American Historical Ephemera and Photography

FORBES, Susan E. Parsons Brown (1824-1910). Autograph letter signed ("Susan") to her father William Brown. "6 Waverly Place," [Boston, Massachusetts]. 17 April 1865. 7pp, approx. 5 x 8 in. (light toning, soil, and creasing). With accompanying envelope stamped and mailed from Boston, Massachusetts. 17 April 1865. Addressed to Mr. William Brown, Epsom, New Hampshire, Via Concord.

Susan Brown Forbes, the wife of Mr. Alexander Barclay, began running a boardinghouse at 6 Waverly Place in Boston in 1861. From there she wrote this letter to her father describing the city of Boston in the aftermath of Lincoln's assassination. The letter reads, in part: "the scenes we have witnessed here these last three days will live in the memories of all our citizens to the end of life....Our city presents a truly mournful appearance throughout its length and breadth. There is scarcely a store, office, or building of any kind that is not draped with black and white....There is scarcely a private house in the whole city which has not put out its mourning badge in some form or another....There is no laughter upon the streets, no sign of gayety. All places of amusement are closed, and every face wears a look of sadness...." Mrs. Forbes also notes in her letter that her husband, owner of a retail store, was injured while trying to assist his staff "to trim the store with mourning."

According to the American Antiquarian Society's biography, "Susan E. Parsons Brown Forbes was born on a farm in Epsom, N.H., the daughter of William Brown (1797-1887) and Lucretia Billings Gray Brown (1785-1875). In 1843 she worked in the Middlesex Woolen Mills in Lowell, Mass., and in 1845 commenced teaching in various school systems, including a Jewish School in Boston, Mass. It was while she was boarding in Boston in 1857 that she met Alexander Barclay Forbes (1836-1903), a Scottish immigrant and, later, founder of Forbes and Wallace Department Stores in Springfield, Mass. They were married in 1859 and seven years later moved to Springfield." Susan's father, may have served in the Civil War; her brother, Charles Jeffrey Parsons Brown (1829-1911) served with the 6th New Hampshire Infantry.