These letters were written by Sarah Adeline Sparks (1818-1895), the daughter of Ebenezer Sparks (1792-1865) and Sally Kendall (1783-1870) of East Dover, Windham county, Vermont. Sarah apparently never married; she is buried in Dover Center Cemetery.

She wrote the letters to her friend, Caroline Dame (Tibbetts) Locke (1809-1893)—the wife of Rev. William Sherburne Locke (1808-1896). Caroline was the daughter of William S. Tibbetts (1780-1857) and Jerusha Dame (1784-1820) of Kittery, Maine. Caroline’s husband, William, was enumerated as a retired Methodist minister in Manchester, Hillsborough county, New Hampshire, in 1860. 

Letter 1

Dover
February 6th 1862

Dear sister Locke,

Your kind letter was received all in good time and I should have answered long ago. I feel really guilty in neglecting to write you so long. But be assured I have not forgotten. No, no, not a day passes but that I think of you & me. How much I do want to see you. If I had the means to come to Manchester, I should try to do so. I am getting to be somewhat confined at home for Father and Mother are getting to be quite inform. I don’t know how to have me gone long from home.

I suppose you have seen the Herald—that sister Elijah Howe has gone to her rest. She lingered on the banks of Jordan for months all ready to cross over & when the summons came, she calmly passed to the other shore. When told she was dying, she remarked, “This is the happiest day of my life.” She asked for drink and when it was put to her mouth, took it & swallowed it as usual. Then closed her eyes and said now I am going & only breathed a few times & was gone. Thus calmly fell asleep in Jesus. This devoted sister. I trust her death will be sanctified to her unconverted sons. Brother Howe told me he had often heard her say when in health that she should be willing to lay down her life if it could be the means of bringing her boys to the Savior. Brother Howe feels his loss very deeply & her daughter mourns in heartfelt grief the loss of one of the best of mothers. Yet the consolations of grace are theirs, but her sons grieve as ones that have no comforts. O may the prayers of their mother in their behalf be speedily answered.

It is a very general time of health all through the section. Your old friends are well. You have been gone so long from here that a new generation has grown up since you knew us. I can hardly realize that I am so old. Time flies & we are borne on. Changes are being wrought & the grim reaper is gathering in his harvest. The fields are ever open to his sickle from the budding plant to the ripened sheaf. All are exposed to this stern reaper and we often see the unripened fall while the whitened sheaf is spared. The gray headed parents to mourn their fallen children, tottering on awhile, until they too ar gathered in.

O, this horrid war! I can’t begin to see the end. Still, who can doubt the final triumph of the Federal arms? Yet thousands of lives must be sacrified ere the end comes. I am distressed at the disaster that befell the Burnside Expedition. Strange that the two great expeditions should encounter such a terrible storm.

How do you feel, or rather what do you think (for you know it is not always safe to follow our feelings) about the question of abolishing slavery per force of arms? For me, I am a constitution man, and as much as I hate slavery, I would not repudiate our Constitution in order to kill it! Let the North cast aside the Constitution & what should we see? Two great factions fighting upon an abstraction. I say fight it out on the Old Constitution, & if slavery gets its death blow in the struggle, so much the better. It seems fearful at such a time as this for the Nation to pull up her old landmarks, cast aside her anchor, and drift herself out on the wild waves of anarchy, trusting herself to the mercy of the contending elements. I might say more but I’ll wait & hear what you say upon the subject.

I got a letter from G. L. Smith the other day. He has two sons in the army on the Potomac. He says they are having a hard time and one of them is sick a great deal. How much anxiety & sorrow this unnatural war brings into thousands of households. You have your share, no doubt.

I saw the Dole mentioned in the report of the bombardment of Port Royal and I thought of a loved son on board her keel & of the fond mother in her home in the far North. I suppose you hear often from him. I should like much to get a letter from him.

Since I commenced this, Brother Brigham Read has called. He says the friends in Wardsboro are well as usual. Sister Daniel Read is quite an invalid but is able to be about the house and works some.

We are njoying our usual degree of health. Snow is deep with the prospect of having more. We have a new Post Office about a mile from us called the East Dover. Do n’t forget to change my address from Dover to East Dover. Write soon without fail. Remember me to all your family. Father and Mother send love to all. — S. Adoline Sparks

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Letter 2

East Dover [Vermont]
March 15th 1863

Dear Sister Locke,

Your kind letter came to hand all in good time & should have been answered long before this but the multiplicity of cares “have let hitherto.” I am happy to say that Mother is better than when I wrote you before, yet she is not able to do any hard work but wait on herself, washes dishes, and sometimes make her bed. I find this takes a part of the labors off my hands & I have less to do than when she was poorly. But Mother can never be smart & well again. Her age forbids any hopes of this. If she can only live & be comfortable, I shall be content. Father is breaking down & is not able to have the care & labor that is now on his hands. How much longer he will struggle along with it, I can’t say. But it does seem as if we must change our situation before long. I wish our farm was sold & we were on a small place—say just large enough to keep a cow & pig. But when this change will be brought about, I don’t know. It is hard for old people to leave the old homestead, you know, and nothing short of a necessity shall ever make my Father & Mother willing to do it. So how long we shall rub along, I’m sure I can’t tell.

My health is rather better than it was last fall & first of the winter. I was then pretty well worked down.

The young soldier I wrote you about that was sick with us is dead. He stayed with us & I took care of him while he lived. His uncle came for his corpse & carried it to Andover to be buried by the side of his Father. Our country!! What can we say upon this all absorbing subject! For one, I am distressed at the present state of things & had I not an unwavering confidence in the justice of our cause, and a firm trust in the God of armies, I should almost tremble for our fate. The division and rupture among our northern politicians is to be truly deplored. It really seems that a certain set of men think more of their party than they do of their country, or their God. How men can at such a time as this, when our nation is struggling for her life, when her very existence depends upon the result, how men can at such a time stop to bicker about trifles, how they can stoop to the meanness od making party issues or war measures just for the sake of building up a party, may well excite the wonder of all true patriots and the just indignation of loyal men.

When our armies have gained a few victories such as the taking of Vicksburg, Charleston, Savanah, & so on, Copperheadism will soon begin to hide its fangs, no doubt. While the brave and noble boys are suffering the privations of the camp, enduring the labors of war, and facing the dangers of the battlefield, all for the salvation of the government, it is the blackest treachery to weaken their hands by party intrigue & political animosities at home. It seems to me that the old “Arch Traitor” is playing his last card in strengthening the course of his southern allies by creating division at the North. But we can but trust he will lose the game & only make his utter defeat the more sure.

We have had a fine winter—warm and rainy—but so far of March has been decidedly wintery. Snow is three feet or more in depth & the weather is very cold & unpleasant.

The course of religion is very low in this place. We have had preaching at the centre the past year, but it is doubtful if we have any for the year to come. It is a general time of health here at present. I have seen Brigham Read this winter. Sister Read’s health, he tells us, is poor. The society there has changed very much since you was there & hardly one of the old members save the Reads remain. I have not been to Wardsboro for over ten years…

Enclosed I send you my picture. It is a very natural one only it looks better than the original. Tell me if you see any of the looks of your old friend in her picture. No doubt I have altered much since you saw me. Remember me to all your folks. Father and Mother send love. Write soon & let me know if you get the picture. Your old friend, — S. Adeline Sparks

I shall seal this letter today & get it to the post office…