Seven Hills High School - Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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great-grandmother and her husband. The letters were written before they were married. They wrote of their plans for the wedding and wedding jour- ney. I read these letters with some qualms of conscience, as I hardly thought my great-great-grandmother and grandfather would have liked their love let- ters to be read. The next letters in the box almost powdered in my hand. Even picking them up very gently, a corner here or there fell off. Next were some letters about business matters, and, as these did not interest me, I passed on. At the bottom of the box, I found four letters, written in the same handwrit- ing. The ink had turned brown and the paper was old ivory, but even so, these letters were unusually legible. The handwriting also impressed me as being very neat andglegilile, although the double s was made like an f, as was then the custom. They were, I discovered, from my great-great-uncle, William Hardia. Two of these letters were written to his sister, my great- grandmother, and two of them to his father, my great-great-grandfather. Great-great-uncle William had graduated from West Point and had imme- diately been sent to Florida to fight in the Seminole Indian War. Our four letters were written at the time he was in Florida. The first letter was dated the fourth of ,I une, 1838, and was addressed to his sister. He had been in Florida nine months when this was written, and he was very homesick for Kentucky. He wrote: HI am extremely anxious to get out of this country, but at present see no hope for itf' Then followed an account of some pets he had collected. The pets consisted of a fawn and three owls. Evidently at this time my great-grandmotlier was becoming in- terested in my great-grandfather, because William Hardia wrote: '6If you promise not to get married, I will send you the whole concernf' His next statement proves that men were very much then as they are now. He writes: HThe Florida girls are so hideously ugly that I cannot fall in love with them- knowing how susceptible I am, you can readily imagine how very ugly they must bef' The second letter was written to his Father, and, even if the salutation had been lost, I am sure I should have known anyway. This letter is in a much more serious vein. He wrote this soon after returning from an expedition up the St. ,Iohn,s River. The Indians had left this section and he believed that they had gone to the Okefenoka Swamps in Georgia. These swamps are almost impenetrable and even now are used as a hiding place for a great many animals. He had at this time been appointed Acting Assistant Ad- jutant General. Wigan., 193 9 I95l

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was founded. From Leonie C. Frank's book uMusical Life in Early Cincin- nati, we find that: uThe legitimate successor of these two societies was the brilliant, proud Gllarmonic Society of Cincinnatif under direction of Mr. Carl Barns. This fine organization had a humble beginning back in 1800, with a small choral school and later with a chorus of two hundred and fifty members. The credit for this progress, writes Miss Frank, must not go entirely to the Cincinnatians, but to the Germans. HQuietly but impressively they had been exerting an immense influence over the musical character of the city. From early days they had fostered music in the home, church and societies. It was part of their lifef, At last a professional orchestra was hired, putting an end to all amateur ones. The first one lasted but a short time and was fol- lowed in 1872 by the MCincinnati Orchestraf, one having forty instruments. The beginnings of the May Festivals were in 1864. Music Hall was espe- cially built for these Festivals. They originated from several societies com- bining as one. The first May Festival was successfully performed in 1873 with Theodore Thomas as conductor. Mr. Thomas did a great deal to make the Festivals successful. 1-le will long be remembered for his distinguished work. Through the Festivals Cincinnati gained great distinction and fame. Later two other fine institutions were developed: The College of Music and the Conservatory of Music. Little did the early founders know that these musical institutions would still be playing in 1939 an important part in the musical knowledge of Cincinnati. Since the time of the small band at the fort, Cincinnati has constantly progressed in musical culture. This back- ground was developed by outstanding personalities who gave all their talent and enthusiasm to this task. Those men and women made Cincinnati what it is today, a leading city in the musical activities of the United States. MARTHA ANN GOODYEAR, 1941 Four Le'Hers My, what a bleak, raw day! I leaned back in the arm chair and thought, if I could only be in Florida with a hot sun beating down, how glorious it would feel. Florida? Oh yes, Father wanted me to get those Florida let- ters out and look through them. I arose from my chair and got out an old box of family letters. Most of the letters were over a hundred years old. They varied from love letters to business letters. There was one group that contained a correspondence between my great- Wt atm, 1939 l94l

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The third letter was written to his sister the last part of July. In this let- ter, for the first time, he speaks of real harm ,done by the Indians. He writes that not occasionally do they hear of murders committed upon the whites. The Colonel of his division has decided to make a vigorous effort immedi- ately to wipe out all trace of the Enemy. Even though the heat of the sun is most oppressive, they are leaving that day. Also, for the first time, he speaks of death. He writes: nThe weather being so unfavorable, Officers, Soldiers and horses must suffer severely. Some of us doubtless will fall victims to the consequent hardships and exposures. I don't say this, my dear sister, to make you uneasy, but in order to prepare you for any bad news, should sick- ness or death overtake me. He also tells in this letter of being highly hon- ored by the Colonel, who has now made him Adjutant ad-interim of the Second Dragoon. This, however, will necessarily keep him busier. Even with the fact that he was kept busier, I feel sure that he wrote fairly often, but the next letter we have, was not written until the fourteenth of Feb- ruary, 1839. By this time he was much more depressed, because three ex- press riders had been shot in the past three weeks. However, the company had captured fifteen more Indians, and he had been made a First Lieutenant. He was now in east Florida in command of Fort Harlei, with a civilian popu- lation of some thirty families. Of these he writes: HI have about me enough loafers to supply the world. In making the last assertion, I am not wide of the mark. His sister had been married by this time and there was such a sisterly and brotherly devotion between the two that, I think, he felt almost jealous. She was so fond of him that she named her first son, my grandfather, William Hardia, in spite of the fact that for three generations on her husband's side, the first son had always been named John. So went the Seminole Indian War in 1839. Today in 1939, I read that the Seminoles, still technically at war with the United States, are suing for peace. They live, five hundred strong, at present in the Florida Everglades. And when I think of the time those letters took to reach my great-grandmother and great-great-grandfather, it seems truly incredible that today, by plane, you can reach Florida in seven hours. ISABEL MACKOY, 1940 W wrong, 193 Q I96l