Henry and Mary Warner lived in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, now part of Pittsburgh. They are the great-grandparents of poet Marianne Moore. By the 1860s they had three surviving children: John, Henry, and Anne. Their letters to John, a Presbyterian minister living in Gettysburg, are preserved as part of Marianne Moore’s family papers.
Transcript:
Allegheny City, Wednesday, December 4th 1861—Back kitchen 3 P.M.
Our Dear Children—Another Wednesday is upon us, & happy to inform you, am I, that we are all in excellent health & Spirits. Robert & Anne on last week came to the conclusion that they would go to house keeping, accordingly they rented a house up near Dr Sproul—next door to Mrs Whitesides a few doors from the school house in the 3rd Ward; Yesterday Mother went along with Anne & purchased several small articles for the table use in this city—and to day they both went over to town and done the same, Robert & Anne are at this moment busy packing up and tomorrow they will occupy their new home—Robert is not in any business yet—we all tried to prevail on them not to go house keeping for a little time longer, but they seemed anxious to try how it would answer. times are at present very dull but something may soon turn up in favour of giving Robert employment—at present we are all busy lending a hand to the movers—we have no other news to communicate
Hoping that Jennie & you enjoy good health
We remain your affectionate father & mother
Henry & Mary Warner
P.S. Mother says ask him has he got his overshoes yet, & tell him that if he has not, she will be very much dissatisfied with him, says, she has been very uneasy all week about his health, for it was an attack of pluerisy you have had.
Mother says, Jennie works from 7 until 10, and that is altogether too long—says, she should not do it—that half of the time would be long enough to sit over a needle—Mother is very much pleased that Jennie is pleased with the callico
Citation: Henry and Mary Warner, autograph letter signed to John Riddle Warner. Allegheny City [Pittsburgh], 4 December 1861. Moore VI:04:25