LETTER OF
The GOSPEL TRUTH CHARLES G. FINNEY
1870
To William Cox Cochran
11 July 1870
[Autograph signed letter in the possession of Mrs. Ellen Speers, 3915 Sierra Drive, Austin, Texas 78731.]
Envelope:
Addressed to: William C. Cochran Esqr
care of Sec. of Interior,
Washington,
D. C.
Stamp: 3 cents
Postmark: OBERLIN O. JUL 11
Letter:
Oberlin 11th July 1870.
Dear Willy.
Yours of the 8th inst is recd to
day. We shall not be able to leave
home at Com. as so many friends
are expecting to be here, so, come
direct to our house. If we live
we shall be glad to see you.
We are all usually well,
except myself. I preached
twice yesterday, but had & have
a tedious eruption on my
back & side, that appears
like thes/ cingle or shingles, as
it is commonly called. I have
had it before in the same place,
is
worse than now. But it ^ bad
enough at present, & was
yesterday, to make me feel
quite uncomfortable.
[page 2]
Julia tells me that she is
expecting Nellie to morrow.
We hope she will not fail.
All well, I believe, at your
Uncle Coles. We have had a
dry & hot June. At the very
beginning of July it began
to rain & since then we have
had frequent & copious rains.
It rains to day. All well
at Aunt Julias & Uncle
Nortons. All here join
in much love to you & to
all your Father's family.
I suppose your Father will
be obliged to welter out
the baking season in
that oven. Grand Ma
has just returned from
daily prayer meeting & says
"Tell Willy to come, we
shall be glad to see him.
[page 3]
& that we consider him one
of the family." Little
Sarah & Charley are
here, & well & happy as
birds. God bless you.
C. G. Finney
A diary of William C. Cochran in the George N. Allen Papers, Oberlin College Archives, 30/67 Box 2, has the following entries:
Wed July 20. arrived at 4 p.m. rode up to Grandpas's in the bus and found grandma and Aunt Angie and the children, Charlie & Sarah waiting for me.
Thursday a.m. spent in running about town - at Aunt Julia's with Uncle Charlie and Aunt Angie.
Footnotes:
Cochran's step-father, Jacob Dolson Cox, had been made Secretary of the Interior in 1869 by Grant when he became President.
This letter is not in the Finney Papers.
Commencment.
Finney appears to have written the letter S and smudged it out before writing cingle.
This was Cochran's eldest step-sister, Helen Finney Cox.
Stephen W. Cole had a farm about two miles northeast of Oberlin. His wife, Elizabeth, was a sister of Cochran's father, William. Cochran had stayed with them in 1865 while he was studying at the College. (See "Death of Stephen W. Cole" Oberlin Weekly News [15 March 1877], p.[3]; William C. Cochran, The Western Reserve and the Fugitive Slave Law: A Prelude to the Civil War, Tract No. 101 [Cleveland: Western Reserve Historical Society, 1920] p. 129; and letter of William C. Cochran to Helen Finney [Cochran] Cox, 24 October 1865, in Jacob Dolson Cox Papers, Oberlin College Archives.)