Travis Isle 26^th Dec^r 1803
Hannah Roberts
Rec^d 27^th 1803 to M&EN
My dear Mary Ann & Eliz^h
With much pleasure I
duly received your kind letters, which was greatly
enhanced by the good accounts contained in them
I assure you I have often thought of you during
my absence, & shall be very glad to see you again
& it will give me additional pleasure to met all
of you in good health & spirits – We left
all our friends well at Kidderminster on Satur=
=day morning at 5 o’clock & arrived in Manchester
at 12 o’clock the same night, much fatigued with
travelling in a small coach, the weather has been
intolerably bad since I left you, we had only two
fair days whilst we were at Kidd^r but the bad=
=ness of the season did not prevent us enjoying
the society of our friends from whom we were
sorry to part – My brother Josiah & his family
[new page]
arrived at Kidd^r last Thursday week, & will leave
tomorrow, his little boys are sweet engaging children,
Charles cannot talk much, but he makes people
understand him when he is in want of anything.
I have made a large purchase of carpet
worsted for you to work rugs with, & I have learnt
some pretty sti{^t}ches to work them in, therefore I hope
you will have finished the work I left you be=
=fore I return, that you may begin the rugs with=
=out loss of time – you had {^better} not put strings to
your pockets as you will not know the proper length they
should be – I came to Travis Isle last night &
shall return to my uncles this evening, your {^friends} here
are all well, think I never saw your uncle Hat=
=field look better, they have not heard from Great
Houghton since your father, but are in daily ex=
=pectation of a letter. I am glad to hear Dorothy
has some teeth nearly through the gum, for I think
she has suffered a good deal from them. You must
excuse me writing you a longer letter as I intend
writing a few lines to your father; when I began this
[new page]
letter I cou’d scarcely see it was so dark, but I wish=
=ed to write to send by M^r Hatfield to the post office
this morning, present my kind love to your brothers
& accept the same yourselves from your most
Affectionate friend
Hannah Roberts
[change hand]
Dear Sir
It has given me great pleasure to receive
such good accounts from Gateacre as contained in
your favours, & which has greatly added to the plea=
=sure I received from the society of my friends at Kidd=
=erminster, this excursion has afforded me great
gratification, & cannot look forward with the prospect
of ever again meeting so many of my brothers & sisters
at my fathers house; my father & mother look very
well & were in great spirits, particularly the former,
who I think would have felt greatly disappointed had
anything prevented our meeting, his heart appeared
quite set upon it, & though he in general possesses
great fortitude, yet, I never saw him so much affected
as when we parted, he endeavoured to conceal his
feelings as much as possible, but he had got an idea
[new page]
that we shoud never meet again, but enough on this
subject. I am much obliged to you for permitting
me to spend a few days with my friends here, I pur=
=pose leaving Manchester on Thursday morning in one
of the early coaches, which will be at the Blue Bell

Miss Mary Ann Nicholson
Mr T Nicholsons
Gateacre near
Liverpool

between two & three o’clock in the afternoon, if it shoud
be a wet day I will take a chaise from Prescot, but
if fair, I shall prefer walking from the Blue Bell.
Please to remember me to the Servants hoping to meet
you all well I remain d^r Sir your affectionate friend
H Roberts

Travis Isle 26^th Dec^r 1803
Hannah Roberts
Rec^d 27^th 1803 to M&EN
My dear Mary Ann & Eliz^h
With much pleasure I
duly received your kind letters, which was greatly
enhanced by the good accounts contained in them
I assure you I have often thought of you during
my absence, & shall be very glad to see you again
& it will give me additional pleasure to met all
of you in good health & spirits – We left
all our friends well at Kidderminster on Satur=
=day morning at 5 o’clock & arrived in Manchester
at 12 o’clock the same night, much fatigued with
travelling in a small coach, the weather has been
intolerably bad since I left you, we had only two
fair days whilst we were at Kidd^r but the bad=
=ness of the season did not prevent us enjoying
the society of our friends from whom we were
sorry to part – My brother Josiah & his family
[new page]
arrived at Kidd^r last Thursday week, & will leave
tomorrow, his little boys are sweet engaging children,
Charles cannot talk much, but he makes people
understand him when he is in want of anything.
I have made a large purchase of carpet
worsted for you to work rugs with, & I have learnt
some pretty sti{^t}ches to work them in, therefore I hope
you will have finished the work I left you be=
=fore I return, that you may begin the rugs with=
=out loss of time – you had {^better} not put strings to
your pockets as you will not know the proper length they
should be – I came to Travis Isle last night &
shall return to my uncles this evening, your {^friends} here
are all well, think I never saw your uncle Hat=
=field look better, they have not heard from Great
Houghton since your father, but are in daily ex=
=pectation of a letter. I am glad to hear Dorothy
has some teeth nearly through the gum, for I think
she has suffered a good deal from them. You must
excuse me writing you a longer letter as I intend
writing a few lines to your father; when I began this
[new page]
letter I cou’d scarcely see it was so dark, but I wish=
=ed to write to send by M^r Hatfield to the post office
this morning, present my kind love to your brothers
& accept the same yourselves from your most
Affectionate friend
Hannah Roberts
[change hand]
Dear Sir
It has given me great pleasure to receive
such good accounts from Gateacre as contained in
your favours, & which has greatly added to the plea=
=sure I received from the society of my friends at Kidd=
=erminster, this excursion has afforded me great
gratification, & cannot look forward with the prospect
of ever again meeting so many of my brothers & sisters
at my fathers house; my father & mother look very
well & were in great spirits, particularly the former,
who I think would have felt greatly disappointed had
anything prevented our meeting, his heart appeared
quite set upon it, & though he in general possesses
great fortitude, yet, I never saw him so much affected
as when we parted, he endeavoured to conceal his
feelings as much as possible, but he had got an idea
[new page]
that we should never meet again, but enough on this
subject. I am much obliged to you for permitting
me to spend a few days with my friends here, I pur=
=pose leaving Manchester on Thursday morning in one
of the early coaches, which will be at the Blue Bell

Miss Mary Ann Nicholson
Mr T Nicholsons
Gateacre near
Liverpool

between two & three o’clock in the afternoon, if it should
be a wet day I will take a chaise from Prescot, but
if fair, I shall prefer walking from the Blue Bell.
Please to remember me to the Servants hoping to meet
you all well I remain d^r Sir your affectionate friend
H Roberts