Letter from William James Knapp to Amos, January 22, 1864

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Date

January 22, 1864

Description

A letter written by William James Knapp to a friend, Amos. In the letter, James apologized for not answering Amos’s letter sooner. 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 was the great-grandchild of Dinah Jackson, the last person who was enslaved at Cherry Hill. After his mother died in 1854, James became a ward in Richard Van Rensselaer’s household. They lived on State Street in Albany, N.Y. James worked as a butler for the family. Throughout his life, James also 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. 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

Expansion and Reform, Civil War and Reconstruction, Industrialization

Topic

Communication

Repository

Historic Cherry Hill

Identifier

12_1_January_22_1864_Amos_to_WJK

Source

Historic Cherry Hill

Rights

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