The Couch Letters
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Elizabeth (Smith) Couch on November 13, 1867 from Cotton Plant, Arkansas. As you can see, the letter is in fairly bad condition, but is surprisingly readable for its age (134 years old) and condition. Here is my transcription, with spelling and punctuation corrections, as best as I can make out - curly brackets { } indicate my best guess or totally unreadable words; square brackets [ ] indicate where I have filled in grammatically: "Nov. 13, 1867
Dear Wife, I take my pen in hand to let you know that I am well and received your letter and was glad to hear from you once more and was sad to hear of the deaths of my children. It is the first I have heard of the family {...?...} since Samuel left Alton Prison and I have wrote several letters but have got no answers. I received a letter from G. W. Smith [I believe this is George W. Smith, Elizabeth's older brother] a few days before I got yours. I have nothing {particular} to write you. I have worked hard this year to make money to come home on but I don't know whether I will succeed in getting off this fall or not. I have three or four bails of cotton to pick yet. I made a cotton crop this year. I have sold 3 bails at 23 cents. I will come as soon as I can get off. I don't know whether I shall stay here long enough to get an answer [to] this or not, but write. From John Couch
It would seem that John was away from his family (who, I am fairly certain, were in or near Chillicothe, Livingston Co., MO) for quite some time (possibly years). The mysteries are several: 1.) Why was John away from his family? From this letter and the letter of Oct. 18, 1865 it is apparent that John Couch sympathized with the Confederacy, and may have served in the Confederate army (My great-grandfather Joel, and probably his brother William - served in the Union army, and the reference to Samuel - another of John's sons - and Alton Prison would indicate Samuel served in the Confederate army)... Update: I have recently discovered there was a Samuel C. Couch and a John Couch both enlisted in the 3rd MO Inf. (Confed.), Co. H and that this unit was captured at Vicksburg and later paroled - this may relate to John's reference to Alton Prison. 2.) Who, exactly, was he referencing in "the deaths of my children?" We now know that one of them was Jake (Jacob Harmon) Couch, who was shot in June of 1867 in the Cross Keys saloon near Florissant, Missouri by Constable John Bellville (per several affidavits in Joel's pension file). Was another death that of Samuel? The family Bible lists Jacob's death, but not Samuel's... 3.) Family lore is that John never did return to his family. I have not found him in any census record after 1850, but did find him and his family in Sullivan Co., MO in 1850 and I am convinced I found his wife, with two of her sons, a daughter-in-law and a grandson in 1870 in Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Missouri. 4.) Did John die in Arkansas? When? A somewhat cryptic entry in the margin of a family Bible page would seem to indicate he may have died in 1906, but his actual death date is unknown to any Couch researchers that I have encountered. |