Francis Rotch note to Edward Church, Jr. New Bedford, 4th Sept 1811

              A-24-2
page 1
              New Bedford 4th Sept 1810
Edward Church Junr Esq
  Dear Nephew
   It has been with great difficulty that I could persuade myself to believe that you & your family have been met by my Nephew Tho Rotch on your way to the Ohio with intention thee to settle; & also to be informed that if you find things sufficiently eligible, there may be a hope of your rather & his family being united with you upon the same plan. Yielding to the evidence given on this interesting subject, I lose the least time in expressing to you my heartfelt satisfaction in the contemplation of a possibility that these projects may be realized & that I may yet have the pleasure of seeing you all together once more, in the new paradise beyond and the Alleghany mountains. My nephew Thomas Rotch will return speedily and when established it is my fixed intention to pay you all an early visit, in the meantime let us correspond and tell me if in any way I can be usefull to you and inform me from what strange circumstances can have proceeded the determination of your father to leave France & whether in the first he will bring his family.
     I have been two years with my relatives in this town and more than one in the almost constant expectation of seeing Charles, who in his last Letter from Bordeaux gave me reason to expect him in all last month: but not naming the Ship or port of destination I know not where to expect his first arrival.
  I has been with a mixture of pain & admiration that