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Letter from Augustin Hibbard to [William Hibbard] 1865 Feb. 4

Creator

Augustin Hibbard

Recipient

[William Hibbard]

Transcription

Victoria V I [Vancouver Island] Febuary [February] 4^th 1865

Dear Brother Your welcome letter under date of Oct. [October] 6^th last came to hand only last week, where it has been all this time, is a mystery [that I] which I wish, that I could solve. I wrote you a long letter in August which you should have received at or about the time your letter is dated, and I have been anxiously looking for an answer to it for some time past, and began to think that you surely could not have rec. [received] it, but as your last letter was so long on its way I have still hopes of receiving your answer to it in a few days. Since I last wrote you, our Almighty Father has kindly blessed me with good health, and mercifully preserved and protected me amid some dangers. I have also, to a certain extent, been prospered in my business, and the prospect of making something this year is fair, but yet, I hardly dare to hope, promising prospects have “with me” so often proved barren of everything but bitter disapointment [disappointment]. I have been very hard at work for the past six months, sharp competition compelled me to reduce my expenses to the lowest figure and to carry on my work with as few hands as possible, it has been severe work for me to make anything more than expenses, but I have done that, and have succeeded in bringing the other party to terms, they combine with me

closing their line works and working at mine, this arrangement does away with their opposition, and relieves me of the necessity which I am now under of paying my men every month, which is often difficult to do when sales are slow. I did not intend to allow the old year to have past away without writing you as its close, but just at that time I was so worn down with work, and harassed with cares that I omitted doing so. The death of numerous friends, “and some of them dear ones” which you have mentioned in your letters, leads one to render humble thanks to Him in whose hands we all are, for having in his infinite goodness and mercy spared those who are nearest and dearest to me, I feel this particularly, I am so anxious to meet again the only ones to whom my heart clings, or, warms towards in this world. The death of Ashleys wife, created the first gap in the magic circle which I left behind me, and that of Miss McKenzie has opened another as wide, or even wider, for she has always seemed to me to have been one of your family, and intimately connected with the pleasant hours I past with you and yours. We should not grieve for those that die in the Lord, it is selfish, and therefore sinful, for with them to die, is gain, but yet we do so, for human nature is weak, and the cup is often so bitter, that in agony we pray that it may be allowed to pass us. Which of us the Lord may see fit to remove hence this year, none can tell, but let us watch and pray without ceasing

that our title to the inheritance of the redeemed may be made compleet [complete] in Christ our Saviour [Savior]. I suppose from the tenor of your letter, that Mother is passing the winter with you, please say to her, that her kind, and, highly prized letter of July last was received, and I thank her, truly and earnestly, for the sound, and Christian advice it contained, I strive to exercise that faith which she recommends, and the duties she has pointed out, I try to perform, but the old man of sin is strong within me, we have many hard contests, and I, alas, often find myself surely beaten and bruised, far from the point I strove to attain. I shall write to her soon. I do not expect that Lizzie will ever write to me again, for she does not know how much pleasure her letters give me. I would write often to her, if I had anything to write about, that would interest, or amuse her, but my present laborious[ly], dull, and, lonely life unfits me for inditing anything but what seems to me, must prove an infliction upon those to whom I write, but with all of you at home, it is so different, for there you have so many things occurring daily to tell me about, that you can easily and often fill up a sheet with events interesting to me. Your time my dear brother, I know, must be absorbed by weighty cares and the requirements of business, and yet you are almost the only one that writes to me, but I must not complain Give my kindest love to all, and a New Years kiss to Sarah & the children for Your Affectionate Brother Augustin

Location

Victoria [Victoria Island]

Date Original

2-4-1865

Images

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Source

MSS2.H621 HIBBARD, AUGUSTIN GOLD RUSH LETTERS

Owning Institution

University of the Pacific Library Holt-Atherton Special Collections.

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Recommended Citation

Hibbard, Augustin, "Letter from Augustin Hibbard to [William Hibbard] 1865 Feb. 4" (1865). Gold Rush Life. 35.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/grcc/35