Catharine Maria Sedgwick’s early letters document the intellectual development of a prolific woman writer from her childhood in the early national period through the 1813 death of her father Theodore Sedgwick, a Federalist member of Congress and Massachusetts supreme court judge. The youngest daughter in a family of seven siblings, Sedgwick practiced epistolary conventions in her early letters while introducing her lifelong theme of balancing personal and family expectations with the obligation to write. As Sedgwick reported in her later autobiography, she felt that she lacked a satisfactory formal education, but “these great deficiencies” were offset by the quality of her homelife. Her adolescent years were marked by her mother’s chronic ill health and death in 1807, her father’s remarriage in 1808, and her engagement with her siblings’ growing families throughout the period. By 1812, as a 22-year old republican woman reflecting on her social position, CMS felt the call of a “life dignified by usefulness” and compared her father’s contributions to her own potential: “You may benefit a Nation my dear Papa, & I may improve the condition of a fellow being” (1 Mar. 1812).
Letters from Sedgwick’s pre-publication adulthood demonstrate her intellectual and religious development as she grappled with events both personal and national. Her siblings became the central focus of her domestic life, and the Sedgwicks’ experiences with “the market of matrimony” (15 Aug. 1813) provide intriguing fodder for epistolary debate. Sedgwick rejected at least two marriage proposals in her twenties, one in 1812 and another in 1819. In the summer of 1821, she traveled to Niagara Falls and Montreal and began keeping a journal. As Sedgwick developed her authorial persona and worked on her first novel, her full-throated dedication to family, female relationships, and personal usefulness emerged as primary concerns. Sedgwick’s letters also become more philosophical, and her lifelong dedication to republican service and intellectual Unitarianism come into focus. Sedgwick explains her sense of vocation to her lifelong friend Eliza Cabot Follen: “my ministry must be one of watchfulness and steady devotion, and all those cares that love teaches, and can pay without being asked” (15 Nov 1822).
With her first novel A New-England Tale (1822), Sedgwick established herself as a professional writer, and she published four additional literary novels and more than 30 stories during this period. As a dedicated family woman, who also chose to be single and an author, she constructed domestic arrangements that complemented her writing career. She lived in the homes of her brothers and sisters-in-law in Stockbridge, Lenox, and New York City, deepening her relationships with her siblings as well as caring for the children and contributing to their education. Redwood, her second novel, received “much more praise and celebrity than [she] expected” (18 Oct. 1824). As her fame grew, she continued to find her spiritual home in Unitarianism, while her range of acquaintances expanded to include artists, politicians, reformers, educators, and intellectuals. Sedgwick began to travel more widely, visiting friends in Boston, Newport, and Philadelphia, and making extended trips to Washington DC and the South. As a measure of her celebrity, she was selected for inclusion in the National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans (1834), the only woman included other than Martha Washington. The period was also punctuated by “the real and bitter sorrows that cloud our life” (13 Mar. 1830), including the deaths of her sister Eliza, her childhood nurse Elizabeth Freeman, and her brother Harry.
As a member of the American literati, Sedgwick navigated transatlantic fame while experiencing personal loss at home. She pursued new avenues of benevolent activism in her life and writings. Letters from this period will be available soon.
Sedgwick’s engagement with mid-nineteenth-century reform movements informed her writings during this period. Her primary residences continued to be New York City and the Berkshires. She deepened her relationships with her niece Kate Minot and other members of the next generation of Sedgwicks. Letters from this era will be available at a future date.
During the Civil War period, Sedgwick grappled with issues of national importance alongside personal losses at home. She published her last book and final story and, after a medical crisis, resigned as Director of the New York Women’s Prison Association. In her final years, she resided with Kate Minot and her family near Boston. Letters from this era will be available at a future date.
