Bogg, 15 April 1868

A change of address, here--this letter begins "My Dear Cousin," so Marion Brown (age 24) has begun to write directly to Marion Glencross (now 15 years old). She adds a couple pages for uncle John Glencross too. In this letter, we get more of Marion Brown's medical treatment for headaches and impaired speech--"fly blisters" (painful blisters raised on the skin by applying the irritating extract of certain insects), and "a cord" in the back of her neck....?

Marion's brother James Brown has married Agnes Kerr, age 19, a resident of the Bogg. There's also commentary on how hard Aunt Agnes works, and how quickly Marion Glencross might lose her "Yankee talk" if she visited Scotland.

My Dear Cousin

I received your Kind letter in due time and was very glad to see by it that you and my uncle was both well for what a blessing it is to have good health and when we have not health we may say we have nothing for we can enjoy nothing and nothing is a pleasure to us in this world. I was so proud over your letter for since I could not speak when I get a letter it is just like talking to yourself it is a great mis the want of my voice but what a blessing it is I have always my reason but our heavenly Father is always kind to us and gives us poor sinful creatures far more than we deserve I can not but say that I have had a sore winter and is not much better yet for I have such a queer stupid head I can tell nobody what it is like the Doctor says it is the nerves that goes from the spine of my back to my Brain that causes my head to be so bad. I have had on a good many fly blisters on the back of my neck and I always get some relief with them the Dr. is going to put a cord in the back of my neck now he thinks it will do more good as the blisters but perhaps the good weather will do me good now for the weather has a great effect on people that is not very strong and it has been a very changeable spring here

now I must begin to give you the news and what is going on about the Bogg. first of all how queer it was that I got your letter that day that my Brother James was going to be married. he was married on the third of April to Agnes Agnes [sic] Kerr. Your Father would know her she came to William Halberts to be nursed and she always stayed with them and now she is married she is just ninteen but she has always been a very solid young woman for she has been at the Bogg with us for six years she came first to herd the cows and just stoped on till she got hired for the long term as the saying goes. so you see there is nothing but changes. we don't know who will be our summer man yet for James goes about as dumb as a stick and has never said a word whither he will stop with us or not but Mr. Kennedy takes a good intrest in Aunt for he says there will never a wife come to live here as long as Aunt can do it all.

Dear Marion you told me all about your stock of hens I think we will just have about the same number as you and a good many of them is laying and we have two breeding swine and some shots and we have eight cows calved and I think we will have plenty of hay this year. we have two pets and one of them has a lamb James is busy getting the garding selved this weekend we got our corn sowen last week so you see the work is fairly begun for another year and they are going to be plainting potatoes at Brandleys this week they are a good deal sooner with them this year. now I think I have told you the most of the things that is going on just now.---

Dear Marion you think you would not enjoy a visit to Scotland much because you don't know much about the language but I think you would soon give over the Yankee talk if you was here now although you have only wrote one letter to me I hope when you are begun you will continue on and not be very long in writting again and I will close to you at this time hopping this will find you in good health I will say goodbye with kind love from your affectionate cousin Marion Brown

Dear uncle

As the saying goes long looke for comes at last and we were all wearing very much to get a letter from you but Marion is a good writter now and she must just write in your stead for your hand will not be very steady for writting sometimes. I am to give you Aunts compliments and say that she was wearing so much to hear from you that she dreamed every night for a week about you before we got your letter and I have to tell you that she has made out with the cows and had a little over to begin with again. Dear uncle Aunt has a great deal of work to go through to keep all things right and is not very strong at times but she is wonderful to but if it was not her spirit that keeps her up I don't know how she would do at all. Uncle Joseph has been working at Brandleys all winter and is there yet and all his family is well. And uncle William is draining Mains just now and his wife and family is all well. All friends and acquaintances is well here as far as I know just now, and I will write to you as soon as I know who is to be our summers man for James is not like Me for he takes a long time before he can speak his mind but I just say what I think and has done with it so now I must stop for it is nearly past time and with kind love from us all I remain your affectionate niece Marion Brown

pleas write soon

Bogg, 21 August 1867

[Image: Studio carte of Marion Glencross (1852-1919), as a girl, in a long dark dress with darker hash-mark trim and hair that's parted in the middle and possibly cropped?]

