Beloved Sisters and Loving Friends

by Farah Jasmine Griffin

  Sister Addie

  Royal Oak, Talbot Co., Md.

  Mar. 30, 1867 Sat. 9 A.M.

  My dear Parents & Sister,

  […] This is a delightful morning only rather cool & windy, the little birds have been giving us some of their sweetest songs. I see there are a great many Robins around here this Spring, and Black birds are very numerous.

  All of the sick people here at least in our neighborhood, seem to be recovering, some of them more rapidly than others. One woman has been taken with the chills this week, it is the only case as yet.

  That young man who was hurt at St. Michaels, was brought home this week at his own request, he is recovering from his injuries quite fast. His employer offered $500 reward for the apprehension and arrest of the one who stabbed him. He’s a secesh in principle, but a kind man to col’d people and to his hands.

  We’ve had trees given to us for all the sills for our schoolhouse, and all of them from southern rights men, which I think shows they have no real hostile feelings towards the col’d. school, but are rather in favor of it.

  Hearing there were some apples in Oat town I have sent this morning to purchase a dozen. It is the first of my trading there since taking up my residence here. I thought I would indulge myself for once, they’re the only thing my appetite craves. I’ve still left some of my other luxuries, only this week have I eaten the last of that loaf of cake Mrs. Homer sent me, there being fruit in it, it kept well. The beef I keep for an occasional relish when bacon is all the vogue & my appetite turns from it. Mrs. Thos. has sent to Easton for some fresh fish this A.M. I really hope there’ll be some in market. I’ve sent again for the papers which I take for granting are enroute now.

  I rec’d. your letter also Addie’s with the Independent Thurs. that is quite a cunning little paper which you enclosed. I should like to see one of those skirts it makes such an ado about.

  I was surprised at first to hear that neither of you had rec’d. my letters, but the reason for it soon came into my mind. I hope both last and this week’s have been rec’d. ’ere this and eased your minds.

  The money came perfectly safe and a portion of it has been expended for nails, the remainder Mr. Thos. took to Balto, to lay out for other materials.

  […] I rec’d. a letter from Nelson this week, he wrote that he was very lonesome without Leila, and that he’d become a book agent for a while upon trail. He also told me about the sudden death of Amorett’s sister. Poor girl! I suppose her mother will miss her very much for she had her with her so much. Nelson ought to let the little girl remain as long she possibly can, that she may have the benefit of the fresh air and sun’s rays to shine upon her. I really hope she may walk soon, and I should like to see her very much.

  There does not seem to be any more excitement here than usual upon politics. I see by the Ind’t. that next Mon. is voting day in Conn.

  I am pleased to hear that the meetings at our church are being better attended, for Mr. Halman seems to be so kind and interested too, that they ought to show in some way that his labors are appreciated.

  Yes, I’ve no doubt the Methodist are having a real exciting time, and I really hope the impression may not soon pass away. I’m surprised to hear all those young girls are among the converts. I wonder if they so really realize any changes of feelings or not?

  […] I suspect Bell has fixed Leila off so well that she looks very nicely attired in those articles. What do the people think of her, and how is she pleased with the sound of the piano? I can not add any more lines to your letter now for I have my reports to prepare. I made a beginning yesterday so adieu until tomorrow or Monday.

  […] Mr. Thos. returned as we expected, our lumber is to be sent down Wednesday, they were not satisfied at the Room’s with the size of the building which the trustees had decided upon and require it to be ten ft. longer and four ft. wider making it 24 by 34 and 13 ft. high.

  Now I shall exert myself and use all my influence to get it into operation as soon as possible, my chief means will be through the children. I made a beginning today and shall continue every day this week.

  […] One of our principal school men is down with the rheumatism & he can scarcely use his limbs.

  I sent to Balto. & got old man Moore some crackers and gave them to him yesterday, you don’t know how thankful he was. He’s very feeble but able to go about. I told him I did not know what else to get him. If your rather our F.A. Society can send him a little change now & then I’ve now doubt ’twould be very acceptable, for he says he’s not able to work any & he is not truly.

  I’ve just learned today, that two little babies were born here last week. There will always be a prospect for the school’s being continued & needed here, so far as supplies are concerned.

