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From: DC0339s (Finding Aid)
Transcript
Davidson College [1]
Mecklenburg County N.C
Dec. 18 1873 [2]
Dear Father [3] ,
Yours of the 11 came to hand a few minutes ago, also one of the same date from ma. I received on the 5th of this month $71.50 two days after I wrote the letter to which the one I got from you this evening is an answer. I got a letter from Hallings-worth + Co, three days ago informing me that they had bought a post office order of $50.00 which they would send by the next mail [4]. I have not got it yet but I will get it in a few days I guess. I am doing very well now but I have been sick ever since Monday, not sick enough to go to bed though but I am very well at pressed. I have managed to drag through my examinations [5] so far I have got two more to stand. If you say for me to come home let me know as soon as you can. This will get to you about the second day of Christmas [6] and if you say for me to come home you can send me some money in your answer to this and I can start on the 3rd or 4th of Jan. and get home on the 10th. I got a letter from Charlie [7] yesterday, he is well. If I go home this winter I think I can get into business easier I think. If you want me to come home after I get the $50, which is in stay way it will take 65 or about that to get me home.
Let me be on before the 1st of Jan. So I will not enter for the next term. If I do I will have to pay for the whole year. [8]
Your affectionate son,
W.B. Leverett
[9] Walter will soon be at home. I look forward to the time with pleasure and satisfaction. It is a good thing when the heart is weighed down with sorrow to have something to turn to that affords a little ray of pleasure.
Ah dear son you will never know any thing of the sufferings of you mother and it pray be very well that it is so Heavenly father help me to be obedient to thy will. Help father thy weak way ward child. Let me walk in the light of thy love.
Mr. M D Leverett
Overton, Texas
[10]
Original
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Annotations
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[1] Davidson College is a liberal arts college in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and is located twenty-three miles north of Charlotte. It was founded in 1837. More information about the college can be found in the Davidson Encyclopedia at https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/college/encyclopedia (DE).
[2] Dec. 18, 1873 was near the end of Walter’s first term at Davidson College.. The term began September 25, 1873 and ended December 22, 1873. There was no college catalog from 1873-1874, but 1872-1873 figures are very similar. There were 113 students from 1872-1873 and the courses offered for sophomore include: the Bible, English, English Literature, French, Latin, Greek, and Mathematics. Walter attended Washington and Lee University as a freshman from 1872-1873, but transferred to Davidson College as a sophomore (Fac. Min. and DCC 1872-1873).
[3] Walter’s father and mother were Marshall Duncan Leverett and Eliza Ann Patterson. Marshall was born in Georgia in 1815 and Eliza was born in North Carolina in 1826. They were married on September 29, 1851 in Rusk County, Texas. They had seven children: Walter, Charlie, Alice, Howard, Lebron, Caroline, and Alfred Henry. Both Alfred and Caroline died when they were two years old (Rodriguez).
[4] The United States Post Office developed a system of money orders during the civil war in order for union soldiers to send money back to their homes, and to decrease the risk of sending cash through regular mail. After the war, the system would become a convenient and popular way of sending money in sums of less than $100 anywhere in the country. This system would allow for Hallingsworth and Co. to send Walter money through the mail safely and securely. (Hines)
[5] Walter studied Logic and Rhetoric, Greek, Latin, Modern Languages, Mathematics, and Composition during his first semester at Davidson. He reviced honors only in modern languages. His report card from this semester was found by the Leverett family. (DC0399s)
[6] The second day of Christmas would occur on the 27th of December
[7] Charlie was Walter’s older brother (2 years older) who was born in 1853 in Leverett’s Chapel, Rusk County, Texas. Charlie attended Washington and Lee University from 1872 to 1874 where he studied Greek, French, Mathematics, and Latin. Greta Munger, a professor who currently teaches at Davidson, is the great grand daughter of Howard Leverett, Walter and Charlie’s brother.
[8] All college dues for the next term were paid in advance at Davidson College. The ordinary college expenses for one year exclusive of clothing, traveling expenses, and pocket money is estimated to vary from $200-250 (expenses not exact because there was no catalogue for the 1873-1874 school year). The monetary amounts in 1873 would be worth much more today (DCC 1872-1873, DCC 1874-1875).
[9] Through our research we believe that this is now the writing of Walter’s father, as he begins to pray and talks about the health of Walter’s mother. This handwriting is consistent with the Handwriting in the November 18, 1873 letter. Lending that Walter’s father would write prayers at the end of each of Walter’s letters as he received them.
[10]Walter B. Leverett was born in 1855 in Jamestown, Texas. He was born to Marshall Duncan Leverett and Eliza Ann Patterson. He was the second of seven children and lived with his family on a plantation in Leverett’s Chapel, Texas. He began college in 1872 at Washington and Lee University and transferred to Davidson College in 1873 before the fall of his sophomore year. While he was at Davidson, he belonged to the Philanthropic society and was conditioned in French. His classes for the fall of 1873 were Logic and Rhetoric, Greek, Latin, Modern Languages, Mathematics, On Composition, and Declamation. He left Davidson after his first semester. Walter remained a farmer for the rest of his life but moved away from the family farm to San Saba, Texas with his wife Addie.
Works cited
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Davidson College Catalog, 1874-1875. Davidson: Davidson College Office of Communications. [1875].
Davidson College Report on the Scholarship, Punctuality and Deportment of Mr. W.B. Leverett. 22 Dec. 1873. Report Card of Walter B. Leverett. Davidson College, Davidson, NC.
“Davidson Encyclopedia.” Davidson Encyclopedia. Davidson College Archives, Aug. 2003. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. <https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/college/encyclopedia>.
DC0339s. Leverett Family Papers. Davidson College Archives, Davidson, N.C.
Faculty Minutes – 3 October 1873. RG 2/3. 2. President’s Office. Davidson College Archives, Davidson, N.C.
Hines, Terrence M., and Thomas Velk. The United States Post Office Domestic Postal Money Order System In The 19th Century: A Nascent Banking System. Canadian Economic Association, May 2009. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. <http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/industrywhitepapers/Hines_Velk-Working_Paper_Money.pdf>.
Rodriguez, Donna McCreary. “Captain Marshall Duncan Leverett and Eliza Ann Patterson.” Gone to Texas. Millennia, 26 Mar. 2011. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. <http://gonetotexasgtt.com/f2102.htm#f234>.
Transcription and annotation author: Ben Daniels.
Date: May 2014.
Cite as: Daniels, Ben, annotator. 18 December 1873 Walter B. Leverett Letter to Parents. DC0339s.
Available: https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/digital-collections/walter-b-leverett-letter-18-dec-1873.
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