Jan­u­ary 21, 1842.  Vir­ginia Camp­bell writes from Sul­phur Springs Farm to her hus­band Robert Camp­bell who is away on busi­ness in Philadel­phia.  Vir­ginia is preg­nant with her first baby.  The two are still new­ly­weds (they were mar­ried Feb­ru­ary 25, 1841) which is why she teas­es her hus­band “be sure and tell me which you think is hap­pi­est mar­ried or sin­gle life.”

Vir­ginia writes from Sul­phur Springs Farm, the home of William Sub­lette, Robert Camp­bel­l’s busi­ness part­ner and a good friend of the fam­i­ly.  At the time, Sul­phur Springs was in the coun­try, quite a dis­tance from St. Louis.  Today, Sub­let­te’s huge farm would encom­pass parts of Dog­town, the Hill, St. Louis Hills, and South St. Louis, with his man­sion at High­way 44 and Hampton.

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[Front Cov­er]
Mr Robert Campbell
Care of H & A Camp­bell & Co.
Philadelphia
Penns.

[Post­mark]
St. Louis
Jan
22
Mo.

Sul­phur Springs farm Jan 21st 1842
My Own Dear Husband
Mrs Cook came in to see me at Mrs Ker­r’s and gave me a  press­ing invi­ta­tion to come out here to vis­it her. I told her it  would give me great plea­sure to do so. William came up yes­ter­day  morn­ing and want­ed to know when he should bring me out, he said  that Mr Sub­let­te’s barouche [?] was com­ing out so I con­clud­ed to  take that oppor­tu­ni­ty and accord­ing­ly I came. I must describe to  you my ride. I told William to come by Judge Car­r’s and I  remem­bered every step of the road and direct­ed him which way to  go, I shall always feel grate­ful [spelled grate­full] to him for  his kind­ness for every time I wished and saw a bad place he let  me get out and walk as far as I pleased it is true, he tried to  per­suade me to stay in but as it was not you I would have my own  way and I think I walked one third of the dis­tance. It was  freez­ing cold and the ground was very hard frozen and I thought  about Han­nah the whole way.

[Pg. Break]        I stood a few min­utes at the lit­tle bridge where the horse we had before fell and it is real­ly a fright­ful place  notwith­stand­ing it was hard frozen. William I shall always think  an excel­lent dri­ver, he says he can dri­ve a great deal bet­ter  than you, and that I would believe him after you turned me over  sev­er­al times. I was fright­ened all the way and I did not take my eyes off the horse once. I had on my own hood and Mrs Ker­r’s  too. I begged William to put on one under his hat but he was  quite insult­ed. Mrs Cook is very kind to me and I am glad I came  for it gets cold­er every day.

I went to Mrs Sarpy’s par­ty on Wednes­day. I did not feel any  desire to go at all. Dr McPheeters went with me Mr Rick­et­son with Cor­nelia and Mr Elliot with Mrs Kerr. Cor­nelia and Mr Kerr  stayed [spelled staid] until about 2 o’clock. Mrs Kerr and I were  in bed by one — I don’t think I will go to any more par­ties this  win­ter. I feel so mean in com­pa­ny and it seems to be more prop­er  not to go out in my sit­u­a­tion, I am per­fect­ly well but I feel so  much ashamed to walk about more par­tic­u­lar­ly as you are not here. I am writ­ing a great deal about myself I would rather have you  write about your­self than any one else.

[Pg. Break]        Mr W Sub­lette was not out last night but will be out to day. I am just as hap­py as I can be with­out you but dear­est I think of you the whole time & I make so many good res­o­lu­tions  nev­er to do any that annoys you again. I will nev­er con­sent to be sep­a­rat­ed so long again, every one seems to try to con­tribute to my hap­pi­ness & I try to be hap­py but I think it is a most  unnat­ur­al way of living.

Mrs Cook sends her love to you and Mr Andrew Sub­lette his  respects. I think per­haps Mrs Cook will send to get some things  by you but will con­sult her broth­er first. Do I write too often  dear, I love to write you and you could no write often enough. Mr Kerr teased me a great deal about writ­ing, he asked me every day if I had writ­ten. Major Stu­art said he heard from you about 50  miles from here through [spelled thro] one of the officers.

Give my love to Mrs Ash­ley and Mrs Kerr. I hope the for­mer will  not cap­ti­vate you again. I for­got to tell you that we had quite a scene at Mrs Sarpy’s Par­ty — Mrs Dean faint­ed, she recov­ered  after some time, and danced away as well as ever.

Give my best love to cousin Mary and the girls. Mrs Cook says  you must eat some fine oys­ters for her and some ice cream for me.

[Pg. Break top of back cov­er] I have writ­ten a very inter­est­ing let­ter but I have noth­ing to write that will amuse. Mrs Cook  says she wants me to stay until you come home. I like to stay out here very much indeed. I think Mrs Cook a most excel­lent woman  and she seems very fond of you and me too.

[Bot­tom of back cov­er] Write me every oth­er day and be sure and tell me which you think is hap­pi­est mar­ried or sin­gle life.

Dear­est you know I am your own entirely.
Vir­ginia J Campbell