Letters Packet 3: Goodell Correspondence

Amerikan Bord Heyeti (American Board)

Identified as “letters from Uncle Ed and Aunt Sarah” and “Letters relating to Elizabeth’s death.” There is also an undated letter from C.W. [Caroline] Ball at the beginning of the packet. These are largely correspondence from the Goodell family, William and his wife Abigail, who served in Constantinople from 1831-1865, and include letters from Hartford, Connecticut, Philadelphia, as well as Constantinople, dating from 1843-1869. The letters generally relate to the comings and goings of friends, updates on the activities and health of children and relatives, reflections on faith, travels. A letter from Constantinople dated August 1857 reports, “Our son the Doctor went to Smyrna this week in the Sultana, Captain Watson’s. This is the same captain who took him from Smyrna to America several years ago…” This letter seems to have interesting information about the Mediterranean/Near East Evangelical Alliance, but the text is difficult to make out do to its conservation (ink bleeding). An unfortunately undated letter from the Goodells details urban development projects in Galata: “The doorstep of your late house, those large stones have all been tumbled over into the street, & so have ours, & so have everybody’s. All this by the authority of that wonderful Commission that’s made such changes in Galata, pulling down houses there, & widening streets. These doorsteps are said not to be the owner’s property, but to be an encroachement on public property. Tell Charlie when he comes back, he will have to climb up into our house on his hands & knees.” A June 15, 1869 letter from A.P. [Anna] Goodell sends the Riggs family good wishes for their upcoming return to Constantinople, and congratulations on the “marriage and ordination” of their son Edward. In the same letter, Goodell asks Martha to tell Dr. Riggs that she “keep[s] in [her]writing desk his translations of ‘Ivan Topoff and the Fairy,’ also ‘Anna the Cuckoo.’ An April 15, 1863 letter references the family’s trip on the Nile with their daughter, Emma. An October 1862 letter from W. Goodell asks, “What do you think of the President’s proclamation of liberty to the slaves?” W. Goodell writes to Martha in Smyrna from Pera, July 10, 1843. “The weather last week was for the most part very fine. We took one excursion with your good husband up the beautiful Bosphorus as far as Buyuk Dere, which you yourself would have enjoyed. It did us all much good.” Pera Aug. 18, 1845 to Martha: “Are you studying Armenian these days? I almost want to take it up myself. We are never too old to be learning something, but life is too short to learn everything.” Pera Jan. 31, 1850: “It is so awfully cold, the wind so high, & the snow so deep & drifted & driving, that I almost hope your good husband is snug by his own fire side, but should he come, we shall endeavor to give him as warm a reception as the weather will admit, & to make up in good wishes & good feelings what we cannot supply in any other. Really ‘tis cold, but not so cold as it was a few days ago, when even the fish were stunned by it, & were thrown up on the sides of the Bosphorus in cool loads when the thermometer was down to 6, & men perished in the streets. How great must be the sufferings of the poor!” Feb. 2: “A beautiful morning, but very cold – the Golden Horn frozen over completely – all above the bridge one sheet of ice. I have put one stick more into the stove on your husband’s acct, & shall order one potatoe more into the pot.”

Correspondence of the Goodell family to the Riggs family dating from 1843-1869. Includes an 1863 announcement of the death of Emma Riggs, age 16: Unusually lovely in person, with an earnest, thoughtful mind, and the unassuming manner and simplicity of a child gentle and affectionate in disposition, with a happy smile and kind word or act for everyone - she was dearly beloved by all who knew her. Handwritten in ink. Many of the letters are extremely illegible due to ink bleeding between thin paper, obscuring text on both sides.

1843
1869

English

Pera, Bebek Bebek (Istanbul, Turkey), Smyrna (İzmir, Turkey), Philadelphia, Hartford

Missions, Missionaries

SALT Research

https://archives.saltresearch.org/handle/123456789/42916

Correspondence

Letter

Print, Handwriting

109

ABARPC003

Open Access

United Church of Christ (UCC), American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT), SALT Research

On deposit at SALT Research from UCC and ARIT