History:Letters: Cobb County, Letter to Sallie, daughter of Paul Eve, from Sarah Laura Wright Beckwith, Secretary to General Leonard Wood in Cuba ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in ANY format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net ************************************************************************ Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Peter Wilson pmwilson@uswest.net Peter states: I'd be happy if others could enjoy Sarah Laura's letter. Perhaps they can untangle all the relationships mentioned. Sarah Laura translated several novels in French and Spanish into English Braille for the Library of Congress, and was an amazing woman. She was born 19 March 1848, probably in Augusta, and died 5 August 1927 in Muskogee Oklahoma, in the home of her son-in-law, Rev. Arnold Edwin Moody, a Presbyterian minister and a pioneer in the Boy Scout movement. ----------------------------- Letter to Sallie, daughter of Paul Eve, from Sarah Laura Wright Beckwith, Secretary to General Leonard Wood in Cuba: Headquarters Department of Cuba Havana, Dec. 24, 1900 My very dear Cousin: Your letter reached me a day or two since, and it is needless to say a pleasant surprise. You are by no means the stranger to me that I am to you, for while I have not seen you since you were a very little girl, still I am cognizant of your family and personal history to some extent. My dear grandmother, Mrs Jane [Ringland] Eve, was well up in all the family relations, the various ramifications, intermarriages, etc., and as I had the great happiness of my grandmother's companionship until long past my maturity [being born in 1848], I suspect there are few in the family who can give more authentic information it than I can. My mother, who was [born] Mary Isabel Eve, is still living [in Savannah] and well versed in the points of interest herself. [She married John Stephen Wright in 1843 in Baldwin Co. GA]. I seem to have unintentionally misled your brother, Duncan, in my letter to him. In my effort not to be prolix I seem to have not been explicit enough, hence he inferred naturally that my branch of the Eve family had always remained in the West Indies. I said the son William of the first Captain Oswell Eve had resided in the West Indies and had never left there, or words to that effect. He himself never left the island of San Salvador, on which he had his plantation, but his two sons did. One of these was my grandfather, Joseph Eve, [and] the other, William Eve, the latter having never married, hence all the descendants of William Eve are in the line of Joseph. This Joseph was own cousin to your father, therefore you see [that] you, while younger, are in a generation ahead of mine. [My grandfather] Joseph Eve married Jane Ringland, whose mother was Isabel Carmichael [and father was George Ringland]. Their [seven] children [Mary Isabel Eve b.1825, Katherine Watkins Eve, Louisa Matilda Eve, John Eve, Joseph Clark Eve (who married Annie Pearsall & had 2 children , Edward & Ella), Emma Eve, renowned for her feather work, and Anna Edgar Eve] are doubly related to one branch of the family, as Mrs. Carmichael, the mother of your cousins and mine--Mrs. Edgar, Mrs. Longstreet, Miss Isabella Carmichael and all that numerous family--was miss Mary Eve, sister of your father. This is why you and I have not only relations on the Eve side, but also on the Carmichael. My grandfather died many years ago, in his early manhood [before 1830?], leaving a widow and four [living] children. One of these was my mother, Mary Isabel Eve, and she married my father, John [Stephen] Wright, who was from the middle part of Georgia [Baldwin Co.], but his family from the West Indies. For many years my father had close business relations in Cuba, but never removed his family to this island, our homes being generally in Augusta, Marietta [at the foot of Little Kennesaw Mt.], and Atlanta [but also in Savannah]. It seems strange that my fortune should be to live now in Havana, returning to the island my father's family was associated with, and to be once more representing our family in the Indies. I was sent for by General Wood as a secretary when he was governor of Santiago, and when he came to Havana as military governor of the Island, I came her likewise. I am a working woman and for this reason I offer no apology for using the typewriter, as the machine is second nature to me now. I am in General Wood's personal service, and have an office in the oldest building in Havana, the old fortress of La Fuerze, erected, as the inscription states, in 1538. Its appearance is very antique and picturesque, and from my window on one side I look out across the harbor to Morro Castle and Cabana, and on the other side I see the Temple erected on the spot where mass was first said in Cuba, the Palace of the governor and the Plaza des Armas [see photo], besides other notable points. I have my daughter on the Island. She was a clerk in the Auditor's department until her marriage, last summer, to Arnold Edwin Moody, a nephew of [the evangelist] Dwight Lyman Moody. They live at the barracks nine miles from the city, and the commanding officer also gave me quarters there, and my children keep them in order for me to use when I choose, although on account of my work it is better for me to remain in the town except on Sundays and holidays, which, of course, I spend with them. The camp is beautifully situated, right on the ocean, and with a lovely view on all sides, sea and hills and blue mountains, and everywhere tall waving royal palms and other tropical growth. The quarters are very pleasant and there is plenty of social life among the officers and their families. I have many Cuban friends likewise, and altogether my life is almost ideal. Another item which might perhaps be worth while to relate, and I hope you wont think me egotistic, but we learn that Providence shapes our ends for us by noting the little things that occur to us. Eight years ago I determined to study Spanish. I knew a little about on account of my father, but I was not perfect in it by any means. I advertised for a teacher, found one and began with all diligence to study. Many of my friends thought me very stupid to study a language which in all probability I should never have any use for. They besought me to turn my attention to German, Italian, pay more attention to French--even Yiddish or modern Greek was more practical, they said. I, however, had made up my mind Spanish was the language I wanted to learn, and I persevered. I had many discouragements, but I never gave up. Sometimes I had no one to speak with, but I subscribed for newspapers in that tongue, bought books, wrote and read, taking advantage of any stray Cubans or Spaniards who came along. The war beginning in 1895 brought refugees from Cuba to Savannah, my