  […] Our schoolhouse will cost us something more I expect now. I shall first see how we make out here ’ere I ask further assistance. With much love to you all I remain as ever affectionately,

  Rebecca.

  Give my love & kindest regards to all my friends. Mr. & Mrs. Thos. wish to be remembered.

  Hartford Mar 31 1867

  My Dear Adopted Sister

  This is the last day of March and it is certainly a beautiful A.M. we can call it a spring morning I heard the birds singing very sweetly before I got up. I was lying thinking of you my thought reflect back several years ago you remember how we use to take Sunday A.M. walks how we enjoyed them most exceedingly what a pleasure it afford one to think of these happy moments. I shall not go out this a.m. I shall devote it to you SS concert this P.M. I must prepare myself to repeat my verse which it is this 5 cha of Romans and 11 rec doubtless it will be well attended every one is able cannot remain at home today.

  […] This evening Mr. Tines and I are going to spend with Ellen Harris. He is to meet me at Aunt Emily at half past six his brother is no better.

  […] I went to see Mrs. Smith at US hotel she was telling me about Selina. A Gentleman in NY wanted to have her very much because he did not look very stylish enough for her she would not receive his attention. Christmas night he was married to young Lady in Brooklyn and took her in one of his houses furnish from top to bottom they have found out he is very wealthy. Selina feel very sorry.

  I am glad of it when she could have two good offers she would not have them. Mrs. Smith made me laugh said Selina went to Church and just as she was coming out her waterfall curls came off. Her brother pick them up for her she must of thought great deal of him.

  I think I should had to smile myself.

  […] You know I was telling you about a Masquerade surprise A. Cross was getting up I did not attend for it was at Mrs. Effs and you know I do not visit there I heard it come off very nicely so much so with some for Mrs. Saunders was there and also Elizabeth I guess they have got tired being retired from Colored people going into the society I must tells them about it I was really surprise when I heard of it nexe evening Mr. Hector gave a festival at Talent Post Hall for the benefit of the Colored band to get a concert I heard they had dancing and never broke up until morning.

  […] Mr. Chas Fuller that was arrested last fall for taking some bonds out of the Hartford Bank belonging to Mr. Wilcox his trial came off last week in Friday paper pronounce him guilty and he is to have his sentence under they put it off a superior court they will know Tuesday of this week his family is feeling badly your mother I suppose will send you the papers I wish Mr. Fuller had Lawyer Chapman great many thing the bonds was never put in the hand of the employees in the bank dont recollect ever seeing them but Mr. Perkins time will tell all things.

  […] I see your letters are mail from Royal Oak now how is that have you got reconcile to the Post Master now.

  […] I dont know about being Mr. Tines hearts Idol. I dont think I am I have a rather a Singular human nature to deal with I tell you I have great deal to tell you when we meet.

  No I have not had the pleasure of sitting or lying in his arms all night as yet.

  […] The little girl remind
of some of your peculiar ways of yours I dont know about looking like you only her eyes remind of yours years ago. She dont like little dirts. She is a sweet and interesting child. I see your father seems to think a great deal of her. […]

  Addie mentions the Christian Recorder, a publication of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, in which Frances Ellen Watkins Harper often published articles and fiction. She also mentions Miss Still, who may have been of some relation to Harper’s colleague and friend William Still.

  Hartford April 9 1867

  My Dear Adopted Sister

  Tuesday A.M. find me writing to thee It rather strange I suppose well I will tell you Sunday A.M. I was reading the Christian Recorder a Phila paper which I find quite interesting. Miss Still lend them to me and it afford me more pleasure to know what a going on my home in the future now smile Dear Sister. […] In the evening Mr. Tines & Miss Fuller and I went to the Methodist and was crowded of course it was SS concert I can tell you it was quite interesting to hear them repeat verses in the bible some trying to see who could repeat the most. Doubtless you wonder at Miss F being in our company you know I am used to a third party as for me I did not mind it well I tell you Miss F seems to like my society very well […] Mrs. Pennington is dead was to be buried on Sunday a great loss to Timmy I can tell you I received a few lines Saturday saying excuse correspondence for the present it cause a smile from my lips.

