Description:

Clara Barton Writes to Massachusetts Friend About "Chester"

In this curious letter, Clara Barton writes to bootmaker and merchant Benjamin Willis Childs of Oxford, Massachusetts, regarding "Chester," who would become or continue as Childs's tenant and for whom Barton would pay the rent. "Chester" was likely farmer Chester Fitts (1804-1878). Barton stayed with Fitts and his wife Ruth Fitts several times in 1867 and 1868. Late in 1867, Barton also subscribed to the Universalist newspaper for Fitts for six months.

CLARA BARTON, Autograph Letter Signed, to "Will" [Benjamin W. Childs], April 8, 1867, North Oxford, Massachusetts. 2 pp., 5" x 8". Expected folds; very good.

Complete Transcript:
North Oxford, April 8/67
Dear friend "Will"
Chester informed me of his interview of yesterday, and the matter complicates so deeply that I fear that it getting beyond my ability to control.
There appears to exist such a remarkable affection between the landlord and his tenants that it seems a pity to disturb the relations, and I have decided that so far as any interference on my part is concerned they will be left in the full enjoyment of their present social condition until "death do them sever."
You will oblige me by breaking the intelligence in some gentle manner to one or more of the parties concerned
Chester will become your tenant next Wednesday and I become responsible for the rent. Please signify any time when you would like it--either before, after, or in the middle.
I am afraid I am henceforth an alien, for it is not at all probable that I shall ever devote another entire week and the exertions of all my friends in an attempt at becoming a citizen of my native town.
Thanking you greatly for your kindly assistance.
I am as ever
Yours truly
Clara Barton

[Envelope:]
Copy / To B. W. Childs / Oxford, Mass.

Clara Barton (1821-1912) was born in Massachusetts and received a good education though she was painfully shy. Her parents persuaded her to become a schoolteacher and she received her teacher's certificate in 1839. After working as a teacher for a dozen years, she attended the Clinton Liberal Institute in New York to continue her education. In 1852, she successfully opened a free school in Bordentown, the first free school in New Jersey. Demoted after the town built a new school building and hired a male principal, Barton quit. In 1855, she moved to Washington, D.C., and began work as a clerk in the Patent Office, the first woman to receive a substantial clerkship and equal pay with a man. After three years, the administration of James Buchanan fired her because of her "Black Republican" political views. After living with friends in Massachusetts for three years, she returned to Washington and took a position as temporary copyist in the Patent Office. After the Baltimore Riot of April 1861 against Massachusetts troops, Barton nursed forty of the victims back to health and learned valuable lessons about aiding soldiers. She began collecting medical supplies and distributing them to soldiers. In August 1862, she received permission from Quartermaster Daniel Rucker to work on the front lines. Throughout the war, she distributed medicine and food to wounded soldiers in close proximity to the battles of Cedar Mountain, Second Bull Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. In 1864, General Benjamin Butler placed her in charge of hospitals at the front of the Army of the James. For her Civil War service, Barton became known as the "Angel of the Battlefield" and the "Florence Nightingale of America." After the war, she ran the Office of Missing Soldiers in Washington, helping to locate the remains of more than 22,000 missing soldiers. She also lectured about her experiences and became associated with the women's suffrage movement and the civil rights movement for African Americans. In 1869, she became acquainted with the Red Cross in Switzerland and aided military hospitals during the Franco-Prussian War. In 1881, she founded the American Red Cross and became its first president. She continued to work in the field in response to natural disasters and wars as late as 1900.

Benjamin W. Childs (1839-1910) was born in Massachusetts. In 1865, he married Olive Chamberlain, with whom he had seven children. In 1870, he was a boot and shoe dealer, living in Oxford, Massachusetts. He later moved to nearby Worcester, Massachusetts, where he became wealthy in the shoe trade. He was also a Democratic candidate for mayor of Worcester.

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