Back to the letters. This week, a long one--seven sides (the eighth is a short note from uncle Joseph Glencross to his brother). Again, I've added some paragraph breaks.

In this one, Marion is more explicit about her impairments than in any of the other letters I've transcribed here so far. She describes recent and long-lasting interruptions in her mobility, vision, and speech; at the time of this letter's writing, she hadn't been able to speak in about four months. She says she often thinks "we are the better of a crook in our lot." She also points out that it would be "a very different thing" if she lost her reason instead of her voice (which is perhaps her way of assuring the reader that she hasn't lost the former). We get more physical description of Aunt Agnes Scott here, too: she's "failing" and thin, "turning very small about the shoulders," but with a stubborn spirit and obviously very hard-working.

More news of the livestock and the neighbors who are leaving for America or getting married. Aunt will send some blankets and books over with David Williamson. And we get mention of "Marion's carte"--a photo of young Marion Glencross, age 15--it might be the photo I've attached to this post, above left. (That's definitely Marion Glencross as a girl, but maybe there was another young-Marion photo now lost?)

My Dear Uncle I have been longer then I expected in writting to you but I hope when this reaches you it will find you and Marion both in good health for what can we enjoy if we have not health and nothing in this world is a pleasure to us but we are the better of a crook in our lot some times or we would be apt to forget what we realy are.

Many a time I have thought that since I was close confined to the house, but I am very thankful to be able to say that I am a little stronger for when I wrote last although I am not able to go without a hold of some thing yet it is a great change from being close confined to bed and I would have written sooner but I have had very sore eyes for a long time but I am thankful I can see a little better this week for I felt very lonely when I could neither speak nor see have not could speak a word since April but amidst all our sufferings we have mercies too for it would have been a very different thing both for myself and everyone connected with me if it had been my reason instead of my voice

now I think I have given you a long account of myself and I will tell you about Aunt next she is wonderful healthy but I know a difference of her this summer she is failing she is turning very small about the shoulders now but she has such a spirit she will go through where many a one twice her weight would stick. And I was to tell you from her that she has got clear off for last year and she will let you know as soon as she can how she stands with the cows this year and she has five pigs and four shots and she is going to have them all away as soon as she can and she has one away this week that was 18 stones and she has two breeders and it will not be long till we have a lot of pigs again and that is an account of the swine and I think the cows has done very well as far as this year is gone. and they are going on with the hay if it keeps good weather they will son have done and I think all the rest of the things is going on as useal but there is a great want for although I have my brother here he is just like nobody beside my uncle but never ??ed with him before and that makes me feel the difference more.

Aunt has some things she would like very well if she could get them over to you there is some of uncles books and some other things and she has a pair of blue and white checked blankets she would like Marion to get them, David Williamson is talking about going away and if he goes we will get them with him, uncle Joseph has been speaking about writting but may be he will talk a long time befor he begins but he has been very well this hay time and he has got another addition to his family in July it is a daughter this time and her name is Agnes and all the rest of his family is well and uncle William's family is well but his wife had a still born son about three weeks since but she is wonderful well again and going about. there is not much new here just now but James Young of Knockenhair is going to be married to one Agnes Broadfoot she has been serving with him for seven years and she is only 26 and he is above sixty the folk says. I am very proud over Marion's carte she is a stout looking girl and she will can help you with your household work now and Aunt joins with me in kind love to you both and if you don't write yourself Marion has to write and let us know how you are getting on and I will say goodbye hopping this will find you both in good health as it leaves us all in a moderate state at present from your affectionate niece Marion Brown

Greetings from San Francisco

This is a photo (taken by Susan Burch) from the presentation given by Iain Hutchison and myself about Marion Brown, today at the Disability History Conference in San Francisco. See that big grey box on the table between us? That's the box of letters from Sanquhar. In front of us, on the table, there are photos in frames, a small Bible from Scotland, two of the books we've put Marion's story into, and other goodies. The session went well--we had audience participation and some animated conversation in the comments time (especially about what medical historians should or should not ask of such stories).

