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A collection of eleven (11) letters belonging to the Emerson Family of Holyoke, MA. The majority of the letters are send to Ireland Depot, which was the name of the town's post office from the mid 1840s to mid 1850s. The letters date from 1847 to 1857, with the bulk of the correspondence between 1848 to 1850, and between Lovina H. Fay Emerson (1822-1897) and her friend Catherine A. George Bates (1826-1879). Eight of the letters are folded stampless posts, the other three have their corresponding envelopes. The six letters written by Catherine A. George Bates to Lovina, which start in 1847 congratulating Lovina on her recent marriage to William. The letters discuss a variety of topics, but the main thread is Catherine's conversion to Christianity, her conversion in 1848 along with Catherine's friend Susan Pond, local events, updates on sickness in the area (highlights being the death of Catherine's nephew due to dysentery, her father's bout with typhoid fever, and her own bout with the mumps), and Catherine's (rather unsuccessful) attempt to comfort Lovina on the upcoming birth of her first child by telling her of the death of Susan Pond's newborn twin boys. There are three letters from Paesiello Emerson (1832-1927), to his sister Mary Frances Emerson (1833-1853), who are William's children from his first marriage. Paesiello had moved from the family homestead to Ashland, MA for work, while Mary was still living with their father and his new wife, Lovina, in Holyoke, MA. Paesiello writes updating his sister on his life, such as sleigh rides and his new membership in the local division of the Sons of Temperance while also poetically waxing about nature and the changing of seasons. The last two letters in the collection are one-offs. The first is to William Emerson, the patriarch of the family, about a shipment of lumber being send to him and the request for payment. Depending on the census record, William is either a carpenter or farmer. The last letter is from a C. B. Angier, a distant relative of Lovina (her mother's maiden name is Angier), and provides a short update on their life. Below are excerpts from the letters: "I think I felt the importance of religion I saw myself to be a great sinner but I did not want you to know it. I remember well one Sunday evening there was quite a number went forward for prayer. I felt as if I must go, I tried to stand but Satan whispered in my ear that if I went no one would believe that I was in earnest that I could do it better where I was & I listened to him and sat still. I think now if I had broken away from him then I might have found peace. You thought I was indifferent, I was miserable for I was trying to be a Christian and have no one know it." - Catherine A. George Bates to her friend Lovina H. Fay Emerson, June 22, 1848 "It has been quite sickly about us, one little child buried today. One case in particular I must tell you, a lady 35 years old, on who belonged in this neighborhood & always lived with her parents (who are quite aged) was married & went to her home with every prospect of happiness, before she had scarcely begun to enjoy it was called to die, just 4 weeks from the day she was married, she was buried at the same place where she stood a bride, she lay a corpse." - Catherine A. George Bates to her friend Lovina H. Fay Emerson, September 21, 1848 "I have just finished loading the lumber for you. A part of the boards are not such as I stands [sp?] have had you, but they are at the depot. I though I would send them, there are 2330 fit [sic] I also send more of the short timbers which you will please see that it is unloaded & kept safety. What you can not sell ??? please send me the money for the lumber as fast as possibly convenient and greatly oblige." - H. Williams to William Emerson, May 1, 1849 ". I came home, I found little Frank (that is Brother Hiram's youngest child) very sick with Dysentery. He had not been well for a week or two before, he had 10 teeth besides th.
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