Letters, 1876 page 323
Atlanta Feby 3/ 76
Mrs. M. C. Spiller
273 Balt. St. Baltimore Md
Dear Madam
I enclose statement of G. W. Adair showing rents and expenses of the Bree place since last report. If you desire me to draw the money and remit to you, please return the statement with your request.
Outside property here continues to decline and I can hardly venture a prediction as to the future. Our people are more desperate than at any time since you left Atlanta. There were apparent evidences of recuperation last fall but the results of trade during the winter have been unsatisfactory. I do not think the Bree place would now bring $1000.00 at a forced sale. My entire real estate in Atlanta would not now bring over 50 pr ct or its valuation 4 years ago. This seems to be the case in all Southern towns – and many Northern ones.
With kind regards to yourself and family
I am very truly yr friend
L. P. Grant
page number missing
Atlanta Feb 8 1876
My Dear John W.
I enclose a check on New York for $75 payable to your order. Please get it cashed and hand the money to Sister Julia. Tell her I hope it may help to provide comfort during the balance of the winter. We are all in the usual health except my wife who is at present quite unwell but I think it is only the result of a very severe cold. We expect to take a trip to the land of oranges and bananas (Florida) when she is able to travel.
My own health has been excellent and I have abundant reasons for gratitude to a kind Provider. Would be glad to hear from you or any of my relatives at home.
With much love to all
Truly your friend
L. P. Grant
Please acknowledge rect of check.
page 329
Feby 23rd 6
W. H. Wilson Esq
My dear sir
The receipt of your kind favor of the 14th inst. was a grateful surprise. Some thirty-seven years have elapsed to the best of my recollection since I last had the pleasure of meeting you; but your kind consideration and support of the sensitive, shrinking lad morbidly alive to his deficiencies who was committed to your care in 1837 has ever remained fresh and green in my memory; and I now have the pleasure of renewing expressions of gratitude for these acts of kindness.
You enquire of the fate of Brother James H. – He died at his home in Tennessee in April 1869. I was with him in his last moments. – He had filled offices of high trust, and died in harness, leaving the heritage of an untarnished reputation.
My life has been active and I trust not wholly barren of good parts. It was my good fortune to win the friendship of J. Edgar Thomson Esq and other prominent railway officials in the South, and through their influence have filled places of responsibility – perhaps beyond my true merits.
The war scattered a comfortable little fortune to the winds. I have since gathered some of the debris and ought to feel grateful to a kind Provider for present comforts.
I have frequently heard your name coupled with the great Penna Railroad. I can readily conceive that your life in connection with that work has been that of unremitting but cheerful toil, for you were ever a cheerful worker – and now, verging on old age, it must be a great comfort and solace to look back on a life of such eminent usefulness and see the imprint of your mind on those kinds of structures of practical utility that are to stand as monuments to your memory in the distant future.
I would be delighted to meet you again and will not fail to find you if in Phila when I go to that city again. I have the pleasure of knowing your son, John A., and will take pleasure in directing business to the firm if opportunity shall offer. My elder son is also named John A. He is now Supt of the Macon and Brunswick Railroad.
With respect and esteem I am
Your grateful friend
L. P. Grant
page 359
November 2nd 6
Dear Cousin Abby
After an absence of two weeks I found your letter on my desk on my return. Laura and myself read it with much interest, and with a full appreciation of the great trials and discouragements under which you have supported your mother-in-law – our Cousin Abby.
I would be glad to write you a long letter and give the ups and downs of life here, but my time just now is more than usually engaged owing to the recent absence from my office and the active business now pressing on our load. I think God that, in the great monetary and political pressure on the South, my family have had reasonable comforts, and are not wholly stripped of property. Laura & myself think it my duty to assist in the support of Aunt Abby, and I now enclose a check on the National Park Bank of New York payable to your order for fifty dollars. When more is needed I hope to be able to extend further help. Please acknowledge receipt and if you have time favor me with a good long letter. I was much surprised and grieved to hear of the death of Sister Julia. I learned to regard her very highly. There are few women who could have occupied the place she did with such particular fortitude and unselfish devotion to her family. Remember me kindly to your husband and accept much love from
Your Cousin
L. P. Grant
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