Letter from January 1846

This is a letter that I found in the documents and photos that Cindy shared with me. I believe Laura had collected the items over the years.

It's a letter that Edward Walker's father, Thomas, wrote to Edward's mother, Mary in 1846 - January 15 to be exact. It's written on heavy paper and no envelope. The letter was folded and apparently sealed with wax. Written in pencil is: E B Walkers. I'm assuming that Mary Walker was dividing up letters that she had saved and written E B Walkers on it so that it would go to Edward and his family. The following is what I think the letter says:

Bull KM London -14th 46

Dear Mary - We arrived here 10 minutes past five hungry and tired of rail way carriages. We think of going to Mr. Robinson's tonight. We have finished an excellent cup of tea in a splendid room. I wish you were well enough and here with us. You would enjoy it very much. I will send you another letter on Friday if I have not sold the cheese. I shall come home on Saturday at the farthest. I hope sooner for there is nowhere like home. I have no children here to play, no dear Mary to open my mind and ad. . . .with but I hope the ruler of the universe will direct and guide my steps. In true affection, T B Walker.

(I tried to update the punctuation, so it's not a direct transcription.)

Thomas is on a business trip and misses his wife and children. This letter was written more than 18 months before Edward, Gussie's father, was born. Thomas and Mary had three girls and one boy when Thomas made the journey of nearly 200 miles one-way from Bradfield Green to London to sell cheese. Thomas is identified in the 1851 English census as a farmer with 2 employees. After his death in 1854, Mary and the family moved to Russia Hall that we visited last year in Tattenhall near Chester England. Mary continued the dairy at Russia Hall. The barns from that dairy are still standing, but the farmland has been sold off from the manor house.