  I will turn my thought to something else. Last evening Bell and I went to Allyn Hall to see Cinderella played we was disappointed for we thought it was going to be some thing grand. Mrs. Crowell gave the ticket to me so you see nothing lost in my pocket. The hall was not crowded as we suppose it would be. […]

  Royal Oak, Talbot Co., Md.

  Apr. 18, 1867

  Sat A.M.

  My dear Parents & Sister,

  It is now past ten o’ck. I have been variously employed this morning so that I’ve only just got through to take up my pen, the last of my doings was to wash out my Nubia, which I always prefer to do myself.

  It is a most delightful day with not a cloud to be seen in the sky, it was quite cool early this A.M. but it’s quite warm now. I went out to look at Mrs. Thos. little chickens while she was feeding them this

  A. M. She has now 56 in all, and has 5 hens still setting, two hens she’s set today; of the five one has duck eggs under her, one hen has hatched out every one of her eggs this week, she had fifteen. The raising of fowls is Mrs. Thomas’ delight she watches over & cares for them just as you do Mother for your birds. […]

  The Carpenter has been up and examined our lumber & finding there’s not enough & that much of it has been ruined by rough handling, we have had to send for more & he can not commence work until it comes. It’s a disappointment on all sides. It will probably be forwarded without delay.

  My school has continued without interruption ever since this month came in, & I hope I may not have any lost days to report for the month. The children having taken advantage of the warm days by taking off their coats, shoes etc. during play hours many of them now have bad colds. It’s useless to advise to the contrary, for the adults are no better themselves, like black snakes, as soon as the sun shines & it begins to get warm they come out, one young woman was attired in a black silk basque & a light summer dress last Sunday.

  […] Josephine says an old colored woman from the alms-house was found dead there on the roadside last Fri. she was left there overnight until a jury could be summoned, & they build up a pen around the body to prevent the animals from disturbing it. I’ve no doubt if it had been a white person there could have been a jury found that day.

  The copperheads8 had a convention of some kind at Easton this week, and last Sat. night they had a political meeting at the Oak.

  The principal topic under discussion was the “Nigger” of course, & in the midst of one speaker’s harangue he cried out “put down the nigger schools etc.” I expect it was a gala meeting with them.

  […] Yesterday was delightful day & I had an interesting S.S. and at the close of the exercises I read Mrs. Child’s9 sketch of “Benjamin Banneker” with which they were much pleased.

  […] I rec’d. your letter Sat. containing the $50. It came very safely.

  […] The fruit trees are putting forth their leaves & blossoms quite rapidly, a cherry tree in the yard is already blossomed out fully, & some peach trees are nearly blossomed out.

  There have been robins here for several weeks in flocks, there are also numbers of other kind of birds around us who fill the early morning air these fine mornings with their clear voices, & richest notes.

  You must keep Jim in doors that he may not see where the poor little birds roost nights, tell him his absent mistress requests it & he must submit. I expect he thinks they are for him. I suppose he remains on amicable terms with your little birds, eh?

  I guess Nelson will not regret having sent Leila on although he’s deprived of her company longer than he intended. Gertrude wrote that she was no trouble whatever. […]

  Rebecca.

  There are some mysteries that require a little teamwork. One of Rebecca’s references in the above letter forced me to enlist the services of my mother, my aunt, and all of my own sister-friends. We solved it, but only by a process of elimination:

  My dear Parents & Sister,

  It is now past ten o’ck. I have been variously employed this morning so that I’ve only just got through to take up my pen, the last of my doings was to wash out my Nubia, which I always prefer to do myself.

  Nubia? Judging from the context I thought she might have meant her hair. I could very well see it taking some time to wash her hair, especially in the days before the enterprising Madame C. J. Walker, who became the first African American woman millionaire by creating hair straightening products and tools for black women. But I had never heard of hair referred to as Nubia. What a lovely, Afrocentric-sounding name for a black woman’s hair, I thought. I began to imagine the implications: Upon publication of the letters black mothers might begin to refer to their daughter’s soft, kinky mane as Nubia.

  However, I consulted the definitive Oxford English Dictionary.

  nubia niu.bia. Irreg. f. L. nubes cloud. A soft fleecy wrap for the head and neck, worn by women.

