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From: DC0339s (Finding Aid)
Transcript
Davidson Nov. 18th [1] Beth 1873 Bethune [2] Davidson College.[3]
Dear Parents [4] : I have not received a letter from you in some time. I believe it is about four weeks. I hope it will not be as long before I hear from you as it was the other time. Don’t you think if I could get that school there by coming home Christmas I had better do it? But maybe it would be best for me to stay as we will study things next term that would be of great value to me in teaching.[5] However
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I am very willing if you say it would be best, to do either. My traveling expenses will of course have to be added to what I thought would be sufficient. Including traveling expenses they would $4 or $4.75. I will try and come home on as little as possible and I expect to go to Wilmington and take a Steamer for N.O. or Galveston would be as cheap as I could come but not the quickest [6]
Charlie [7] sends me the Collegian [8] I find much that interests me in it. It is only a little over month till Christmas and only a little more than seven till the 26th of next June. The months pass by very quick and it
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will not seem long until you will see me rolling up from Overton to Jamestown. If you can tell me what the fare is to Shreveport or Galveston from Overton I will be very glad. [9]
I am looking everyday for some money when do you think it will come?
The ladies had a concert for the benefit of the Yellow Fever sufferers last Friday night [10] it was a complete success. W.B.B Bethune Bethune.
Write soon and write once a week if you can write but one page page from your affectionate Walter
Walter
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W.B. Leverett C.C Leverett C.C. Leverett W.B. Leverett Davidson
Nov.19 I forgot to mail my letter until it was too late. Prof. Martin the clerk of the faculty [11] duned (sic) me for my dues [12] This morning of course I did know when to tell him I could pay him. He says you had better send it in post office orders. As drafts on N.Y. cost so much.
Walter
W.B.B Leverett Bethune [14]
Walter Walter Walter come home Walter come home home come come come home come home. When this you see remember me although miles apart apart. [13]
Original
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Annotations
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[1] Nov 18th, 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 and 11 faculty members from 1872-1873. 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).
[2] Bethune was his uncle’s name. It is unclear why he repeatedly references Bethune here; it is possible that he just really liked his uncle.
[3] 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).
[4] 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).
[5] The next term that he refers to here would have been his second term of his sophomore year. All students in their second term of their sophomore year studied Bible, Logic, French, Greek and Latin literature, and Trigonometry. (DCC 1872-1873, DCC 1874-1875).
[6] Steamers or Steamboats were a popular and efficient way to travel during the mid 1800s. In Walter’s case he would have traveled by river to either New Orleans or Galveston, and then found a train heading to his hometown of Overton TX. (Steamboat Fact Sheet)
[7] Charles Clinton Leverett was born on Mar. 14th, 1853 in Leverett’s Chapel, Rusk County Texas. Charles was the oldest son. His younger brother Walter Burns Leverett attended Davidson College. Charles attended Washington and Lee University from 1872 to 1874. He was in the Class of 1876, but he did not earn a degree. He studied Latin, Greek, French and Mathematics at Washington and Lee University. Charles died on Apr. 22nd, 1897 in Rusk County Texas. (Leverett Family)
[8] The Southern Collegian was the school newspaper/periodical for Washington and Lee University during the Charlie’s time there. It contained information regarding the college as well as editorials discussing the state of the country during the antebellum period.
[9] During this time the fare for an automotive ride was 5 cents per mile. The trip from Galveston, TX to Overton, TX is approximately 248 miles, thus the fare would have been about $6.20. Shreveport, LA to Overton, TX is about 85 miles so the fare would have been a little over $2. (Railroad Maps)
[10] Yellow fever was a disease that afflicted the U.S. during the 18th and 19th centuries. It originated in Africa, and was brought to the U.S. by way of the Caribbean. There were numerous severe outbreaks among the port cities along the southern Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean. Some 100,000- 150,000 people died from outbreaks of yellow fever, and it was particularly common among recent white immigrants. It makes sense that the women of the Town of Davidson would hold a benefit for these people because many of the school’s students were from areas that lacked resistance. Either the women of the Presbyterian Church or the young ladies association likely held this benefit. Although there no reference to this event because their records did not begin until 1880. (Patterson)
[11] William Joseph Martin, born 1830, Richmond, Va. Student at the University of Virginia class of 1854. Came to Davidson from University of North Carolina in 1869 where he was a professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology. He served as clerk of the faculty and was vice president of the college from 1884 until his death in 1896. His son, William Martin Jr. was also a professor and president of the college, Martin Chemistry Building is named in their honor. (DE)
[12] 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).
[13] His father wrote this part of the letter. The penmanship changes and so does content of the letter. His father Marshall would write these kinds of notes or Bible verses on the back of his son’s letters. This is consistent with other letters of Walter and Charlie that we have examined.
[14] 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, 1872-1873. Davidson: Davidson College Office of Communications. [1982].
Davidson College Catalog, 1874-1875. Davidson: Davidson College Office of Communications. [1875].
“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.
Patterson, K. D. “Result Filters.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.
“Railroad Maps, 1828-1900.” – Collection Connections. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.
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>.
“Steamboat Fact Sheet.” Steamboat Fact Sheet. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.
Transcription and annotation author: Joe Aase.
Date: May 2014.
Cite as: Aase, Joe, annotator. 18 November 1873 Walter B. Leverett Letter to Parents. DC0339s.
Available: https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/digital-collections/walter-b-leverett-letter-18-nov-1873.
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