiss Isaac, and he will kiss
you and by that means you will
be paid H.C.....

(Page 4)

Post Paid               PAID                    6
Geneseo NY
DEC 24                 Amy Post
                                 Rochester
                                      Monroe Co
Pay box 42
II. C.....n

Collection

D.93 Isaac and Amy Post Family Papers

Citation

Clayton, Henry, “Clayton, Henry. Letter to Amy Kirby Post.,” RBSCP Exhibits, accessed November 21, 2024, https://rbscpexhibits.lib.rochester.edu/items/show/2817.

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