  * 1881 Confessions of a frivolous Girl, Emerging therefrom, five minutes later, in my nubia and snowy wrap.

  * 1885 Van Voorst Without a Compass 34 The bracelet of a lady… became entangled in the nubia of Agnes.

  Then, for Nubian

  1. Nubian, a. and sb. A. adj. 1. Pertaining or belonging to the country of Nubia. 2. In the specific names of certain animals.

  B.sb. 1. pl. An Eastern sect of Christians. 2. A native of Nubia; a Nubian slave. 3. A Nubian horse. 4. The language spoken by the Nubians. 5. A kind of black dress-material.

  So Rebecca is writing about a wrap for her head. She often talks about pieces of clothing and her maintenance of them. At one point Addie also writes of her Nubia. On November 3, 1866, she writes: “I have to get something to wear this winter for my neubia is about gone. I wear my hat yet but it is rather cold.”

  A soft and fleecy wrap for the head and neck might also be a metaphor for her hair. Nubian has come to be a synonym for “of African descent,” as in “Nubian slave” or “Nubian queen.”

  One of the women I consulted about the meaning of nubia is poet Harryette Mullen, who was inspired by Rebecca to use the phrase in the book-length poem Muse and Drudge:

  lady redbone senora rubia

  took all day long

  shampooing her nubia10

  There are those things about Rebecca and Addie that remain mysterious. Hopefully they will continue to be taken up by readers, historians, and poets, and other such mythmakers and image weavers.11

  Spring has finally arrived, as is indicated by Rebecca’s changing from wool to calico.

  Royal Oak, Apr. 28, 1867

  Sat. A.M.

  My dear Parents & Sister,

  I
t is with pleasure that I begin my weekly epistle to you this delightful morning hoping it may find you all the participants of Heaven’s richest & best of blessings—that of health. I have attired myself in a calico dress this A.M. it being the first that I’ve worn since Dec. I tell Mrs. Thomas it seems good to put on a clean, whole dress once more. I’ve worn my woolen one all winter and I can tell you it’s about thread bear now & full of dust & dirt. Mr. Thos. brought Mrs. Thos. two very pretty calico’s from Balto. Her sister is making them. If you should come across any good pieces which you think I should like please have a couple laid aside for me.

  I presume yesterday was recognized as Good Friday with you all & set apart for a holiday, but not so with us for as far as I could learn labor went on as usual, and I continued my school having a full attendance. It rained very hard here last Tues. & I told the children as we’d, lost one day this week we’d, better have school and they were very willing that it should be so.

  Next Mon. & Tues. they have for holidays, which days are generally recognized as such by both black & white. The white school was closed yesterday & it seemed to be uncommon only still throughout the neighborhood.

  […] One of our neighborhood men is very sick with the Pleurisy this A.M. He is worse & they’ve had to send for the Dr. who is attending him. He has recently joined the Sabbath School. His employer says he’ll do all he can for him & that he shall not suffer for want of any thing. He is a young unmarried man and very steady.

  I rec’d. a letter from Mr. Estes last Tuesday in which the committee wished me to give them all the particulars of my school & our contemplated new schoolhouse. He said they were anxious to prove that the freed people had made sacrifices to educate their children. I nearly filled two sheets in reply, which I told him I hoped would prove satisfactory. He added that ’twould be very gratifying to me to know what pleasing statements the asson. sent them relative to my exertions to get assistance for building our schoolhouse here etc. However it makes no difference to me so long as I meet their approval. I’ve rec’d. no pay from them since Jan’y. & I desire to be knowing something about that. I shall make inquiries when I send my next report. I don’t know but Rev. Israel has decided not to pay us until at the close of the term, which will ans my purpose as well as any other. We’ve been expecting the agent for the asson. Mr. Janney—to come & inspect our lumber this week but he’s not yet made his appearance & I look for him today. He wrote that he sent the lumber in a good condition & was surprised to hear it had been so badly broken up. I hope we’ll get the amount we’ve sent for next week. This delay is putting us to a great disadvantage. Our contractor has other work engaged & if we can’t employ him soon we’ll lose him I fear. He’s the best workmen around here & has as much as he can do all the time. It will be a bitter disappointment on all sides.