William Handy received 4 letters (9 pages) from his aunt Louise (January 30, 1851) and his father, Lewis Handy (September 27, 1851; October 30, 1851; and April 14, year unknown). A sibling contributed to Lewis Handy's letter of October 30, 1851. Handy's aunt reported on her lodgings in "Rochester," where she was sitting in an ailing man's room while writing the letter, and requested news of the Handy family. She cautioned William about falling in love and wrote that she "should rather fall into a hogshead of molasses" (January 30, 1851). Lewis Handy wrote an extended account about the illness and death of his son Jason, William's brother, in his letter of September 27, 1851, and later discussed the possibility of finding work on a whaling voyage to pay some of his debts (October 30, 1851). He also wrote about his daughter Almira's fragile health and expected death (April 14, year unknown).
William Handy was born in Sandwich, Massachusetts, on September 16, 1831, the son of Lewis and Fanny Handy. He had seven siblings: Lewis, Jason (1833-1851), Susan, Elmira, Pliny, Charles, and Fanny. Like his father, William Handy became a sailor. On June 11, 1857, he married Susan Landers of Falmouth, Massachusetts. Their six children included Jason, Almira, Walter, Emma, and William. The elder William Handy and his second wife, Ellen M. Glidden, married on January 25, 1890. In 1900, they lived in Marion Township, Massachusetts, with two children, Josephine and Leon. William Handy died on March 25, 1904.
