Letter signed S. Mason, Philadelphia, to My Dear Sister [Mrs. Von Phul], St. Louis. I received a letter from brother written on the eve of his departure from New Orleans; possibility of sending Maria to West Point to see Mason[?]. The newspaper informed me of the awful fate of William Lucas. My heart bleeds for poor Mrs. Hunt…he was her favorite brother. I cannot imagine what became of William Clark’s family. They were here sometime in May and I had to be very positive to prevent their taking Maria with them on their eastern tour. I fear William is in very bad health. Besides the attacks he had in the west he was quite ill here and again at West Point. He has a predisposition to something like vertigo and pays no attention to his diet., 1837 July 17

Item — Box: 2

Staff Only

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.