Marion Brown is too busy to blog this week

Actually, the letters are already packed, along with some photos and other goodies, to show off at the Disability History Conference at San Francisco State University this weekend. I'll be presenting with (and meeting!) Iain Hutchison, in a session where we'll be talking about our trans-Atlantic collaboration on a trans-Atlantic correspondence. I'll report back, and hope to have some photos too.

Bogg, 11 April 1867

Another letter on black-bordered stationery this week--different stationery, the border is wider, but it still means a death reported. This time it's Aunt Elspeth, another resident of the Bogg (not sure how she's related to the rest just now). The Miss Kennedy mentioned as living at Brandleys is probably Mary Kennedy (b. 1848), who would eventually marry a doctor named Hyslop. Robert McWhir, who was mentioned in the 1865 letter, reappears here. Marion is still 23 at the writing of this letter, and makes no mention of her own health status in this letter.

Paragraph breaks and links for dialect words added.

My Dear Uncle

I lift my pen to write you a few lines to let yo know how things moves about the Bogg. perhaps before this reaches you you will have heard that there is another blank made in our home, Aunt Elspeth got her journey finished here on the 24 of March she was only a week close confined to bed but she was very weak for a long time before, it was water that was her trouble in the end the cough and the breathing was very hard for some time but it was much easier nearer the end

Dear uncle we have had a great deal of trouble at the Bogg within this last two years but such is the way of this world. All things decays and goes away and man is compaired to A flower that blooms in the morning and is withered at night and that may show us the uncertainity of our time here, we don't know how soon we may be called from this to another world where there is no change all is either happiness or misery.

Dear uncle Aunt Nannie is thinking you have forgot us altogether you have been so long in sending us a letter she wearies more since she was left alone. I may say alone for we have A big house but death is makeing it empty but we ought not to pine at what God sees fit to lay upon us but submit willingly and say 'thy will be done.'

I may let you know what is going on about the Bogg the cows is begun to calve and you know from that that the work is fairly commenced for another year there is twelve cows calved but the queys is very scarce we have only three yet and we have two litters of pigs one has 8 and the other has 7 and one of them is so ill natured she will not let the pigs be beside her so you see the swine is as thrawn as ever yet. As for the hens Tom Scott has great work with them he is always wanting his mother to get some new kinds for he thinks the old ones is not very good he is a great man among beasts of all kinds he has three pets and they have all lambs and he can scarcly get sleeping about them I think I have given you an account of the most of things but we are going to be rather scarce of hay--which is not a very good thing but they think they will get through. I may let you know what the people is thinking about doing at Brandleys this year. Mr. John Kennedy is going away to South America he sails on the 21 of this month and it will be an empty house at Brandleys for there will be nobody but Miss Kennedy and her papa left. And Robert McWhir is going to leave at Martinmas and he has been a long time among us

[no signature, may not be the end of the letter]

Bogg, 25 July 1866

This week's letter is written on black-edged stationery, which nearly always means a letter reporting a death in the family. Marion, age 23, still in bed, is writing about the death of her uncle James Glencross (1824-1866), brother of her letter's intended reader, John Glencross in Pennsylvania. James was heading the household at the Bogg, and doing the outside work before he fell ill from a "belling throat" (badly infected throat and ear)*, and died from "congestion of the Brain." This untimely death required some family rearrangements--another uncle, Joseph, will come stay a while to work and head the Bogg household as well as of his own family.

This is a six-sided letter, and I've inserted minimal paragraph breaks where they seemed necessary (Marion rarely breaks up her writing with punctuation, let alone paragraph breaks, but a little spacing does help in the reading).

