Трейси Шевалье - At the Edge of the Orchard

It is very hot here and the mosquitoes have come early. The Days are both in bed with fever and I am looking after them, and also putting up the garden and looking after the animals. The hay is not in and if Mr. Day isn’t better soon I will have to ask Caleb to help. He is still at the farm and has a woman living there now, so he is a little nicer to me. I do not know her name.

I think maybe you have gone west and I will write on the outside of the letter for the hotel owner to send it on if he knows where you are. But maybe you are still there. I have been thinking that I would try to get there to you. I have begun saving so that I can take myself on the stage, though it is hard as the Days give me no money. I earned a little finishing off a quilt for a woman who had fever in the eyes that made her blind for a time, and looking after the baby of neighbors nearby. I have 31 cents so far. I will have to give some to the neighbors who mail letters for me. But I will keep saving and then one day I will find a way to get to you.

I am your sister

Martha

Days’ Farm

Black Swamp

Near Perrysburg

Ohio

January 1, 1846

Gilbert Hotel

Racine

Wisconsin Territory

Dear Robert,

I am writing to wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year. I hope you are keeping well.

I am doing all right. I have now saved 75 cents towards a stagecoach trip to Racine. I talked to some settlers passing through about the route and I now know I will need to go to Fort Wayne and Valparaiso Indiana and to Chicago, then on to Racine. I was glad to get this information and wrote it down, to ready myself for the journey. But I need at least 5 dollars, and a letter from you to say you are there and would like me to come.

I miss family.

I am your sister

Martha

Days’ Farm

Black Swamp

Near Perrysburg

Ohio

May 2, 1846

Gilbert Hotel

Racine

Wisconsin Territory

Dear Sir,

I am looking for my brother, Robert Goodenough, age 17. I once had a letter from him saying he worked at your hotel, in the stables. Please can you tell me is he still there, and if not where he has gone. If he is still there, could you give him the message that his sister Martha would like to hear from him.

I am sincerely

Martha Goodenough

Days’ Farm

Black Swamp

Near Perrysburg

Ohio

May 15, 1847

Fort Leavenworth

Near the Missouri River

Missouri Territory

Dear Robert,

I was full of the best kind of joy when I received your letter from Fort Leavenworth. Though it has been 3 years since your last letter, I never gave up hope that I would hear from you again-even after the hotel owner in Racine wrote and said you had left 2 years before and sent me back all the letters I had written to you. He said you had gone west but he did not know more. The west is very big, the word covers a lot of territory. That was a great blow to me but I still believed you would write again one day, even though you never got my letters.

I was not expecting a letter when I went to Perrysburg with Mrs. Day. She took me with her to carry the heavy sacks of flour and cornmeal she was buying, as her back troubled her. I know you must remember me as small and weak but I am stronger than you think. Remember you told me that once. I have never forgotten, and those words have seen me through some hard times. So there was your letter at the general store, sitting on the shelf behind the new owner, Mr. Malone. I saw it while he was talking to Mrs. Day, and I nearly screamed. But instead I held my breath and read “Goodenough’ and knew it was your writing even though I have only seen that writing once before.

I didn’t want to ask for it in front of Mrs. Day because she is funny about the Goodenoughs and wants to pretend I am a Day. I have been with her and Mr. Day almost 8 years now but I am still a Goodenough. So when we left I dropped my handkerchief and went back for it. Then I asked Mr. Malone for the letter. He looked surprised and I reminded him I’m a Goodenough, not a Day. At first he said no, to wait for Caleb or his woman. But I said that could take a long time and that I’d take it to Caleb, and so Mr. Malone gave it to me.

I will not spend ink and paper on describing all that has gone on these 9 years since you left. I will just say: Nathan died of fever. Sal lives in Toledo and has 2 children. She works in a hotel, I guess you could say. Caleb is on the farm and a woman lives with him and they have a baby. So you are Uncle Robert and I am Aunt Martha. I live with Mr. and Mrs. Day who still live 2 miles from the Goodenough farm. I work hard for them, to take the place of the children they never had and the help they can’t afford to hire.

I have been saving the little money I earn here and there to pay for a stagecoach to take me west to you. I now have $4.86 but I do not think it is anywhere near enough to get to you now you are even further away than Racine. I do not even know where the Missouri River is but I am going to find out. Please write and tell me where you are going and I will meet you there, if you can send me money for some of the fare. Or I will ask Sal, she might lend me some, though I never see her.

I am thinking of you and hoping that before long we will meet again.

I am your sister

Martha

Days’ Farm

Black Swamp

Near Perrysburg

Ohio

July 7, 1848

Fort Leavenworth

Near the Missouri River

Missouri Territory

Dear Mr. General,

I am writing to ask about my brother, Robert Goodenough. He worked in the stables at Fort Leavenworth, and I had a letter from him dated January 1, 1847. Since then I have not heard from him and I am trying to find him. Please, Sir, can you tell me if he is still working there, or do you know where he has gone? He is the person who means the most to me in this world, and I would like to find him.

I am sincerely

Martha Goodenough

Days’ Farm

Black Swamp

Near Perrysburg

Ohio

January 1, 1850

Fort Leavenworth

Near the Missouri River

Missouri Territory

Dear Robert,

I am writing to wish you a very happy New Year. I am sending this letter to Fort Leavenworth even though I suspect you are not there. I wrote to the General there about you but never heard back. But I want to write anyway and I don’t know where else to send it except the place where I know you’ve been.

I have sad news to tell you of the Goodenoughs. Our sister Sal died in the summer, leaving 2 children. I should take them as I am their aunt but the Days are not willing to have them. Too many mouths to feed and too much trouble, Mrs. Day said. She did not suggest they go to Caleb, though, as she understands that would not be good for them. His woman and child left him and he is back to his old ways. So they have gone to an orphanage in Toledo. I am real sorry about that. It makes me grateful that the Days took me in. Though they can be a trial at times, it would have been much worse in an orphanage.

I wish I knew where you were. America is such a big country, you could be anywhere. If I could find you we could take the children and make a new Goodenough family, and give them a better life than they are destined for.