[Conclusion of letter to Elizabeth Thompson Groesbeck from Nicholas Groesbeck, 75 Bridge St. Derby, Feb. 13th, 1867, My very dear wife:]
Mother, if these long letters are like long sermons, very tedious, I wish you to inform me; but if you feel as I do, they will never be too long. If you get tired, you can rest over night and commence the next day and finish up. Now maybe you would not have thought of that plan, I give it freely and gratiously. As Sis says, I am getting very near run out of a subject; I shall be obliged to fly from one thing to another to fill up this sheet.
How does Peter Rockwell get along? How did he seem to feel about the death of his wife? Does he drink? If you see him please to remember me to him and remember me to all of my renters, or your renters, for it is all one, William Showell, Smith McGarth and wife and all others. Please in your next to state what rooms are empty, if any; it does very well to fill up with, and it interests me some at the same time. Please state whether blacksmith shop rented or not; when you wrote last you did say who rented it and was not certain how long they would keep it.
I shall have to give up writing soon, for it is taxing my brain to much.
Well mother, I have had a good chat with you today. I have had your spirit nigh me all the time, and truly I have felt comfortable and happy by its influence. It’s almost seemed there was a telegraph communication kept up with the positive and negative poles. I am under the treatment of electricity; that may account for those strange ideas.
I received a letter from Harriet F. Taylor on Weber. I would like to know whether that is Mother Taylor that worked for us. I never knew her given name. She wanted me to see Brother and Sister Cook out in the country about four miles from here. I shall go out there tomorrow and stay with them all night. I have passed their place several times. Brother Twelves, Ann’s husband, is from that country or place. I stayed at Abram Reeves’ all night; they asked me if I knew Brother Twelves. I told them I did, and shall have to go ore for tonight, as the English say in this country.
It is after 11 o’clock, love, good-night, or good-afternoon I should say, for it is only half past three in the Valley. Here is seven and a half hours difference, that is, morning comes here that much sooner. God bless you, I close for tonight.
Mother, I wish you good-morning. Today is the 14th of February. Just six months ago this morning I bid you all adieu. It would be just half-past two in the morning. Six months ago at this present time I was lying, or sleeping on my own bed, you lying by my side, watching over me whilst I was slumbering to get a little rest, to warn me of the hour of my departure, to bid you all adieu, to leave my home, to leave my bosom friend, to leave my children, to leave my all, to go to foreign lands, to travel amongst strangers in a strange land, taking no thought for the morrow, or where w shall sup, or where we shall rest our weary heads. But the Lord has called His servants to go forth to labor in His vineyarad, to prime it for the last time. What great responsibility rests upon the Elders of Israel; their stewardship, their faithfulness, the magnifying of their high and holy calling. Whereunto they are called, to be Messengers of Salvation unto the children of men. Do we realize or appreciate our standing and relationship in the Kingdom of God, as we should? I fear not, many of us, but we are called to be tried and proven, and if found faithful to be chosen heir to the glories of the Eternal World. All such should keep themselves pure and unspotted, or they will fall from the position they hold, and lose the exaltation that awaits the righteous.
I feel this morning that my brain is somewhat rested, and feel to draw you near unto me by the power of animal magnetism, and talk to you. You used to complain, when I was at home, that I did not talk, or converse, with you as much as I should. I know it [a portion of this line is filled with dashes - - -], the spirit was willing, but the body was weak. My strength was over-taxed and caused me to feel sometimes that life was almost a burden. But the scene has changed; this is a new era of my life, a new scene of action where the mental powers are called in to action, instead of so much of the physical.
Mother, you will remember me kindly to all my enquiring friends; I will name a few, Brother Martmore, Brother Attwood, Sister Randal and Brother Randal, Sister Both, Sister Winell, Sister Hook, Brother Brown, also Benjamin Brown and his wife, Sister Harsler, Sister Stringham and Brother Stringham, George and Mary and many more that I have not room to mention.
(This ends the letter.)