home for ten years past, and I took advantage of their company on all occasions. Now does it not seem a little strange that being able to speak that tongue gives me the good position I have today? The ways of Providence are strange. Stenography, by which I make my living principally, I began as a relaxation and relief from care and the distress of poor health. But I have said enough about myself. Our dear mutual cousins, Mrs. Timberlake and Josie and Lula Walton, of course, have been intimately associated with my former life. That blessed man, Dr. Joseph Eve, was ever a most loving cousin and to him I owe my life, for to his unwearied care and skill I am indebted for relief from great bodily affliction. We surely have in his memory one to be proud of, for he was all that true manhood represents. His epitaph is the only one I ever admired, and tells only the simple truth of him. I particularly cherish the concluding lines, "And having finished his glorious life in peace, entered into the fullness of divine joy." give my warmest love to them all. Dear Josie [Walton] deserves to succeed in all her attempts, for a nobler girl never lived. She was a great comfort and companion to her beloved grandfather, and I shall never forget her tenderness at a time of great grief of mine. Likewise an expression of Cousin Mildred also at a time of deep sorrow has ever abided with me-- "We have to learn to bear the inevitable." I cannot begin to tell you how much pleasure it gives me to write you. The name of Eve is very dear to me, and while some of my relations have been closely interwoven with my life, there are others, like yourself, whom I have scarcely met. Your father, however, while personally I met him but a few times, was a dear cousin and friend of my grandfather, and dear grandmother always loved Paul Eve. He never came to Augusta without calling on her and he died about two years before she did. Your sister, Mrs. Stevenson, I saw once when I was a child. It was during the war, and your father was then living in Atlanta, I think connected with the military hospitals there, and my father's home was in Marietta, about twenty miles above. I remember your sister as a most beautiful woman, and just about a year ago I found in the library in Savannah a book written by her son, Paul [Stevenson]. Her mother, your father's first wife, was a specially dear friend of my grandmother. "Cousin Louisa" she always called her, and to the day of her own death she always held her in most loving memory. I have but one child, this daughter I spoke of, and I have a mother and sister and nephew living in Savannah. Our line of the family was always a small one, very different from yours. I have often heard grandmother tell the many times she had been at the table in the old Eve home, "The Hall," near Augusta, at which was seated Captain Oswell Eve, his wife Aphra, eight daughters, and four sons. Of these sons the oldest was named Oswell, and died in England just as he was on the eve of returning to this country. He had gone to Ireland to bring his sister home, your aunt Sarah Adams [who married John S. Adams on 3 March 1803 in Charleston], for whom you are named, and whose husband had died suddenly. Her brother Oswell, knowing that his death was imminent, sent for the captain of the ship in which he had taken passage, and consigned his sister to his care, making him promise to see her safely landed in America. I should have stated that the war of 1812 was going on, hence his anxiety as to the safety of his sister. It was many month, however, before she reached Augusta, as the ship was captured and taken to Halifax. During all this time the news of the death of his oldest son had not reached your grandfather. the next son was John, [who married 16 Jan. 1823] Sarah Davis Carmichael, grandmother's own cousin, for whom I am named, hence those Eves are double relations to us. The other [sons were] William and Paul, your father. The daughters were Ann Pritchard [Eve], who was Mrs. Cunningham, and whose daughter [Margaret, was married 27 Jun. 1833 to] George Schley [son of Governor Schley], and that is where we are related to the Schleys, Mary Eliza, Mrs. Carmichael, Henrietta, Mrs. Longstreet, Maria, Mrs. Bones, Emma, Mrs. Smith, Sarah, Mrs. Adams, and Elizabeth, or Betsey as she was called, who never married. So you see I am not a stranger to family history. I made a pretty family tree once, and was helping my mother to make one for Cousin Mildred when I was obliged to leave home very hurriedly to reach Havana on a certain date, and that was never finished. If you have ever seen that noted family diary [of Sarah Eve of Philadelphia ca. 1740-1790], which fell into the hands of Mrs. Jones, your Cousin Eva, the "little Billy" mentioned there is my great-grandfather [William Eve, who married Mary Clarke of Charleston]. That diary belonged to Uncle Eve, the grandfather of Cousin Mildred. He gave it to his daughter Mary, Mrs. Campbell. She was in her day better informed as to the family than any one, and preserved the diary with care, likewise other interesting papers and letters. She loaned this dairy to her cousin, Mrs. Edgar, and through a misunderstanding it was not returned. Cousin Mary dying, Mrs. Edgar it seems understood that the dairy was a gift, not a loan, and in the course of time she gave it to Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Jones had the diary published, but much of it had been lost, and it is very much mutilated and changed. Grandmother recollected many instances and events related in the diary that had been lost out of it in later years, and she was very much disappointed in the printed history, as much of the best part was irretrievably lost. I trust you can come to Havana some time, and while perhaps, like many others, you may be disappointed at first, still the longer you remain, the better you like it, and the more you seek the more beauties you find. While I love my country, yet I love Cuba so much that it would be a great grief to me to leave it, and I trust I shall not have to do so for a long time yet. Give love to the three dear cousins, as before requested, and I trust you will not object to receiving a share for yourself. It was most kind in you to write and I trust you will pardon this long letter in response. As the Pan-American Medical Congress has been postponed until the end of January, I understand, I trust by that time your brother can come to the Island. Remember me kindly to him likewise. Very truly yours, Sarah L. Beckwith, Care the Palace, Havana, Cuba ------------------------------------------------------------- Note: The Carmichaels, Eves, Wrights, and their many cousins lived in Baldwin, Chatham, Cobb and Richmond counties. They are my deceased wife's people, but I have preserved a few of their family documents.