1847 – Letter to her sister in Canada from a young woman attending the first U. S. Catholic school for women, which was founded by Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first native-born U. S. citizen to be canonized as a saint
Emmitsburg, Maryland: 1847. This stampless, folded letter, measuring 13.5” x 8.5”, is datelined St. Joseph’s Feb 21st, 1847. It bears a scarce double-ring Emmitsburg, Maryland postmark (see p. 143 of Vol 1, ASCC) and a Montreal receiving handstamp. It has two manuscript rate marks, for the U.S. “10” and for Canada “1/3” (one shilling and three pence). It was written on stationery with an illustration of St. Joseph’s Academy in the upper right. In nice shape.
This letter consists primarily of family information about parents and siblings. There is no discussion of St. Joseph’s itself, however, “Eliza” does reference the Catholic faith.
“Mother told me in her letter that she had a priest from St. Louis (presumably the Basilique Saint-Louis-Roi-de-France, the first cathedral in the U. S. west of the Mississippi and the city’s parish church) after he went away she had a priest from the Cathedral (presumably the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal). . ..” It is unclear from the letter whether Eliza was student, a Sister of Charity, or a lay teacher at the school. (St. Joeseph’s employed no lay staff at the time, however lay teachers were contracted to provide language, music, and fine arts instruction. Although the author of this letter did not include an abbreviation of any religious order as part of her signature, she did close with a phrase very similar to other devotional closings used by nuns at the time, “Believe me as ever your affectionate and devoted Sister / Eliza.”
. Very good. Item #010813At the time, the cost to mail a letter between the U. S. and Canada was calculated using the “paid to lines” system. Postage from the sender to the border was calculated according to the sender’s country’s rates. Postage from the border to the recipient was calculated using the recipient’s country’s rates. In the case of this letter, postage from Emmitsburg to the border was 10 cents. A steamship probably transported the letter to Montreal where a 2 pence ship receiving fee was assessed, and postage from Montreal to Cornwall amounted to 7 pence. 10 cents (6 pence when converted) plus 2 pence plus 7 pence totaled 15 pence or 1 shilling and 3 pence. After the recipient paid the total cost, Canada kept 9 pence and the remainder was received by the United States.
Although most folded letters were sealed with wax, wafer seals, i.e. were infrequently used small and thin pre-made adhesive labels that people could lick and stick onto letter flaps to hold folded correspondence closed before gummed envelopes became common.
In 1809, Elizabeth Ann Seton (later canonized as the first native-born U.S. saint) established Saint Joseph's Academy and Free School, the first free parochial school for girls in the United States. In 1902, it transitioned to Saint Joseph College, a prominent four-year women's liberal arts college , but it was forced to close in 1973 due to dwindling enrollment and was purchased by the federal government. It is now home to the National Fire Academy, United States Fire Administration, National Emergency Training Center, and Emergency Management Institute (EMI), operated by the Directorate of Preparedness branch of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
A nice cross-border letter with a wafer seal and scarce postmark from a woman associated with what was once the most significant Catholic girls’ school in the U. S. founded by the first natural born American to be canonized.
.Price: $150.00