1835 Bluffdale, IL stampless TERRIFIC PIONEER BAPTIST MINISTER LETTER !!

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Postal History GREAT early pioneer minister letter written in 1835 in the village of Bluffdale, Illinois and sent to Washington, Litchfield County in Connecticut. SEE FULL TRANSCRIPT and research notes below. Postmark is a scarce manuscript Bluffdale with a FREE FRANK by John Russell, the writer who also served as the postmaster. Letter fully intact and in good shape. This letter was written by John Russell (1793-1863), a Baptist minister from Bluff Dale (changed to Bluffdale in 1892), Illinois. Russell was one of the earliest settlers in Greene County and is credited with giving Bluff Dale its name. In addition to being a Baptist preacher, Russell was also an educator, writer, and postmaster. Six of his letters , written between 1839 and 1856, were published in the Northern Illinois University Press.Much of the content of the letter centers upon the illness of John Russell's wife, Laura Ann Spencer (1797-1890), the daughter of Gideon Spencer (1770-1847) and Betsy Winchell (1776-1851). Laura survived her illness in 1835 and lived to be 93 years old.Russell wrote the letter to Anthony Smith (1783-1875), the son of John Smith (1744-1819) and Mary Ford (1747-1817). The 1850 Census reveals that Anthony was employed as a book keeper. He was married to Rebecca Clark in 1807. Anthony had an older brother named Newton Smith (b. 1767) . This may have been the Newton to whom Russell refers in his letter.TRANSCRIPTIONAddressed to Anthony Smith, Esq., Washington, Litchfield County, ConnecticutBluffdale, [Illinois]August 22d 1835Dear Sir,I have just arrived here from Apple Creek Prairie which is 7 miles distant for the purpose of opening the Northern mail and making up the Eastern. While waiting the coming of the mail, I will write you a few lines, which may be abruptly terminated by its arrival. Mrs. Russell is now lying dangerously sick with the prevailing fever so common at this season of the year in Illinois. She is at the house of her sister where she went with our two little boys for a short visit. She had not been there long [a few hours] before she was seized with the fever. It is a distressing circumstance that Dr. Brown, our family physician, and the only one in whom we feel entire confidence, is himself lying prostrate. It is now very sickly in Bluffdale compared with former years. Not one of my family has escaped without more or less. From about the middle of May till near the first of August, I was sick with short intervals of convalescence. The whole summer has been to me one of suffering.I will try to write to you calmly on the subject of Mrs. Russell but I find that I have far less of the entire resignation to every possible event than I had given myself credit for. O how will affliction try the reality of our confidence in God. Ever since she was taken -- which is nearly a week -- I have slept but a few moments at a time and these few moments were disturbed by frightful dreams. Yesterday she talked with me alone and expressed her full conviction that she should not recover and her entire willingness to die. No tongue can utter the anguish that her conversation gave me. Every word of it is burnt onto my heart. In her preparedness for any event, no one who knows her can doubt. For years it has been her study to live every day prepared for the summons of death. I do not and will not believe that a merciful God will take away one who is so invaluable to us all and whose loss neither I nor our children could long endure. All over Bluffdale there is an anxious solicitude and I doubt not that every heart that can pray is lifted up to God for her recovery. The moment the mail has left here, I shall return. Her father and mother, sisters and other dear friends are around her.I should not have written to anyone else under the present state of my feelings for I am fully aware that I shall not write with the calmness that a Christian ever ought to feel in all circumstances, but I write for the eye of one who knows well how to sym... read more

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