February 3, 1864: Henry and Mary Warner to John Warner

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. This letter refers to a lecture John  developed on the Battle of Gettysburg.

Transcript:

Allegheny City Wednesday February 3^rd 1864—11 A.M.

Dear John Yesterday evening we were favoured with a letter from Henry, giving us an account of the meeting between you and him at the Church, corner of 15^th & Lombard St—you may depend upon it we were very much interested—I will just quote a passage, he says—“It was a grand and proud success—I cannot tell how proud I felt, and how proud you would have felt, if you had been there—it was far above my expectation, in every particular—the large audience paid the most particular attention, during the whole delivery occupying a space of 1 hour, & 50 minutes, it was in a church, and of course the audience felt under some restraint, and during the first part, there were some faint buzzings, like an attempt at applause, but in the midst of it, some fellow started it, and the house came down like Thunder—McE. in the pulpit, clapping and stamping as loud and furiously as any, and when once the ice was broken it was a constant succession of applaudings to the end—I was glad and proud I went up, and I would not write this way, if I did not feel it, and what was more flattering than any thing else, showers of invitations to repeat, were rained on him from every direction” So you see John, we have the news of your success, before the receipt of your letter, which we hope to receive soon; We were very glad to know that Henry was there, and sorry to hear that he had left without bidding you good bye, we need hardly repeat to you, that we feel thankful & grateful, that you had such very good success—If the lecture comes out in print, either in pamphlet form, or news paper, we hope to receive a copy—do not forget that mother asked you for Jennies obituary—as some around us told Mother, they saw it, but she could not say that she saw it. Mother saw Mrs Dean & she seemed very grateful for the kindness you bestowed on some gentleman a relative of James Marshalls wife, in taking him over the battle field—we hope our dear little Mary is well and yourself—Henry W. Riddle left us for Ravenna last Thursday—we are all in good health—it is now cold and snowing

Your affectionate father & mother Henry & Mary Warner

We would like to know whereabouts in Penna. Milton is

Citation: Henry and Mary Warner, autograph letter signed to John Riddle Warner. Allegheny City [Pittsburgh], 3 February 1864. Moore VI:06:2