I can’t be 100% certain of the identity of these correspondents though I feel confident they were members of the household of Levi Kirk Taylor (1811-1901) and Emily Rosseter (1814-1896) of Randolph, Portage county, Ohio. I suspect that the unsigned letter was actually penned by Mary Elizabeth Taylor (1844-1874) who would have been 21 years old and unmarried at the time this letter was written in May 1865. She died young at the age of 30 and seems to have been an invalid. Alternatively it would have been written by her older sister, Louisa Jane Taylor (1841-1914) who was already married to Isaiah Samuel France (1842-1894) who served earlier in the war in Co. I, 104th Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI).
The letter was addressed to “Will” and “Bub” who were the author’s brothers. Clearly Will was Corp. William Kirk Taylor (1839-1905) who served in Co. I, 104th OVI and seems to have been transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps in 1863. I can’t be certain who “Bub” was and can’t even conjecture based on census records.
Transcription
Randolph [Portage county, Ohio]
Monday eve. May 15th 1864 [should be 1865]
My esteemed brothers, Bub & Will,
Your letter of the 9th inst. is just received. Was glad to hear that Erastus 1 is getting better but sorry to hear he would not be able to start home for so long but we are still living in hopes. Will, I am sorry that “Old Father Time” should deal out to so you so scrimped a portion of time that you could only write one half a small sheet of letter paper. You don’t write half particulars enough. What are the names of the inmates of the house in which brother Bub is? Has the regiment left yet?
We’ve got Old Jeff Davis. He was found in his wife’s petticoat—Oh ho! He is coming up to Washington. Wonder if Johnson will make him Vice President, eh? Father says Old Jeff turned into a wizard after all, &c. &c. &c. 2
Prent[ice] 3 & Wilber has just come. They are taking a couple of loads of household goods to Mecca for Ben Mason & are going to put up at Taylor House tonight.
Our folks attended Myron Collins’ funeral yesterday which was largely attended. 4 Poor Mrs. Collins feels dreadful bad so they say. She fainted at the graveyard.
The neighbors are making up a collection to get Mrs. Beans (widow of Henry Beans) a dress and other things which she needs. She is in reduced circumstances. Has a family of six little boys and one small girl. Mr. Bean’s funeral sermon is to be preached at Randolph one week from next Sunday. I wanted to have gone to the funeral but was not able. 5
Bub, you and I will have to be put in the “Invalid Corps.” I am getting better slowly and I hope I will be well enough to walk to the dinner table without crutches when you get here if we have that chicken pie. I have got tired enough of sitting still but there is one consolation and that is if you come home, I will have nothing to do but visit. I wanted to practice some on the melodian before you got home but tis little I can do towards it. Hence I have a good excuse for not playing for you, ain’t I?
Rosella was to have begun our school today but they are going to move the school house about ten feet further south. Elma 6 and Dode went out to school this morning but was disappointed & came back home. Father has been to Ravenna today. Took up load of oats. You must hurry up, Bub & Will, or the regiment will get home first & that won’t answer at all. We would have begun to look for you & Erastus home about next week had it not been for your last letter. You will not have time to stay at home long if you don’t start before two weeks. Perhaps you could bring Erastus up to Nelson’s if he was unable to come alone. Some of our folks would meet him there. Mother says for you not to start too soon with Erastus & not let him come alone, &c. &c. Write all particulars, &c. Goodbye.
Respected forwarded by Wm. H. France, 1st Sergt. Co. H is all O.K. Not gone yet.
1 Erastus Roseter Taylor (1845-1915) was the son of Levi Kirk Taylor (1811-1901) and Emily Rosseter (1814-1896) of Randolph, Portage county, Ohio. Erastus enlisted as a private on 2 February 1865 in Co. H, 184th Ohio Infantry. He was mustered out of the service on 18 May 1865 at Bridgeport, Alabama.
2 “The story of Jefferson Davis’s capture in a dress took on a life of its own, as one Northern cartoonist after another used his imagination to depict the event. Printmakers published more than 20 different lithographs of merciless caricatures depicting Davis in a frilly bonnet and voluminous skirt, clutching a knife and bags of gold as he fled Union troopers. These cartoons were accompanied with mocking captions, many of them delighting in sexual puns and innuendoes, and many putting shameful words in Davis’s mouth. Over the generations, fact and myth have comingled concerning the details of Davis’s final capture. Had he borrowed his wife’s dress to evade the Union cavalry? How much of the unflattering post capture cartoons, news reports, and song lyrics sprang from the deep bitterness Northerners held for the man who symbolized the Confederacy?” [American Heritage, “Was Jefferson Davis Captured in a Dress?“]
3 Prentice A. Taylor (1838-1920) was the son of Levi Kirk Taylor (1811-1901) and Emily Rosseter (1814-1896) of Randolph, Portage county, Ohio. He served 3 months in Co. H, 162nd Ohio (National Guard) Infantry and mustered out on 4 September 1864 at Camp Chase.
4 Sgt. Myron Collins served in Co. H, 184th OVI. He died at Nashville, Tennessee on 25 April 1865. He was buried at the Nashville National Cemetery. In the 1860 US Census, Myron was the son of Austin Collins (1804-1880) and Delight Merriman (1807-1881) of Randolph, Portage county, Ohio. He was married to Lydia B. Berling (1832-1913) in November 1858. They had a little two year-old girl named Sadie at the time of his death. Lydia later remarried a second time to Henry Madison Woodruff (1828-1898).
5 Henry Beans (1829-1865) served as a private in Co. H, 184th OVI for seven and a half months before he died of chronic diarrhea on 24 April 1865 in General Hospital No. 15 at Nashville, Tennessee. Henry left a wife, Achsah (Abbott) Beans (1832-1908) and seven children, the oldest born in 1852. She received $8 per month as a pension for the loss of her husband.
6 Elma Livira Taylor (1855-1890) was the daughter of Levi Kirk Taylor (1811-1901) and Emily Rosseter (1814-1896) of Randolph, Portage county, Ohio.
Spared & Shared 23 