LETTER OF
The GOSPEL TRUTH CHARLES G. FINNEY
1868
To James and Julia Monroe
18 August 1868
[MS in Finney Papers, Supplement # 165]
Oberlin. 18th Aug. 1868
Dear James & Julia.
Yours of the 23d June are
recd. I had seen James'
letter to Pres. Fairchild.
As usual I have been
overdone by the excitem [sic]
nt of Commencement.
I am now about again
but am not well & strong.
I intended to write
more at length than
I shall be able to at
present. We are all
well except myself &
I see not why I may
not soon be quite
well again.
Had letters from Norton
& Charles lately.
They are all well
Sarah is still with us.
[page 2]
Your mother is as usual
full of care & labors
We have two invalid
women in the house.
I presume you will hear
direct from your brothers
& Sister.
Mr. Hovey the merchant
died suddenly a week
of two since. I have just
visited Mrs. Alvord who
has probably gotten the
consumption. Dr. Stell
says she has.
Willy Rice's babe is
sick, probably will
not live long.
Mrs Avery's youngest
daughter has been con
fined to her bed for
more than twenty weeks.
It is very dry here. we
have had but very
[page 3]
slight rains all sum
mer. It rains a little
to day. I suppose you
are well acquainted
with our political
doings & prospects.
If James could have
returned he would
no doubt have been
elected to Congress.
Dolson has been much
importuned to run
for Congress & to take
office under Johnson,
but he steadily declines.
He says he cant afford
to break up his business
again & this is no doubt
true. He is getting well
started for the time.
says he shall clear
his expenses this year.
This is doing well
[page 4]
for the fisrt year in
a new field.
Of course I know that
James must depend
very much on Julia
to keep up a correspon
dence with us. He has
so wide a correspondence
& so much to do that I
have not thought it strange
that Julia has mostly done
the writing to us.
Your mother & Sarah send
plenty of love & kisses
Mary Atkins is here
& sends love to you both.
I must close as the
mail is about to
close. In much haste
God bless you all
Emma will write.
C. G. Finney.
Footnotes:
Finney had presumably meant to write or here.
William Hovey, a pioneer resident of Oberlin, died on July 25th. He had been a tinsmith and was prominent in business and in public affairs in Oberlin. He was the Republican nominee for county treasurer. See "Death of Mr. Hovey" in The Lorain County News, 29 July 1868, p. 3; and Wilbur H. Phillips, Oberlin Colony: The Story of a Century (Oberlin: 1933), pp. 98, 120.
Finney had probably meant to write Steele here. Dr Alexander Steele (1802-1872) was a very well respected doctor. He had been in Oberlin since 1836, and was the first practicing physician in the community. See "Death of Dr. Steele" (The Lorain County News, 11 April 1872, p. 3.
The Lorain County News, 2 September 1868, p. 3, published the following notice under the heading, "Died":
RICE.--August 29, 1868, Louis George, infant son of William and Hattie Rice, aged 6 months and 22 days.
The impeachment of President Johnson in May 1868 and the nomination of Grant as the Republican presidential candidate had dominated the news during the summer.
Grant and Sherman had tried to get Johnson to appoint Cox to the War Office, back in January, but were unsuccessful. Then there was talk that Johnson would appoint a new cabinet after his acquittal, and that Cox would be in it, but Cox resisted. Then the local party leaders tried in July to get him to run for Congress in the Second Congressional District, but he refused. Then he was offered the post of Commissioner of Internal Revenue by Johnson on July 31, but this would provide an income of only $6000 a year, which he could not afford. (See Schmiel, "The Career of Jacob Dolson Cox", pp. 213-220).
After retiring as Governor of Ohio in January 1868, Cox set up a new law office in Cincinnati. Late in July, he had the prospect of entering into a law partnership with Henry L. Burnett, a young attorney whom he had known in Warren, at a guaranteed minimum income of $10,000. This arrangement came into effect at the end of the month. See William C. Cochran, "Jacob D. Cox - The Scholar in Action" The Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Vol XI, No. 6 (March, 1915), p. 230; and Schmiel, "The Career of Jacob Dolson Cox", p. 220.