Sunday, January 4, 2009

Sarah Ann Camfield, 10 Jan 1886




1886
Noble Center Jan 10th

wel Anna we received your letter yesterday and was glad to hear from you but am sorry to say we have no money to accommodate you with would be very glad to do it if we could but our place and building has made us very short of change we have nothing to sell to get any
I have not had but one dress since you was here that was an every day dress that I made until now I have had a dress maker come here and make the one Joseph sent me I will send you apiece in this letter we are as well as usual we are having very cold weather

2

since wednesday we have been having warm before it turned so cold so sudden it seems pretty hard we have not had any sleighing yet and the is not very good now for the snow is piled against the fences instead of in the road Father and I went to Bronson Newyers day with the horse and Buggy and the road was pretty muddy
the girl that made my dress was here two days and a half making it she charged 50 cts per day and bord she was her 8 meals
I have got a new safe for my milk after so long we brought it home Newyears day we got a letter from Rosy and the Children the same time we got yours they are well no news
S A Camfield



I don't know if Sarah added 1886 or if it was added by someone else.

Was 2 1/2 days a long time to make a dress? With a machine, even a treadle machine it would take me much less time than that, however if I had to hand stitch it I'm not certain that I could do it that quickly. I wish the fabric scrap had survived with the letter.

For more see:
Camfield Family Letters
Descendants of Sarah Ann Wisner
Michael Camfield



Camfield, Sarah Ann Wisner. (Noble Center, MI) to “wel Anna”
[Anna Camfield Carlisle]. Letter. 10 January 1886. Digital Images 1-2.
Privately held by Apple, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,]
Snowville, New York. 2009.
[Carlisle Family, Box #1, Correspondence, 1884 - 1886,
Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. 2008.]

2 comments:

Tex said...

Maybe Sarah Ann's cooking was really good and the dressmaker stretched it out as long as she could. :-) It's an interesting notion, having a dressmaker come and board with you while she sews. A fairly entrepreneurial arrangement, don't you think?

Charley "Apple" Grabowski said...

I was surprised that Sarah didn't make more of her own dresses. I guess it was a luxury to have someone else do it and I'm sure she enjoyed the female company.