1832 Letter from a Connecticut Mother Concerning the Loss of Her Teenaged Son in a Shipwreck
- Single three-page letter measuring 8 x 10 inches
- Stonington, Connecticut , 1832
Stonington, Connecticut, 1832. Single three-page letter measuring 8 x 10 inches. Excellent to Near Fine.. A letter from Ann Brown Phelps (1785–1833) in Stonington, Connecticut to her sister-in-law and niece in Auburn. Phelps writes:
“A mind enervated with grief & affliction for the loss of a dear and promising Son I can only attempt a feeble pourtray of the melancholy manner in which death has entered our family[.] The 16th Nov William our seventh son left home and took passage from Lower Mystic for NYork from there he saild with Capt Loomis in the new packet Alabama for Mobile thence to N.O. allowing full time for his arrival and not hearing of them we sent to N London the 2st Feb and they returned information that they expected the vessel was lost – the 11th we heard they were taken of the wreck and carried into St Augustine – language is inadequate to describe the anguish of my mind while reflecting on the horror of incertitude at his fate. On the 28th we were informd they had not been heard of and were supposed to have been lost on the 4th or 5th Dec – A thousand and probably more occurrences from his infancy up to the day he left home in succession, rushed through my memory – and by a Mysterious Providence I was permitted to proceed in silence with unwearied toil to make preparation for his death.”
The Alabama was owned and captained by James Loomis, a trader from a prominent family in East Lyme, Connecticut. The ship was to take on cargo at New York City before proceeding south, and was last seen sailing away from Sandy Hook. Phelps’ son, William Wallace Phelps, was fourteen.
“A mind enervated with grief & affliction for the loss of a dear and promising Son I can only attempt a feeble pourtray of the melancholy manner in which death has entered our family[.] The 16th Nov William our seventh son left home and took passage from Lower Mystic for NYork from there he saild with Capt Loomis in the new packet Alabama for Mobile thence to N.O. allowing full time for his arrival and not hearing of them we sent to N London the 2st Feb and they returned information that they expected the vessel was lost – the 11th we heard they were taken of the wreck and carried into St Augustine – language is inadequate to describe the anguish of my mind while reflecting on the horror of incertitude at his fate. On the 28th we were informd they had not been heard of and were supposed to have been lost on the 4th or 5th Dec – A thousand and probably more occurrences from his infancy up to the day he left home in succession, rushed through my memory – and by a Mysterious Providence I was permitted to proceed in silence with unwearied toil to make preparation for his death.”
The Alabama was owned and captained by James Loomis, a trader from a prominent family in East Lyme, Connecticut. The ship was to take on cargo at New York City before proceeding south, and was last seen sailing away from Sandy Hook. Phelps’ son, William Wallace Phelps, was fourteen.