Mother, if these long letters are like long sermons, very tedious, I wish you to inform me; but if you feel as I do, they will never be too long. If you get tired, you can rest over night and commence the next day and finish up. Now maybe you would not have thought of that plan, I give it freely and gratiously. As Sis says, I am getting very near run out of a subject; I shall be obliged to fly from one thing to another to fill up this sheet.
How does Peter Rockwell get along? How did he seem to feel about the death of his wife? Does he drink? If you see him please to remember me to him and remember me to all of my renters, or your renters, for it is all one, William Showell, Smith McGarth and wife and all others. Please in your next to state what rooms are empty, if any; it does very well to fill up with, and it interests me some at the same time. Please state whether blacksmith shop rented or not; when you wrote last you did say who rented it and was not certain how long they would keep it.
I shall have to give up writing soon, for it is taxing my brain to much.
Well mother, I have had a good chat with you today. I have had your spirit nigh me all the time, and truly I have felt comfortable and happy by its influence. It’s almost seemed there was a telegraph communication kept up with the positive and negative poles. I am under the treatment of electricity; that may account for those strange ideas.
I received a letter from Harriet F. Taylor on Weber. I would like to know whether that is Mother Taylor that worked for us. I never knew her given name. She wanted me to see Brother and Sister Cook out in the country about four miles from here. I shall go out there tomorrow and stay with them all night. I have passed their place several times. Brother Twelves, Ann’s husband, is from that country or place. I stayed at Abram Reeves’ all night; they asked me if I knew Brother Twelves. I told them I did, and shall have to go ore for tonight, as the English say in this country.
It is after 11 o’clock, love, good-night, or good-afternoon I should say, for it is only half past three in the Valley. Here is seven and a half hours difference, that is, morning comes here that much sooner. God bless you, I close for tonight.
Mother, I wish you good-morning. Today is the 14th of February. Just six months ago this morning I bid you all adieu. It would be just half-past two in the morning. Six months ago at this present time I was lying, or sleeping on my own bed, you lying by my side, watching over me whilst I was slumbering to get a little rest, to warn me of the hour of my departure, to bid you all adieu, to leave my home, to leave my bosom friend, to leave my children, to leave my all, to go to foreign lands, to travel amongst strangers in a strange land, taking no thought for the morrow, or where w shall sup, or where we shall rest our weary heads. But the Lord has called His servants to go forth to labor in His vineyarad, to prime it for the last time. What great responsibility rests upon the Elders of Israel; their stewardship, their faithfulness, the magnifying of their high and holy calling. Whereunto they are called, to be Messengers of Salvation unto the children of men. Do we realize or appreciate our standing and relationship in the Kingdom of God, as we should? I fear not, many of us, but we are called to be tried and proven, and if found faithful to be chosen heir to the glories of the Eternal World. All such should keep themselves pure and unspotted, or they will fall from the position they hold, and lose the exaltation that awaits the righteous.
I feel this morning that my brain is somewhat rested, and feel to draw you near unto me by the power of animal magnetism, and talk to you. You used to complain, when I was at home, that I did not talk, or converse, with you as much as I should. I know it [a portion of this line is filled with dashes - - -], the spirit was willing, but the body was weak. My strength was over-taxed and caused me to feel sometimes that life was almost a burden. But the scene has changed; this is a new era of my life, a new scene of action where the mental powers are called in to action, instead of so much of the physical.
Mother, you will remember me kindly to all my enquiring friends; I will name a few, Brother Martmore, Brother Attwood, Sister Randal and Brother Randal, Sister Both, Sister Winell, Sister Hook, Brother Brown, also Benjamin Brown and his wife, Sister Harsler, Sister Stringham and Brother Stringham, George and Mary and many more that I have not room to mention.
(This ends the letter.)
I took the picture of the plate that belonged to Elizabeth Thompson Groesbeck, inherited by Helen Rex Frazier. There is another plate from the same set, without cracks, at the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum (in the china room), Salt Lake City. It was donated by Arzella Smith. The letter is from the Helen Rex frazier collection.
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