1853 LETTER FROM SAN FRANCISCO LIZZIE PATTERSON BROTHER GASTON home cures

Description

[LETTER FROM SAN FRANCISCO, 1853] ELIZA ‘LIZZIE’ PATTERSON (nee Pearson); 19th CENTURY HOME MEDICINE] 1853 ELIZA PATTERSON LETTER FROM SAN FRANCISCO to her brother Gaston about her concerns for his health and advice on remedies, dated Oct. 15th /53 [1853;]
, no location but Eliza Patterson was known to be in San Francisco on this date as evidenced by other letters by her acquired with this letter (see Notes below), blindstamped crest with initials “E.P. P” for Elizabeth Pearson or Pollock Patterson (Pollock was her husband’s middle name) at middle of top of first page, one sheet folded for four pages 4-1/4” x 6-1/2”, 4-plus pages including crosswriting/estimated 500 words, no envelope, letter reads in part, “My own precious brother…your trip to the White Mountains [New Hampshire]…have not received the benefits [of the trip for health reasons] you hoped…increased your cold by bathing at Newport [Rhode Island]…leave college [Harvard] and put yourself under the care of the best physician that the country has…blisters, tonic, emetic plasters, Croton oil are the best things to use…If the Dr. thinks Washington [D. C.] too cold…go at once…South Carolina…Jacksonville in Florida…[if you] stay in Washington…not at Brentwood [the family estate in the vicinity of Washington, now part of northeast area of the city]…too damp…ride your horse every day in the middle of the day when it is warm…sister Lizzie”;
NOTES: ELIZA / LIZZE PEARSON PATTERSON: 1826-1902
, daughter of North Carolina Congressman Joseph Pearson (1776-1834)…wife of Carlile Pollack Patterson (1816-81), fourth superintendent of the United States Coast Survey after he returned to Washington from California where he worked as a steamboat captain and made investments mostly in properties…during the Grant administration, Brentwood became a social center for government officials, politicians, and Washington socialites and elite with Lizzie as hostess and becoming a confidante of Grant’s wife Julia;
WILLIAM GASTON PEARSON:
1834-1861, Lizzie’s brother who was infirm for most of his life…spent much time traveling throughout the U. S. and Europe looking for cures;
PROVENANCE:
this Eliza ‘Lizzie’ Patterson letter was among a large group of Pearson family letters and related papers acquired by the seller
/// CONDITION:
letter well-preserved with handwriting difficult to make out as common with handwriting of the period.