Georgia: Morgan County: Letter from Nancy Coffee Heard to her daughter Julia Smith Heard 10 August 1814 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Olivia Williamson Braddy http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00030.html#0007446 The following is a verbatim copy of a hand written letter from Nancy Coffee Heard, to her daughter Julia Smith Heard. Copied by Ottis Edwin Guinn, Sr., Nancy's 4th great grandson. The spelling is her own. She used no upper case letters except in the location and date in the letter head. She used an upper case D in the word dear to begin the letter and in signing her name she used upper case letters. She used no punctuation of any kind. Her hand writing is beautiful. She wrote on unlined paper, yet her lines were straight and evenly spaced. The ink has now faded after 184 years, and the paper is very fragile with a few holes in it. The letter indicates that Julia was away from home at school with the cousin Nancy addresses in the letter. I have no record of the cousin "sophrony" or her relations John and Polly. The only other name mentioned in the letter that I am familiar with are Minerva, Franklin, and Felix. Minerva was Julia's only sister. She had other brothers not mentioned here. There is no envelope for the letter so we do not have a post mark to assist in determining what school they were attending. Abraham did make the trip to Tennessee shortly after the letter was written. He purchased land in McMinn County, Tennessee, moved his family there and only lived for a few years afterward. He died there in 1822. Ottis Guinn October 18, 1998 ______________________________________________________________ Labannon 10 August 1814 Dear julia I now inform you we receaved yours dated the 9 of July and also 22 and cousin sophroneys by Mr gresham with great pleasure we are happy to se you make use of every oppertunity to write us I can assume you (word unreadable) is nothing coud be more pleasing then to hear from my dear daughter and nice I am afrad you have ben uneasy about my helth I can inform you I am in better helth then since you home I recvered of the (word unreadable) son after you left but coud not fel wel I was taken in june with a pain in my left side it was at intervels at first but grew worse so that I coud scarcely ly down we aplid large blister which gave me some releaf but did not remove the pain I then went through acorse of physic in which I endured a grate deal of pain but I hope it has ben of grate service to me as I am entirely wel of the pain the famely is all wel except your brother franklin he came up the 15 july to spend some weeks with us he was taken with the ague and fever twelve days after he come but I hope he wil son be wel as his chil and fever is much lighter I hope these lines wil find you and cousin in good helth minerva sends a grate deal of love to you and her cousin she says she must nit you a pare of stockings for the present you sent her she has grown in high but is more spare then when you left home your brothers have all grown preceveable felix is as fat and saucy as ever your father is at this time gone to augusta I expect he wil start to tennesy in a few days after his return but I hope he wil not stay more than fore or five weeks we were sorry you find it so hard to learn mussick I was afraid you woud not be apt to lern it as you are inclined to be left handed and had so little turn to it I though cousin sophrony woud lern it very fast and be fond of it but I find she is not I am sorry my dear cousin to find you are ancious to return home it woud be very gratifing to us all to see you both at home but you must not think of coming until you have completed your education your brother washington was to se us two weeks past he was very wel and has grown as much as any person coud your brother john is at his grandmothers going to school polly had a fine girl two weeks past she and her children is wel and all the rest as fare as I now your relations in this part are all well mr harris and his famely has come up to spend the sickly season we expect them to visit us next week thare little son has grown finely I expect opelia wil go down with them she has ben going to school to Mrs hix minerva can spel in five letters tolerable wel we expect to send her to mrs hix next spring I had your dreses move early in the spring but have not had an opportunity of sending them to you I have nothing more but beleve me to be your affectionate mother and ant Nancy Heard julia your sister insist to send you a lock of her hare that you may se how it has grown (Submitted by Olivia Williamson Saffold)