Letter from Henry D Mason to his cousin, John Moody

Date: 22 May 1830 [unknown]
Location: Paris, Henry County, Tennessee
Surnames/tags: Mason Moody Dancy

Franklin ………..County Tennessee May 22, 1830

Mr John Moody

Dancy’s Store,

Northampton Co.,

North Carolina

Dear cousin

I have for sometime and expecting a letter from you but have not received one yet. I wrote to you sometime ago, but the letter may have been necessary. I hope in the future that you can write to me. I received a letter from brother Laurence a few days ago, he wrote that father and all the family were well and that he was carrying on the Mercantile business with uncle Henry Smith in Carroll County, Tennessee. He says that he's doing a very good business and was of the opinion that he could make more money than he could spend for a great while.

Tell Uncle Moody that his friends, Mr. Blythe and Capt. Estes were very well when I left home. Capt. Estes is keeping entertainment at Father’s plantation on the Tennessee River.

Your friend and acquaintance Howell Edmonds is doing very well. Say to Aunt Mary and also to Uncle Moody that we should like to see them in Paris again. James A and Mr. Powel from North Carolina were in Paris a few weeks ago to look at the District. I don't expect that they have left there yet. Give my love to Aunt Mary and Uncle Moody and accept for your self the assurance of my love and friendship.

Henry D Mason

NB When you write Direct on your letters to Paris, Henry County, Tennessee. Henry D Mason

August 27, 1913.

I am sending the original of this letter to Joseph D Mason of Elmsford, Westchester county New York, as Henry Mason was his father's brother. Henry Smith was brother to Dorothy Smith who married Daniel Mason. Uncle Moody was captain William Moody who married Mary Mason

M L Hays

Notes

VLR (Virginia Leigh Refo)

(Letter #7)

This letter was transcribed by my great aunt, Mary Eulah (Leigh) Hays. She was the oldest daughter of Martha "Alice" (Moody) Leigh and the granddaughter of MarthaWilliam (Wright) Moody. We have no original, as she has sent it Joseph Mason in NewYork. She has written the note at the bottom, dated August 27, 1913.

Henry D. Mason, the author, is the great-grandson of Daniel Mason "of Dinwiddie", whose daughter, Mary Winfield Mason, married first her first cousin Henry Mason, son of John Mason, Jr. They had two children, Daniel Mason and Elizabeth Mason. Daniel later settled in Henry Co. TE and was known as Daniel Mason of the Western District. The widowed Mary then married (as his second wife) Francis Dancy, Sr. He had three children from his first wife Sarah (Parham) Turner Dancy. Francis and Mary had four children, Mary, Sarah, John and Martha. Mary Mason (Dancy) Moody the daughter referred to in this letter as "Aunt Mary" married William Moody "Uncle Moody" and was the mother of John Mason Moody, Martha Wright's future husband, and the man to whom this letter is addressed. This would make the author of the letter and John Mason Moody second cousins.

Daniel Mason of the Western District (also referred to in letter #17) married as his second wife Dorothy Laurence Jane Smith. Their children were Laurence Smith Mason, referred to here, Mary Jane Smith Mason, mother of Harriet Stoddert (see later), Henry Daniel Mason, the author, Rebecca Elizabeth Mason (see letter # 17), and Joseph Daniel Mason.

Howell Edmunds IV (1792 - 1853) was born in Northampton Co. NC but settled in Henry Co. TE, mentioned in this letter. He was the son of Howell Edmunds III (died 1810) and Elizabeth (Crawford) Edmunds of Northampton, grandson of Howell Edmunds II ( Member of the Provincial Congress) and Lucy (Nicholson) Edmunds, and the great-grandson of Howell Edmunds of Southampton Co. VA. Howell Edmunds of Henry Co., TE married Martha Hern.

Mr. Blythe and Capt. Estis are unknown to me, but there is a Mr. Estes mentioned in letter # 19 that may be the same. Mr. Powel is also unknown to me, but there is a "Bro Powell" mentioned in letter # 42. Maybe he preferred Mississippi to the Western District of Tennessee. There is a Henry Smith mentioned again in letter # 34. It may be the author's uncle, mentioned here, or his son.

Acknowledgement

• Many thanks to cousin Virginia Leigh Refo for curating this letter in the early 2000 as well as others in the collection. The originals were donated to the Library of Virginia in 2004 by Liz Edens Vermillion, from the estate of her mother, Alice Leigh Reese Edens, with the help of Virginia Refo, of Richmond, Virginia. [Moody family. Papers, 1750-1881. Accession 40535. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia]