Letter, 17 April 1860, Edward Sixtus Hutter (1839-1904) to John DeHart Ross (1840-1912)
Title
Letter, 17 April 1860, Edward Sixtus Hutter (1839-1904) to John DeHart Ross (1840-1912)
Description
Letter written by Edward S. Hutter, from Sandusky, to John DeHart Ross of Richmond, Virginia telling of social events and career aspirations. Hutter and Ross were classmates at Virginia Military Institute.
Edward Sixtus Hutter (1839-1904) was a son of George Christian Hutter (1793-1879) and was named after his uncle, Edward Sixtus Hutter (1812-1875), George's half brother who lived at nearby Poplar Forest. Edward II was called "Ned" and often went by Edward Hutter Jr. He was class of 1859 at the Virginia Military Institute.
Edward Sixtus Hutter II
Born 18 September 1839
Died 22 June 1904
Buried Presbyterian Cemetery, Lynchburg, Va.
Tempus fugit = Time flies
John DeHart Ross was born in 1840 in Culpeper County, Virginia at "Bel Pre." Ross graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1859.
Creator
Edward Sixtus Hutter II
Source
Hutter family papers purchased at auction 8 June 2019
Publisher
Historic Sandusky-University of Lynchburg
Date
1860
Rights
Permission to publish or reproduce required
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Language
en-US
Text
Lynchburg April 17th/60
My Dear John,
If you will promise not to bring "a special action on the case" against me for my delay, in answering your last letter I will immediately proceed to do better--Your letter was of course very welcome, & was forwarded to me after I returned here--Here my time is of course much occupied in various & sundry ways--In the first place I am hard at work with my law studies, & devote most of my time to reading--Then too I must keep up appearances, & my fair fame as a gallant of the first order--with "Les Belly" of our good city--regarding it as a positive duty to visit him often, accompany him to all the various amusements of the day, & in a word, as Nil Harris would say, I play the devoted in general & not in particular--Then too our good fellows of the town feel it to be a duty which we owe to ourselves & county to meet together frequently & enjoy together each the other's share of wit, & be for a time free to gossip & chat over all the events of the times--when/ever I have nothing to do, I generally find near Mr Stago--who always seems willing to aid me in the performance of it--Ote & Miss Fannie are no longer on terms--& I think he is now considerably smitten with Miss Sallie Wiatt, a young Lady very beautiful, & who you have no doubt seen as she was at Lexington last July--old Sam Boyd spent several days here some two weeks ago but, where he is now, I know not--old Pat Keen spent some days with me after we left Lexington & we together with some four or five Law students had a good time--Well John--how do you like Law, are you studying much, & does Tempus fugit pleasantly with you now--I will continue my reading here until October & then shall take a course at the University--after which I shall look out for some "cool sequestered spot" where in to hang out my advertisement to the world--In other words, I have determined to make a "Jew Lawyer" of myself, sometime or other--Having fully determined, to tread alone, the path of mortal existence, little caring whether it leads to famine or to fame--I feel entirely independent. I was about to visit your city, with the "Home Guard" of Lynchburg but was prevented unexpectedly--I have determined to take a trip to the North, in June, & will spend the most of that month in the Northern cities--But will return in time to attend the celebrations in Lexington--John if you go, come this way & go up with our party--It will be a very nice one, some fifteen or twenty Ladies, Miss Nannie among the number--I am just about "dudding up" to go with Miss Nannie to hear Simpson's lecture so you must put up with what you have got--Don’t follow my bad example of waiting so long but write immediately. Believing me your friend
Affectionately E.S. Hutter, Jr
John deH. Ross
Richmond City
My Dear John,
If you will promise not to bring "a special action on the case" against me for my delay, in answering your last letter I will immediately proceed to do better--Your letter was of course very welcome, & was forwarded to me after I returned here--Here my time is of course much occupied in various & sundry ways--In the first place I am hard at work with my law studies, & devote most of my time to reading--Then too I must keep up appearances, & my fair fame as a gallant of the first order--with "Les Belly" of our good city--regarding it as a positive duty to visit him often, accompany him to all the various amusements of the day, & in a word, as Nil Harris would say, I play the devoted in general & not in particular--Then too our good fellows of the town feel it to be a duty which we owe to ourselves & county to meet together frequently & enjoy together each the other's share of wit, & be for a time free to gossip & chat over all the events of the times--when/ever I have nothing to do, I generally find near Mr Stago--who always seems willing to aid me in the performance of it--Ote & Miss Fannie are no longer on terms--& I think he is now considerably smitten with Miss Sallie Wiatt, a young Lady very beautiful, & who you have no doubt seen as she was at Lexington last July--old Sam Boyd spent several days here some two weeks ago but, where he is now, I know not--old Pat Keen spent some days with me after we left Lexington & we together with some four or five Law students had a good time--Well John--how do you like Law, are you studying much, & does Tempus fugit pleasantly with you now--I will continue my reading here until October & then shall take a course at the University--after which I shall look out for some "cool sequestered spot" where in to hang out my advertisement to the world--In other words, I have determined to make a "Jew Lawyer" of myself, sometime or other--Having fully determined, to tread alone, the path of mortal existence, little caring whether it leads to famine or to fame--I feel entirely independent. I was about to visit your city, with the "Home Guard" of Lynchburg but was prevented unexpectedly--I have determined to take a trip to the North, in June, & will spend the most of that month in the Northern cities--But will return in time to attend the celebrations in Lexington--John if you go, come this way & go up with our party--It will be a very nice one, some fifteen or twenty Ladies, Miss Nannie among the number--I am just about "dudding up" to go with Miss Nannie to hear Simpson's lecture so you must put up with what you have got--Don’t follow my bad example of waiting so long but write immediately. Believing me your friend
Affectionately E.S. Hutter, Jr
John deH. Ross
Richmond City
Collection
Citation
Edward Sixtus Hutter II, “Letter, 17 April 1860, Edward Sixtus Hutter (1839-1904) to John DeHart Ross (1840-1912),” Historic Sandusky Archives and Collections, accessed May 9, 2024, https://historicsanduskyarchives.omeka.net/items/show/50.