Letter signed Gr. von Phul, St. Louis, to Maria von Phul, Lexington, Ky. We have relatively cool nights but the mosquitos literally eat the flesh off our bones. I am guarded by curtains, but they being of calico half smother me with heat. We have scarcely any news here but such as you would rather dispense with hearing – of fighting in the streets, shooting at one another, handbills, etc. The last day of July and the first of this month were the severest rains ever heard of in this country – Mr. Chouteau’s mill dam gave way and the whole pond which is 3 miles long broke through the valley sweeping everything before it. Considerable damage, but no life was lost. I have been gratified by seeing the brother of our friend Dr. Dudley – who is himself one of the learned faculty. He does not appear in love with St. Louis – however, Mr. Chouteau’s pond (if it has the effect feared by the low town creoles) may put him in a better humor. Individuals mentioned: Ward, Steamboat Independence, Bentley, Henry [von Phul], Mr. & Mrs. Mead, Mrs. Massie, and Fowler family. (Gift of John Richardson Thomas and Henry von Phul Thomas, January 1954), [1819] Aug 9

Item — Box: 1

Staff Only

Letter signed Gr. von Phul, St. Louis, to Maria von Phul, Lexington, Ky., August 9, [1819]

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The collection contains family correspondence, mainly letters of Anna Maria von Phul, Sarah von Phul (Jordan) Mason, and Graff von Phul to Henry von Phul in St. Louis. The letters mention family news, Anna Maria von Phul’s artwork, soldiers in Lexington just prior to the War of 1812, Henry's business affairs, an 1819 flooding in St. Louis from Chouteau's Pond when the dam gave way, the murder of Elijah Lovejoy, and the Civil War. The collection also contains Graff von Phul's extracts from the first lecture of Sir Joshua Reynolds, delivered at the opening of the Royal Academy on January 2, 1769; a deed of emancipation of Richard, dated August 30, 1844; a bill of sale of an enslaved girl dated November 2, 1858; poems, newspaper clippings kept by Anna Maria von Phul, land surveys, Von Phul family genealogy, and a detailed biography and accounts of Henry von Phul.