The Filson Historical Society Digital Projects

August 2, 1855: "I think, and always thought, it a very natural desire of the slave to be free"

In Fanny's next letter, the news of Cecelia's mother is unchanged. She describes reading Cecelia's letters to Mary, showing what an invaluable pipeline of information she was between the displaced relatives – Fanny was likely Cecelia's only source of contact with her mother for the remainder of her life. 

Fanny also writes that she hopes Cecelia named her newborn daughter after her mother, which she did: Mamie, a diminutive form of "Mary." 

  • “Your mother was well when I saw her about ten days ago; tho’ she looks much older than when you saw her. She often comes to see me to talk with me about you."  

  • "I read your letter to your Mother, she is always delighted to hear from you, and was much pleased to hear you had a daughter. I hope you have named her for your Mother.” 

But the news of Edward is tragic. Fanny waits till the middle of the letter to write that Cecelia's brother has died. 

  • "Your brother Edward never recovered from scrofula, it finally settled upon his lungs and he died last Christmas. Mary says he was resigned and died a Christian’s death." 

Fanny's recent losses of a child and brother seem to have changed her attitude slightly, perhaps giving her more sympathy for Cecelia's estrangement from her own loved ones. Fanny ends the letter with a long paragraph about her love for Cecelia and abhorrence for the institution of slavery. 

  • “I often think of you Cecelia; oftener, since the death of my brother; you were the companion of my childhood, I can never forget you, and far from reproaching you for leaving me, I think and always thought, it a very natural desire of the slave to be free. You need have no fear for your freedom from me; I should never assert any claim to you if you were in my house. I tell you now that I relinquish all claims to you forever, and only hope that the fear and love of God may always be with you and that he will bless you and make your family prosper. I am and always will be a friend to the slave, and denounce the system of slavery as diabolical, at variance with Christianity.” 

These are nice sentiments, but Fanny's actions didn't live up to her words. She still offered no concrete help in reuniting Cecelia and her mother. The idea that she was a “friend of the slave” also rings hollow because her family still had enslaved people working for them at the time, though there is no way to know how much power Fanny herself had to free them. 

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Letter from Fanny Thruston Ballard to Cecelia Larrison (née Holmes), 2 August 1855

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Fanny to Cecelia, 2 August 1855 (p 1).jpg