This letter is on letterhead which reads: “Illustrated catalogues furnished on application. Office of T. L. Jacobs, Manager of Quaker City Shirt Co. No. 590 Broadway, Send all orders to 590 Broadway, New York, ________ 188__”
While Will’s envelope (below) is from the St. Nicholas Hotel at Washington Place, the letter itself is on letterhead from Grand Central Hotel, where he was staying in the last letter. The stationery header reads: Keefer’s Grand Central Hotel, 667 to 677 Broadway, American Plan, $2.50, $3.00 and $3.50 per day. European Plan, $1.00 and upwards. Special rates for families and permanent guests. Keefer & Co., Proprietors.
As a matter of curiosity, the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles shows someone else’s bill from nine months earlier as being about $11 a day, so they had quite a range of options.
Will is 23 years old; Etta is 20. The greeting appears something like “Dear May,” but the envelope reads “Etta Bailey” and the content seems to be to her. Was this a nickname?
US Postal Card, postmarked Greers Depot Sep 26 1881. William Bailey writes this just days before Etta’s 15th birthday. William is 48. He will die on his own birthday one year later: October 16, 1882. Addressed to Etta "care of" E. Stone; this is Eliza Bailey Stone, Etta's aunt.
This letter mentions Etta’s “beaux.” Could that be Etta's future husband, Will Burgiss — or is it someone else? We know from her friends' letters that Etta did have several interests through her teenage years.
At the time her mother sent her this letter, Etta is 14 years old; Victoria is 39. Etta’s sister Estelle died five years earlier; her father will die one year later. Her twin brothers are now 9 years old, sister Fannie is 6, and sister Bettie is 3.
The letter refers to "Aunt Eliza." Eliza Bailey was a resident of Greenville, S.C. and attended Greenville Womens College. She received a degree in 1865; she is also on a census in 1880. Etta is in Greenville at a school.
This is a small slip of paper with a handwritten note: “This is every single one of them.” The handwriting does not match any other in the collection.
This collection of letters from Victoria to Margaret was kept by Margaret; Vic died relatively young, long before Margaret. One possibility is that Margaret gave the letters to Etta shortly after Victoria’s death. For example, at a funeral, Margaret might have mentioned to Etta that she had saved all Vic’s letters, and she’d send them back to Etta. We do not know.
