Mary Rodman's letters to family, Nantucket and Newport, 1782-1791

              Nantucket  8th mo. 9th  1782
        To her Daughter SR
               Had I been told some years past of the
        various trials I had to pass through it would
        have appear'd impossible for me to survive them.
        my preservation thus far demands not only
        my grateful acknowledgment but your also
        my dear girls, in having a mother no ways
        deficient in tenderness, tho' circumscribed and
        limited as to the effects --submission; without
        repining at our allotment, is our part we have
        some sweet with the bitter, having experienced
        in the most adverse seasons, condescending good-
        ness to be nearer than we were aware of.  therefore
        my dear Children be not discouraged look up
        with hope altho' it appear against hope, that
        no more will be suffered to come upon
        us than we shall be enabled to bear.
                              Newport 2mo 25th 1786
        To the same
                 Yesterday dear Sarah was twenty years
        since I parted with thy father, who was one
        of the fondest and most affectionate Parents