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Elizabeth (Betsy) Murray to Mary (Polly) Murray, 26 June 1785, J. M. Robbins Papers, Courtesy, Massachusetts Historical Society. Page 1
Transcription:
June 26th [1785]
In every attempt to address my Dear Cousin the
involuntary tear will still obtrude itself & my heart throbs with the anguish it tells me of our recent misfortune that before this reaches you, you will have largely partici-
pated our sorrows, oh Polly Heaven grant that you maybe long exempt from the Pangs of attending the dying bed of a friend & such a friend, weeks of preparation for this awful event were not sufficient to fortify my mind &as the scene drew near the close I was denied the satis
-faction of receiving her last benedictions, from the want of health and strength, in the last week of her life I informed her of your letter by Billy Deblois she enquired for you & the family & even our friends in Scotland with a degree of earnestness which her affectionate heart always dictated, we had the greatest consol
-ation in an illness of seven weeks which our situation could possibly admit of that of seeing her calm & serene making every preparation for her dissolution with as much firmness as she would have done for her intended Passage for England, the only struggle she appear
-ed to have was her attachment to her family, “my affect
-tions still get the better of me” she would often say, for
a few days we saw her but a quarter of an hour a day
for this reason she express’d a great reluctance to see your
Sister Powell whose arrival was a great comfort to us but at last she conquer’d even this & seem’d
to wish to see us about her the last sentence I had from
her was fraught with affection an anxious care for my
health & earnest wish that I would spend the day follow
-ing with her & when I attempted to quit her hand as if
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