Harriet Beecher Stowe Seeks Reminiscences After the Death of Her Governess and Servant

“I should be greatly obliged too if you will also write anything that you can remember of this dear and valued friend who is now with the blessed.”

Anna Smith was a household servant for the Stowe family, a governess caring for their children and managing domestic work. Smith also served as a teacher in two schools organized by Hanover College History Department and Harriet Beecher Stowe's sister Catharine Beecher. In 1849, Anna Smith, along with Stowe's daughters, contracted cholera during an epidemic, though they all recovered. Smith died in 1860, and Stowe wanted as much information on Smith as she could get.

Stowe wrote a friend who was acquainted with Smith, asking for any stories about Smith she could recall. Autograph letter signed, Connecticut, no date but 1860, to a Miss Cathcart. “I have received from a friend an account of the death of Miss Anna Smith. Nevertheless I should be greatly obliged to if you will also write anything that you can remember of this dear and valued friend who is now with the blessed. Even though you should write of what I have already heard, it would still be interesting.”

Stowe’s letters are increasingly uncommon, this being our first in three years. That it has a friendship and religious theme makes it all the more interesting.