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| Milliner Depressed about Young
Seider's Death. by: Lule Z. |
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1770, Thursday,
February 22nd
To My Beloved Parents,
Today was a very sad, and exhausting day. It all started in the
morning. Baby Sarah has a very bad fever, and she has not been feeling
well at all. John went to summon the village doctor for her. I kept her
inside because of the horrible chill outside.
At my shop I was working on a dress for a lady downtown. She gave me
very good material to use. Most of the material that comes in is from
London. I am going to get new fabric in less than a week. I heard that
there was a horrible accident on Boston’s North End. These two
customers had asked me if I had heard anything about what happened to
Christopher Seider. My first question was, who is Christopher
Seider?
They said an angry mob
followed a man named Ebenezer Richardson
to his home, throwing stones and rocks at him. First of all I had no
clue of who the customer was talking about. Hearing from him it looked
like Ebenezer Richardson is a Loyalist.
He had torn down a sign that
read "Importer". One of the stones hit his wife and killed her.
Even though the story was getting interesting, I knew I had to get back
to my duties. I had to finish the dress in time for the wedding of the
customer’s daughter next Saturday, at the North Church. One
of the customers continued with the story. After that, Ebenezer
had grabbed his musket
and shot into the huge mob, killing eleven
year old Christopher Seider. He had been throwing stones at
Ebenezer. After that the people had taken Ebenezer to trial for
the murder of young Christopher.
Well, I’ll tell you what Mother and Father, as I was listening I got so
very involved in the story that I forgot about the dress. I was
wondering if the boy’s parents knew that he had died? Well, as
the man finished his story, I had tears in my eyes. I did not think
that a boy that young should deserve to die that horrible
death. Ebenezer Richardson should not deserve to go free.
Well, I am sorry to have send you this very sad letter. I hope
you have a good life over there in England.
From,
your daughter Elizabeth
1770, Friday February 23
To my Beloved Parents,
Today I decided not to go to work because there was going to be
the funeral for Christopher Seider. Samuel Adams led the procession
that carried Christopher Seider’s body starting at Faneuil
Hall, past the Town House, down to the Liberty Tree, and then to
the Granary Burying
Ground. The funeral was a huge crowd of
hundreds and hundreds of people including children. Well, let me tell
you that most of the people that attended the funeral happened to
not know young Christopher. From what I heard at the funeral I
had learned that the funeral might have been organized by a strong
Patriot
named Samuel Adams. He organized the funeral to
show all the people what the British troops did and were doing
that
was wrong.
I am also very tired today, but my duties are to finish the dress for
the lady. Tomorrow I am supposed to get new material from London
to make dresses for the wealthy women. The cost of clothing depends on
the type of fabric they would like their dress to be.
As you can see the funeral today was a very sad moment for me and
many, many others. The people in Boston were really upset, and
you should have seen the reaction on their faces. I don’t think that
anybody will ever forget this day.
Please write back. I would love to hear from you, and I will try to
write to you again soon.
From,
Your Daughter Elizabeth
1770,Tuesday March 3
To My Beloved Parents,
Thank you so much for the letter you sent me. I really enjoyed taking
my time to read it. Sorry to hear that father had a very strong fever,
for a while. I am glad to hear that he is feeling better now.
It was my utmost importance to finish that dress today, and I
did. The lady came by, a little after I had finished, and she loved it.
I asked her if she wanted to have a cup of tea, and we could have a
talk for a few minutes. She said that she did not have time and maybe
we could do it some other time.
So, today was also a very simple day for me. There were costumers
who came in sometime during the day and asked me if I was at
Christopher Seider’s funeral. I said, of course I was. The reaction on
the people’s faces are always the same, and they say that the young boy
did not deserve to die like that. Well, let me tell you that as I heard
it about five times from many different people I got very bored with
it. I could understand that a lot of people were upset, and still
are,but I could not take my time hearing the same thing over and over
again. At the funeral I did not hear anything from the parents, and I
did not see them yesterday at the funeral.
When I got home I made some lunch for my little ones. As I told you on
my first letter, my youngest one is very ill. The smallpox are as bad
as ever. She has not been feeling better at all. Mother and
Father, I am very worried. My husband had been with Kate and
Sarah for the day until I had returned from my shop. For dinner we had
some potatoes and bread, with some fresh milk. After dinner John
went outside to check up on some things.
Some people still talk about Christopher Seider’s death, and
funeral. I think Seider’s funeral united Boston. I will never
forget this event.
From,
your daughter Elizabeth
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Historical References:
Allison,Robert J. A
Short History of Boston. Beverly, Mass.
Common Wealth Editions, 2004.
Day,Nancy. Your Travel
Guide to Colonial America. Minneapolis,
Minnesota: Runestone Press, 2001.
Hoose,Phillip. We Were There
Too. New York NY: Folkways Music
Publishers, 2001.
Mahin, Chris. Boston Massacre.
<www.wov.edu/las/socsi/kimjensen/Bostonmassacre.html.
Shoales,Gary Parker, Justice
and Dissent: Ready-to Use Materials for
Recreating Great Trials in American History. The Center For
Applied Research in Education, New York, 1995.
<http://home.att.net/~betsynewmark/Bostinfo.html.
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Colonial Williamsburg: Milliner.
March 31,2006. <http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/.
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