Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

This collection contains the incoming and outgoing correspondence of Charlotte and Martha Wray, sisters who lived in Washington County, New York; Detroit, Michigan; and Iowa in the 19th century. The letters span Martha's time as a schoolteacher in Detroit, Michigan; Charlotte's work as a teacher in Albany, New York; and Charlotte's experiences in Iowa prior to the Civil War.

This collection contains approximately 110 letters, of which Charlotte Wray wrote about 90 to her sister Martha. Additionally, Martha and Mary Jane Wray each wrote 1 letter, and Charlotte and Martha Wray received about 18 letters from cousins and other family members. Charlotte's letters discuss her experience as a schoolteacher and her life in Albany, New York, and in Iowa, where she lived after the late 1840s. Charlotte's letters also include content on the arrival of new immigrants, her declining health, and her husband's medical practice during the Civil War.

The earliest items in the collection include a 1-page essay by Mary Jane Wray, Charlotte and Martha's sister, titled "of Solitude" and dated September 18, 1839, and a poem Charlotte wrote about her sister. The correspondence begins on May [15], 1842, with a letter from Martha about her arrival and teaching in Detroit. When Mary Jane traveled to Detroit in 1844, she wrote home about the birth and first weeks of her son Van (August 25, 1844).

Charlotte wrote approximately 20 letters to Martha after moving to Albany, New York, around October 1845, where she taught school. She gave news about her life and friends in Albany, such as her intent to turn down a marriage proposal (January 19, 1846) and student expenses at the New York State Normal School (March 15, 1846). In a later letter from Albany, written around the summer of 1846, she explained her reasons for leaving the school, based on the belief that she could earn more money sewing.

After June 22, 1847, Charlotte wrote approximately 70 letters to Martha describing her married life with Thomas. They moved to Garnavillo, Iowa, in the summer of 1847. She informed her sister about life in Iowa, including her travels, the experiences of other new immigrants, and her homes in Garnavillo, Farmersburg, and Monona. Charlotte also discussed married life and her husband's medical practice. She reflected on the Civil War in two letters, mentioning the draft, financial aspects of the war, and her husband's wartime medical practice (August 21, 1862, and February 1863). Following Charlotte's death around March 1863, Martha received 7 letters from her brother-in-law, who described Charlotte’s final sickness and death (March 31, 1863) and the devastating impact on the family.

The Fairfield Goodwin papers consist of poems, essays and drawings created by a Union soldier from Michigan during the Civil War. Goodwin was part of the 1st Illinois Light Artillery (Taylor's Chicago Battery) at the outbreak of the Civil War and later joined the 8th Michigan Cavalry.

The Fairfield Goodwin papers (27 items) consist of poems, essays, and drawings created by a Union soldier from Michigan during the Civil War. While most of the items are undated, the identified items range from November 5, 1861, to September 20, 1862. Goodwin likely created many of these items while with the Chicago Battery and during his six-month convalescence, before he joined the 8th Michigan Cavalry in 1862.

The bulk of the items are sentimental or comical poems and essays with titles such as: Decay, Thoughts of Spring, Our March, Flowers, Friendship, My Mother's Voice, A Dream of Heaven, What is Pleasure?, The Lazy Club Song, and Minute Men. In these, Goodwin expressed feelings of longing and loneliness, as a soldier away from home. He also mentioned several notable military figures, including Jefferson Davis, General Beauregard, and Stephen Douglas.

Goodwin illustrated many of these poems and essays with pencil and color pencil drawings. He sketched pictures of birds, soldiers with beards, a horse, a cat, and a dog. Of particular interest is a full-page illustration of a union camp at Shiloh depicting men chopping wood, killing pigs and fowl, cooking, and reading, as well as cannon, felled trees, and tents. This drawing is colored with blue and orange details. Another recurring sketch is of the artist propped up in his sick bed. Some of the drawings are independent of essays, including pictures of a cannon, a man and woman under a flowering tree, Goodwin's home in Pontiac, Michigan, a "Missouri Rural Cotage," a picture of "Jeff Davis returning from war," portrayed with a large beard and lying on his back, and, finally, a picture of a man on a horse.