The Power of Faith: Exemplified In The Life And Writings Of The Late Mrs. Isabella Graham.Graham, Isabella
Religion
The Power of Faith: Exemplified In The Life And Writings Of The Late Mrs. Isabella Graham.
Graham, Isabella
Christian biography; Graham, Isabella, 1742-1814
Their destination was the island of Antigua: Dr. and Mrs. Graham
and their family, consisting of three infant daughters and two young
Indian girls, sailed from Niagara to Oswego, and from thence, by a
path through the woods, reached the Mohawk, which river they descended
in batteaux to Schenectady. Here Dr. Graham left his family, and went
to New York to complete a negotiation he had entered into for
disposing of his commission, to enable him to settle, as he originally
intended, on a tract of land which it was in his power to purchase on
the banks of the river they had just descended. The gentleman
proposing to purchase his commission, not being able to perfect the
arrangement in time, Dr. Graham found himself under the necessity of
proceeding to Antigua with the regiment. Mrs. Graham on learning this,
hurried down with her family to accompany him, although he had left it
optional with her to remain till he should have ascertained the
nature of the climate, and the probability of his continuing in the
West Indies.
At New York they were treated with much kindness by the late Rev.
Dr. John Rodgers and others, especially by the family of Mr. Vanbrugh
Livingston. With Mr. Livingston's daughter, the wife of Major Brown,
of the sixtieth regiment, Mrs. Graham formed a very intimate
friendship, which continued during the life of Mrs. Brown.
They embarked with the regiment, November 5, 1772, for Antigua.
CHAPTER II.
RESIDENCE AT ANTIGUA--DR. GRAHAM'S DEATH.
Within three weeks after their arrival at Antigua, six companies
were ordered to the island of St. Vincents to quell an insurrection of
the Caribs. The doctor accompanied them, and Mrs. Graham was called to
the pain of separation under circumstances more trying than she had as
yet experienced, as the war with savages might expose him to the most
cruel death. In these circumstances she wrote him as follows:
"ANTIGUA, January 16, 1773.
"MY DEAREST DOCTOR--This goes by Mr. W----, who sails to-morrow;
also a letter to Captain G----. Mr. M---- begs to be remembered to
you; he has been foot and hand to me since you left. My dearest
doctor, suffer me to put you in remembrance of what you put in the end
of your trunk the morning you left me,* and let it not lie idle.
Read it as the voice of God to your soul. My dearest love, I have been
greatly distressed for fear of your dear life; but the love I bear to
your soul is as superior to that of your body, as the value of one
surpasses the other; consequently my anxiety for its interest is
proportioned. May heaven preserve my dearest love--lead you, guide
you, direct you, so can you never go wrong--protect and defend you, so
shall you ever be safe, is the daily prayer of your affectionate wife,
*Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul.
"I. GRAHAM.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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