*A bealing throat is mentioned in this 1827 letter by Thomas Carlyle; there's also a passage in Amelia E. Barr's 1886 novel The Bow of Orange Ribbon, where a character is mentioned "making a plaster for black Tom's bealing finger." The word "bealing" was noted in use in Appalachia as recently as the 1920s, used for the same meaning Marion uses it here (see Carey Woofter, "Dialect Words and Phrases from West-Central West Virginia," American Speech 2(8)(May 1927): 347-367).

Dear uncle I take the pen to write you A few lines to let you know how we are getting on and I have sad news to tell you this time but as God sees fit we ought to be willing to submit to his will for he knows what is best for us for I had little thought that the first letter I was to write to you was to inform you of uncle James's Death for although he was not very strong we little expected we was to lose him so "soon"

he was not very strong the whole Spring and he took A bad cold about two months since and he was just getting A little better when he took A belling throat and after that he had congestion of the Brain which is A very dangerous trouble and the Docters said it proceeded from A sore ear he has had for A long time he was confined to his bed for three weeks and I think the most of his pain was past before he took the bed for he never complained of any thing scarcly after he took the bed but one great blessing we ought to be thankful for that he was sensible to the last but it is A sore trial for we never was left without A head before and he was like A father to every one of us and I was to give you Aunt Nanies compliments and say she losed one head and now another but she thinks this is the worst and it will be the worst for us all and we are very lonly for he had always A cheerie word to every one.

I may let you know how things is to go on for me A while we had Mr. Kennedy over on Monday and he thinks it is best for Aunt Nanie to go on with the cheeses till Martinmas and uncle Joseph is to come to stop with us and look after the cows and out door things for we could not get on without A man to stay in the house with us and he is not very strong he was away in the North draining an he came home to the funeral and he is not fairly railed yet uncle Joseph family is all well just no and so is uncle Williams we had him here two weeks the time uncle James was ill, as for myself I am still confined to bed but I think I am A little stronger than I was in the winter all the rest here is wonderful and the busy time is commenced and when one has plenty of work it helps to keep up the mind they commenced the hay today and we have George White and my Brother James to mow it this year again and they will be very busy for A while all friends and acquatinces is well as far as I know but we dont know how soon A chance may come

give my kind regards to Marion and I hope by this time She is quite strong again for we heard she had been very ill since you last wrote kind regards to yourself and all inquiring friends pleas write soon and let us know how you are both getting on and I will add no more remaining your affectionate niece Marion Brown

now uncle uncle James had A line in the Bank and uncle Joseph says you have to send home word what claim you have and if the money is lifted you will look to him and not the Bank for your share of it and you must write soon and let him know yours, MB

Bog, 26 June 1865

Marion Brown was 21 years old when she added these words to a letter written by her uncle James Glencross to her uncle (his brother) John Glencross in Pennsylvania. John had left "the Bog" and emigrated in 1852 with his wife Helen Brown; their daughter Marion Glencross was born that same year in America. Helen Brown died in 1855.

In this first surviving letter, we already see Marion's usual topics of correspondence: her own health (usually not strong), the crops and livestock (potatoes, turnips, pigs, chickens, cows), and local events (deaths, mainly). This letter was written soon after her aunt, Agnes Glencross Scott or "Nanny," lost her husband Samuel Scott.

Dear uncle seeing uncle James is so busy I will try and write you a few lines to let you know what is going on about the Bog although I am not able to be up yet I sometimes try to write in bed. I was glad to hear by your last letter that you and Marion were getting on so well with your household and gardening affairs. they are very busy here weeding the potates and one thing just brings on another I will begin and tell you about the live stock now---we have not so many pigs this year we have just six big ones but we have an old one and ten young ones, and we are nurseing one ourselves. and I think the cows is doing wounderful well this year Aunt Nanny is going on with the cheader cheeses, and she has not many hens but she has a lot of young chickens and she thinks if she could get A chance she would send you two or three for A change of stock but I was to say likewise that she felt herself very lonely it is A great mis to us all the want of Samuel and it must be worse for her but Death is no stranger amongst us their is A good many of our acquaintance taken away this spring---

William Young of Moshend died about two months since and Robert McWhir's wife is very poorly and not expected to get better her trouble is a growth in the stomach.