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Martha Washington Rare Autograph Letter Signed...
Description
Martha Washington Anxiously Comments on Her Daughter's Health: "she has lost her fitts & fevours"
Martha Washington Rare Autograph Letter Signed ("Martha
Washington"). One page (silked on each side), 4 1/2 x 7 1/2
inches; [Mount Vernon]; September 29, 1760. Addressed "To
Mrs [Margaret] Green" on the verso.A very scarce letter from Martha Washington, written sixteen years before American independence, concerning the health of her daughter Martha Parke ("Patsy") Custis. In it, she reports Patsy's improving health following a recent epileptic episode and expresses cautious optimism regarding her recovery. Washington writes, in full:
"Dear Madam
I have the pleasure to tell you my dear little girl is much better she has lost her fitts & fevours bout and seems to be getting well very fast we carred her out yesterday in the charri[ot] and the change of air refreshed her very much
I am extreemly obliged to you for your kind offer in taking the child, but hope the Ride will be of servis to her as she seems to be quite well. She is taking the Bake, Tomorrow she begins with the bitters. We will doe our selves the pleasure to call on you Wensday morn[ing]
I am madam your most Huble Ser't
Martha Washington."
Margaret Green was a close family friend and the wife of Charles Green, a Virginia physician and clergyman. As suggested by the Greens' offer to "tak[e] the child," he was actively involved in Patsy's treatment. Unfortunately, contemporary medicine could offer little in the way for Washington's daughter; it would be nearly another century before physicians gained a better understanding of epilepsy and its neurological causes. At the time of writing, epileptic seizures were believed to have been caused by an imbalance of humors, and were treated with herbal remedies ("bitters"), prescribed diets, and occasionally bloodletting or skull trephination. Despite periods of apparent improvement such as the one described in this letter, Patsy's condition persisted. She died during a seizure in 1773 at the age of seventeen.
Condition: Overall very good. Silked on both sides; areas of minor loss at the edges (affecting only a few letters) have been filled. Lightly toned with a few minor separations; some minor staining, ink slightly smudged at Martha's signature.
References: Joseph E. Fields, ed., Worthy Partner: The Papers of Martha Washington. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994, 131-32.
Provenance: Christie's, Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts Including Americana, December 3, 2010, Lot 137.
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