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- Family Relations (Sedgwick Family)
- Health and Illness
- Food and Drink
- Gifts
- Shopping and Material Exchange
- Childcare
- Death
- Motherhood
- Childhood
- Transportation
- Social Life and Networks
- Gender Roles
- Domestic Life and Duties
- Friendship
- Religion
I was shocked to hear of our precious little Fanny's sickness -- The Doctor told us we might infer good news if we didnot hear again yesterday -- consequently I felt releived -- but dear Sister I know you have suffered extremely & you are one of the persons that I cannot bear to have suffer --
I bo't some fine oranges yesterday & hoped before this time they would have been in sweet Fanny's mouth but to my dismay I found Mr Pomeroy went up in the Morning boat -- -- -- I have-not yet told Jane of Fanny's illness -- I trust we shall hear today & I thot her philosophy would be hardly equal to being satisfied on the old proverb that no news is good news --
Poor Emily Rogers -- Her felicity has been soon overcast -- only to be suspended I trust for a few weary days -- -- She has endured her bodily pain & the prospect of immediate death with a noble fortitude of mind -- She has at times suffered torments -- far exceeding as she said the pains of childbirth but generally her sickness has not been attended with more distress than is usual in severe attacks of the lungs -- She suffers with such sweet patience that she seems to drive away half the horror from her death-bed -- I think she cannot endure much longer -- I have not seen her yet today -- -- but as I have heard nothing I presume she is not changed since last night -- --
I beg Charles will have no anxiety 2 on my account -- I have sat up but one night -- As there are many others quite as capable as I am & perhaps much more so I have not yet repeated it -- She is too sick to care very much who is with her -- Miss Becky's devotion & skill are unlimited & I thank God that she is with her -- --
The baby is a sweet pretty little creature -- Her mother when she is perfectly self-possessed shrinks from seeing her -- lest it should still more embitter the agony of parting from her --
Sunday Evening -- Dearest Jane -- As I had no means of getting my letter to the Office Saturday I didnot finish it -- A letter yesterday from Maria brought us the news that dear Fanny was better, but I was very much disappointed not to hear today -- I went early to my poor suffering friend -- She is at rest Jane -- & who that watches the last hours of mortal agony is not thankful for rest -- even tho it be the rest of the grave -- --
I found her dreadfully restless -- & occasionally in turns of spasms like suffocation -- Her mind was wandering but she was herself in all her wanderings -- firm -- gentle & lovely -- about an two hours before her death she asked for her child -- looked upon her with a bright & most angelic smile -- kissed her repeatedly & said "is she not a little dear? -- a darling" -- The mother was stronger than death -- Can such feelings be given for this short & tempest-tost voyage of life? -- --
She was a lovely being Never have I seen the departure of a spirit that I beleived to be more unsullied -- 3 to have so little of a mortal coil to throw off in entering among pure spirits -- She has been to me a true & affectionate friend -- There is none here to fill her place to me -- Dearest Jane I know you will grieve for her death -- at this moment when she had such a tie to life _____ Well -- She has had & enjoyed to the utmost -- for a few weeks the sweetest draught of human felicity --
The weather has come upon us so severely that we are all wilted with it -- I hope that Lizzy will enjoy her visit at Sto'ge & Lenox -- As soon as she returns I shall go up -- Jane has felt Fanny's sickness very much -- the weather is so hot that I am half inclined to send her with her aunts --
I trust in Heaven we shall hear from you tomorrow
God bless you my beloved Sister
rs
I shall send this by tomorrow's mail -- The party leave us in the Tuesday Morn'g boat & will probably arrive Wednesday -- Evening -- 4
I send Jane's letter for tho' it will give you some pain the precious feelings that are expressed will give you more pleasure
I have had a long talk with her & releived her greatly
Letter
William L. Clements Library, The University of Michigan
Elizabeth Sedgwick Child Family Collection
Wax blot and tears.
Mrs H D Sedgwick/Stockbridge/Masstts
Emily Rogers?
Emily Rogers?
M-3223.14
We assign the year 1827 to this undated letter; the postmark gives us the month and day, the context tells us the letter was to be mailed on Monday, and June 18 was a Monday in 1827. Moreover, Jane and Harry Sedgwick had moved to Stockbridge for financial reasons in June, 1827; prior to that, they had lived in New York City.