Do yon recollect the second daughter of Mr. Barclay, of Philadelphia, the sister of Nelly? She has grown up the very image of her sister. I saw her very often while I was last in Philadelphia. She talked perpetually of you, and made me promise that I would tell you so.
Adieu, my dear Theodosia. Remember that I have not received a letter from you since that of the 22d or 25th of July. I forget which was the date. I have no faith in the climate of your high hills, surrounded as they are by noxious swamps. God bless and preserve thee.
A. BURR.
TO THEODOSIA.
St. Simon's, September 3, 1804.
You see me returned from Gaston's Bluff, now called Hamilton's Bluff, a London merchant, partner of Mr. Couper. We were four in the carriage; the three ladies and myself.
Mr. Morse informs you that this island is forty-five miles long, and that it lies north of the mouth Altamaha, commonly spelled Alatamaha. It is, in fact, twelve and a half miles in length, and lies southeast of that river. Its width is about two and a half miles. There are now residing on the island about twenty-five white families. Frederica, now known only by the name of Old Town, is on the west side of the island, and about midway between its northern and southern extremities. It was first settled by Governor Oglethorpe, and was, about fifty years ago, a very gay place, consisting of perhaps twenty-five or thirty houses. The walls of several of them still remain. Three or four families only now reside here. In the vicinity of the town several ruins were pointed out to me, as having been, formerly, country seats of the governor, and officers of the garrison, and gentlemen of the town. At present, nothing can be more gloomy than what was once called Frederica. The few families now remaining, or rather residing there, for they are all new-comers, have a sickly, melancholy appearance, well assorted with the ruins which surround them. The southern part of this island abounds with fetid swamps, which must render it very unhealthy. On the northern half I have seen no stagnant water.
Mr. Couper, with his escort of ladies, was to have met us this afternoon, but he has sent us word that he is taken ill on the way; that, owing to illness in the family of the ladies who were to have accompanied him, they have been obliged to renounce the visit. We therefore returned as we went. At Frederica and Gaston's Bluff we were convinced that insects can subsist on this island. Moschetoes, flies, and cockroaches abounded.
Thursday, September 6, 1804
Just returned from Darien. And what took you to Darien? To see the plantation of Mr. Butler on an island opposite that town, and to meet a day sooner the letters which I expected from you. In the last object I have been again disappointed, which I ascribe wholly to the irregularity of the mails. It is most mortifying and vexatious to be seven weeks without hearing of you or from you, and now a whole week must elapse before I can expect it.