Cover From 1869

This is the oldest stamp related item I own. Pardon my poor photography skills:





It's such a dainty little letter; the envelope is only 2 1/2 inches by 4 1/2 inches!

The letter inside is dated May 6th 1869, and was written by my great-great-grandmother. I'm not certain who the recipient was; I need to check through genealogical records to see if I can figure it out.



I had trouble getting a good picture of the second page of the letter, which has this part:

"I just got back in time to see Gen. Lee, who is creating a great deal of excitement in town, the children are nearly crazy they are going in and out of the house all the time he is in it, they get a kiss, and are satisfied. Gregor stands with his hat off whenever he sees him, in case he might come past him. Some one told him that he must take off his hat always, when Gen. Lee passes him."



Interesting little piece of history, wouldn't you say?

That's a great little piece of history chicken. By the way I'm assuming the letter was written by your grandmother in 1869 not 1969.

Dianne

Very nice item. Thanks for posting it!

Oops! Yes, I meant 1869.(I just went back and fixed that error!) She died in 1912, so I don't think she was doing any writing after that.

You have something special because of the mention of Robert E Lee who did die shortly after the letter was written on 10-12-1870. Interesting even though this is not s letter written by Robert E. Lee 3 of his Civil War-era letters were sold for $61,000 recently.

Another interest fact is that these people were lucky to see Lee who was in ill health which was noted when he went to the Greenbrier Hotel in the summer of 1869, just after this letter was written.

However what you might find very interesting is that Robert E Lee made a trip on May 2, to call on President Grant at the White House in Washington DC. Now that is a pretty close documentation date in regards to your cover.

Typical for that era... Called Ladies Mail

I have to ask is this any relation to William A. Chapman, whose sons Lt. Col. William Henry Chapman and Capt. Samuel Chapman, became known as the "Fighting Chapmans" as members of Col. John S. Mosby's Rangers?

mkfarm, thanks for the historical facts you were able to provide me --very interesting! I have to confess I know very little about that time period.

I don't know if these Chapmans are any relation to the "Fighting Chapmans." But you got me curious enough to go digging in the basement looking for my grandmother's genealogical research. In addition to a family tree, there were notes on the Chapmans and other branches of the family. I'm not seeing any mention of those names, or Mosby's Rangers in her notes.

WOW...a very good and valuable piece of history

Chicken....

Really nice bit of family history.......very, very collectible.

Chicken, you will want to keep that one as a keystone of your cover collections...get your 50 posts here and then I can help you out with a lot of 1950's U.S. first day covers I have in duplicate..mabe even triplicate just laying around !

Hello Chicken,

How wonderful that such a unique and important part of your collection comes from your own history. Thank you for sharing it.

I was going to chip in and say I have a cover like that,After reading your story I believe that cover and the letter inside to be very rare and as phil said a good corner stone for your collection,good on ya Chicken

Yes, this will definitely hold a place of honor in my collection! It's not just old or rare, it's a piece of family history, which is what really makes it special.