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Letter from Eliza Knapp to William James Knapp, September 4, 1880

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Date

September 4, 1880

Description

"A letter written by Eliza Knapp. The letter was sent to her brother-in-law William James Knapp. Eliza was married to Richard H. Knapp. During the Victorian Era, people communicated by writing letters to one another. People thought that a person who wrote well probably had good manners. For example, a person might feel disrespected if someone wrote a letter to them using slang instead of formal English. They might feel disrespected if someone replied late, or not at all. James and Richard were the great- grandchildren of Dinah Jackson, the last person who was enslaved at Cherry Hill. After their mother died in 1854, James, Richard, and their sisters became wards in different Van Rensselaer households. Richard was raised to be a butler in the household of Cornelia Van Rensselaer Thum. They lived in Philadelphia, P.A. After he grew up, Richard worked as a clerk at a carpet store. James was also raised to be a butler. He lived and worked in the household of Richard Van Rensselear in Albany, N.Y. After Richard Van Rensselaer died, James needed a new job and place to live. He worked as a musician, a sales clerk at Hideley’s Music Store, a hospital porter and a nurse. James lived at Cherry Hill for about sixteen months between 1880 and 1884. Their sister Minnie lived and worked there too. This item was added as part of the Diversity and Collaborative Knowledge Program funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

Type

Written Document

Region

Capital District

Era

Civil War and Reconstruction

Topic

Communication

Repository

Historic Cherry Hill

Identifier

12_1_September_4_1880_EK_to_WJK

Source

Historic Cherry Hill

Rights

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