Knox, Lucy Flucker, 1756-1824 to Henry Knox
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.00582 Author/Creator: Knox, Lucy Flucker, 1756-1824 Place Written: Brookline, Massachusetts Type: Autograph letter signed Date: April 31, 1777 Pagination: 3 p. : docket ; 31 x 18.2 cm. Order a Copy
Misses Henry, her husband. Gives details of her recent bout with smallpox, noting "I have more than two hundred of them- twenty in my face..." Notes that their daughter, Lucy, has one pox. Discusses the difficulty of hiring men and boys for assistance with chores, noting they are more apt to seek work in the ports. Complains of her current lodging, an officers room in a military barracks: "but a few rough plan was my guard from the weather... two soals [soles] of old shoes served for hinges to the door, on which was chalked- the cloven footed gentleman upon his head- in short I never was so horror struck in my life..." Praises the doctor who treated her small pox. Asks Henry to explain a topic in his earlier correspondence. Describes a man with small pox inoculated at the same time she was who "lay in the last agonies his pock proved the purple sort." Expresses sympathy for the man's wife. Worries that Henry, who she calls "the dear partner of my soul," might be exposed to pox. Notes, "I cannot live at this distance from you." Dated 31 April, likely meaning May 1st. Second page measures 21.5 x 19.8 cm.
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