The Couch Letters
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his brother-in-law, A. (Adam?) Watenbarger Page 2 |
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Second page of letter written by John Couch III (my great-great-grandfather) to his brother-in-law A. Watenbarger. If the recipient of this letter was Adam Wattenbarger, he probably never received this letter, since he moved his family to California in 1862. But, there were other ties between the Couch and Wattenbarger families, so I'm not 100% certain that this was the "A. Watenbarger" that John was writing to. What follows is my transcription of page 2, with spelling and punctuation corrections, as best as I can make out: "I am in Memphis, Tenn. I am working at $2.50 per day. I want to come home very bad but I don't know whether I would be safe there or not. I want you to let me know concerning the safety of rebels returning, so I shan't write nothing more at present, but remain your obeisant brother-in-law until death. John Couch" (see page 3 for my theories related to this letter and the one on page 3) This letter in it's entirety, without spelling, punctuation, or grammatical corrections: "Memphis Tenn Oct 18 1865 Mr. A. Watenbarger i take my pen in hand to let you all noe that i am still on the land among the living & inn tolerbel helth thanks bee to God for his grate mercy and kinde blessings i have {not for noting?} to rite only to let you noe the whereabouts i am if i could see you I could tell you a {yarn?} but it is too tedious to say anything about it on paper i cante tell anything about Samuel since laste oct hee was well at that time i wante you to rite to mee as soon as you get this letter and lete me noe all about my family & let them noe about mee…. I am in Memphis Tenn i am worken at $2.50 per day i wante to come home very bad but i donte noe whether i would bee safe thare or not i wante you to let mee noe conserning the safety of rebels returning soe i shante rite nothing more at present but remane youre obecont bother in law on tell deth John Couch"
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