Agatha Yancey Letter
- 1828 -

Letter from Agatha Yancey to her "niece" Elizabeth Bullard Brooks (Betsy). Betsy was the grand-daughter of Richard Bullard and Catherine Benson - It would seem Catherine and Agatha were sisters.

Postmarked Chancellorsville, VA. Dated April 6, 1828

"My Dear Niece,

I am now seated to scribble a few lines and tell you your kind offer will ever be gratefully remembered by me, were you living in the neighborhood I should spend a great deal of my time with you. Oh, my dear Betsy, such a severe trial I have had, the death of my ever dear tormented child who died with the dropsy. She was tapped, she lived but a few days after the operation. I am now at your father's. I mean to return home this summer, I can't help dreading to see the old place. It will remind me of poor Agatha's sufferings. I have a request to make of you, if you should have a daughter, call her after my poor Agatha. Your good friend, Lawyer Field's wife is dead, she died of the consumption, your friends are all well except Judith Benson who has been extremely ill at Mr. Hord's in Fredericksburg.

Well, my dear Betsy, I must bid farewell, with my love and best wishes for you and yours.

God Bless You.

Agatha Yancey April 4, 1828"

DJY: The above letter is an important discovery. Ever since the turn of the century Yancey researchers have recorded the wife of one Richard Yancey of Culpeper County Virginia (son of Lewis Davis Y.) as being one Judith Agatha Field - supposedly the daughter of one Abraham Field. The above letter seems to indicate that Richard Yancey had a second wife named Agatha Benson (the first wife being Judith Field). By the second marriage his is known to have had a daughter Agatha B. Yancey who died about 1828 - in agreement with the above letter. It has been known for years that one Charles Benson who died in 1805 in Culpeper leaving a will - did mention a daughter Agatha Benson - but most all Yancey researchers over the years have recorded this Agatha Yancey as the wife of one Philip Yancey of North Carolina. It would appear that Richard Yancey had two successive wives - the first being Judith Field and the second being this Agatha Benson. Further research needs to be done - especially to review the information concerning the Philip Yancey of North Carolina who is to have married Agatha Benson.

The following info came from: Betty Brooks [cen58066@centuryinter.net who sent me the transcription of the letter:
Thanks for sending all that information. We had always wondered about the name of Agatha Benson Yancey. Little background of our interest before her letter. My husband's gr. grdmother was Elizabeth Bullard Brooks, daug. of Charles Bullard, son of Richard Bullard and Catherine Benson, sister to Agatha Benson daughters of Charles Benson. Elizabeth Bullard married and went to Mo. ca. 1823. The letter was sent to her in Callaway Co., MO. Original letter in MO. State Capital Museum, Jefferson City, MO.