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Description
Lee wrote this letter from the West Indies, where he was seeking to regain his health. In the letter Lee asks Goddard to help with the education of his friend McIntosh's son. Lee also mentions his intent to "return home in a few months."
Transcription
Caicos August 29th 1816 Dear Sir, I write to you from P. au Prince and from Turks Islands, inviting you to bestow on my son at the university of Cambridge, the favor of your patronage & the edification of your occasional brief correspondence, and enclosed to your care my letters to Carter, the chief tendency of which were to acquaint him with our intimacy, the place of your residence, and the readiness with which you would forward his letters to me. The most direct route of conveyance I pointed out to you, which I now repeat, viz. vessels going to Turks Islands for salt, taking care to recommend your packets to the care of Mr. David Bascome, one of the Custom house officers in that Island. Now I address you on a subject somewhat similar & to me very interesting. I am sure you will chearfully, promptly, and effectually, accomplish my request. It is that you address by three different opportunities Mr John McIntosh of this Island, under cover to the same gentleman in Turks I whom I mentioned as certain to convey all letters you might forward me. Mr McIntosh is about our age, long a resident here & to me truly dear, not only because I have experienced in my miserable condition the most tender & kind attention to the softening of my pains to the producing, if possible, my restoration to health. You will acknowledge I have abundant cause to take an interest in whatever concerns him. His youngest son, a boy about twelve years old, unfortunately has become a cripple from disease, nor is there the least ground to expect any amendment, being long restored to a thorough state of health, his education has become a leading object with his father, who tenderly loves his son & he hopes by due attention to the cultivation of his mind to make amends for his bodily disadvantages. On no one in our Country could I fix more capable to direct Mr McIntosh’s selection of a school in the first place, and of a University subsequently, for his son. Permit me to add my own wish that the school may be as near to you as comports with a proper choice, for I know the benevolence of your heart prompts you to be serviceable to the afflicted, & that you can, & will be especially so, to a boy circumstanced as is the son of my kind friend. When you write to Mr. McIntosh communicate the expenses of tuition, board, and every other incident, and the distance of the school of your selection from your residence. On receipt of your letter a reply will be returned without delay, which will lead to your acquaintance with Mr M., a sure guarantee of the continuance & satisfaction which your instrumentality in promoting the good of his son, shall have inspired. You must have a word about myself, with all the pains I have taken my disease, tho reduced in its consequences, remain obdurate & painful. Since I have reached this benificent friend, his care & prescriptions have meliorated partially my condition & I indulge the hope that by perseverance in his course of regiment & simples, I may attain considerable diminution of pain, an object most desireable to me. In every event I mean to return home in a few months determined there to abide my fate. I am dear Sir with great regard your faithful frd. H. Lee PS Instead of sending 3 letters to to Turks island send only 2 - Send two others to Nassau New Providence - Chs has constant intercouse with Nassau Mr Goddard.
Creation Date
8-29-1816
City
Caicos Islands
State/Province
Turks and Caicos Islands
Creator Life Dates
1756-1818
Keywords
Henry Lee, William Goddard, Light-Horse Harry Lee, Light-Horse Harry, Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands, Port-au-Prince, McIntosh, son, family, illness, 1816
Resource Identifier
080428-67
Date Digital
2-18-2014
Document Type
Manuscript
Disciplines
History | Social History | United States History
Publisher
Wofford College
Format (medium)
manuscript
Format (IMT)
Language
En-us
Digitization Specifications
800ppi 24-bit depth color; Scanned with an Epson 15000 Photo scanner with Epson Scan software; Archival master is a TIFF; TIFFs converted to PDF with Adobe Acrobat XI Pro.
Source
The original from which this digital representation is taken is housed in The Littlejohn Collection at Wofford College, located in the Sandor Teszler Library.
Recommended Citation
Lee, Henry, "Letter from Henry Lee to William Goddard, from Turks and Caicos Island, 1816." (1816). Broadus R. Littlejohn, Jr. Manuscript and Ephemera Collection. 131.
https://digitalcommons.wofford.edu/littlejohnmss/131
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.