Documents, Letters. Reminiscences, Etc.
Letters of Charles William Tait, 1848-1864
The following are transcriptions of xerographic
copies of letters in Tait Family Papers (Ms. 32),
Archives of the Nesbitt Memorial Library.
1. Charles William Tait to James Asbury Tait,
April 15, 1848
Columbus, Colorado County, Texas
April 15th 1848
Dear Father,
I write you this by Howard, he finished
working on the 5th of this month, having
worked regularly every day except sundays &
christmas day. Howard can give you all the
news, as to how we are &c. I send you the
dimensions of the wagon-body: 12 feet 8 inches
long, 2 ft. 6 in. deep, 4 ft wide I send you also
the dimensions of a Texan ox-yoke 4 feet 10
inches long 28 inches between the inside bow-
holes Timber to make yoke must be 9 inches
wide & 5 in thick. Give my love to all. Your
affectionate son
C Wm Tait
Jas A Tait Esqr
Blacks Bluff
Wilcox county
Ala.
2. Charles William Tait to Felix Tait, April 20,
1848
Columbus April 20th 1848
Dear brother,
Your letter of March 12th was received on
the 7th of this month, & as I wrote to Ma last
week, I concluded not to answer yours until
this. I also yesterday received a letter from Rob
of the 18th March, which I will answer some
other time. I sent Howard on his way home on
Sunday last, when he arrives you can learn all
the minutia of proceedings here better than I can
write. I have been all this week attending court,
as a juror for the first time in my life. The first
night I staid in Columbus, but the flies were so
bad that I have been coming home every night
since. I hope you will not fail to come out this
spring, & bring Ma with you, a journey might
be of great service to her. When you determine
on coming, if you will let me know about what
time you will be in Houston I will try & meet
you there. I don't think of anything else just now
to write about. We are all well. Give my love to
all. Your affectionate brother
C Wm Tait
Felix Tait Esqr
Blacks Bluff Ala.
3. Charles William Tait to James Asbury Tait,
June 30, 1848
Columbus June 30th 1848
Dear Father
Your letter of May 11th was duly recd alas
your letter of the 2nd inst was received by the
last mail. Your last letter was written the day
Ma left. I heard from Ma & Co, as far as
Galveston but have not heard from them since.
We are all well, thank God, & doing tolerable
well; my crop of corn is excellent & cotton
promising. You mention, in your May letter,
having seen Capt. Duncan, & recommend plant-
ing corn on the 15th of February. All those
about here who planted early will make poor
corn crops the same was the case last year. I
planted last year on the 29th March & this on the
20th & have hit the seasons. We were very
much in want of rain here in the spring, it
commenced raining here on the 6th of June,
95
