March 9,1855 Robert Benjamin-1795 to John Benjamin-1823

Bagillt

March 9, 1855

Dear Children All,

I once more have the opportunity of sending a few lines to you in answer to yours as we duly received on the 6^th inst. and was very glad to hear that you were all well in health as this leaves us, both your mother and myself, better than we have been, for we have been so very bad with the cold, for we have had such winter that everybody and in every part complains, and according to every account that there have been so may deaths as in the time of the cholera, and we have lost a power of our own neighbors, more than I can presently give you an account and our time is not to be here long, the Lord knows how long.

PS - Both we and Mr. Faulks has been disappointed in your letter this week after Edwin had sent in his last that everything would be all right, and I told Mr. Faulks the contents of the letter and he said it would be all right if they would come then, and now I went to the shop to him and told him everything how is was in your letter and he went very  stiff about it, very stiff indeed, and saying that he wanted his money, and another thing that he could set his house to anybody as he liked and get his money every three or six months for it without going to ____ fifteen or sixteen months for them, and that he would not do it either and told me he was quite disappointed at you that you could not help them out at such a time as that, and him hearing so after how well you was doing in America and seeing that your brothers was under your hands altogether, but he told me at last before I left him in the shop that if they would come against the beginning of April that he should to, and that he would not stop no longer, and we are in  great hopes that you will have the kindness to send them by then.  We should be greatly obliged to you all for you may be well aware how it has set us both since I was with him in the shop yesterday.  And another thing, I had a great many things as I wanted to talk over with Mr. Faulks about the place very much of which I meant to do if everything had been right, but howsomever it is quite contrary to my mind for it has set me down in the mouth very much instead that I don’t know what to do greatly.

 Another thing I have to tell you yourself is that when Edwin sent home that his brother James was so ill that it caused a great deal of uneasiness to your mother, for she was talking of him every day until we received Edwin’s last letter, and then it gave her a little ease, and of what you were talking of your brother James, I am certain that we are very thankful to you for your kindness toward them at all times and am in great hopes they will be able to return all in double in some future day to you and also to Elizabeth for her kind treatment towards them at all times, and our selves also are very thankful, and your mother means to send to Elizabeth next time if possible and should like to have a good cup of old Welsh tea once in her company again .

Another thing I have to inform you of is that your sister Charlotte came from Chester to see us and was taken ill and was confined here of a very fine girl and that was in the 6^th of February and she got so stout that she had gone home again since the 26^th , and we received a letter from them this week saying that she and the little child is getting quite stout and ordering me to send their kind respects to you all, and the little girl is called her name after the both grannys that is Sarah James the bricklayer.

PS – You was talking In your letter of me to borrow the money somewhere and pay interest on them.  I could not borrow five shillings here in these days now if you was to promise half-crown for the loan of them, for it has gone so sorry here and everywhere else upon account of this war** that you would not believe, that it has gone that sorry that they say there is a many poor people for want, therefore you may judge how it is here and Elizabeth desires for some ___ in her letter.

 I am very sorry that I cannot give no better news than I have given above.  I wish in my heart I could and indeed between the times and this disappointment it has got us very low that we don’t know what to do until such time we hear from you again. You may think us in trouble.

 

**The Crimean War (October 1853 – February 1856 was a conflict between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between major European powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire. Most of the conflict took place on the Crimean peninsula, but there were smaller campaigns in eastern Anatolia, Caucasus, the Baltic Sea, the Pacific Ocean and the White Sea. In Russia, this war is also known as the "Eastern War" (Russian: Восточная война, Vostochnaya Voina), and in Britain it was also called the "Russian War" at the time.

The Crimean War is known for logistical and tactical errors during the land campaign on both sides (the naval side saw a successful Allied campaign which eliminated most of the ships of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea). Nonetheless, it is sometimes considered to be one of the first "modern" wars as it "introduced technical changes which affected the future course of warfare", including the first tactical use of railways and the electric telegraph.  It is also famous for the work of Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole, who pioneered modern nursing practices while caring for wounded British soldiers.^[10]

The Crimean War was one of the first wars to be documented extensively in written reports and photographs: notably by William Russell (for The Times newspaper) and Roger Fenton, respectively. News from war correspondents reaching Britain from the Crimea kept the public informed of the day-to-day realities of the battlefield for the first time.